It is easy to get cynical about Children in Need, the annual event where the nation’s right hands go on national television to declare to their left hands exactly what they have been doing. However, it would be wrong to be too cynical, generosity is a good thing and the amounts that are raised to support various causes are staggering. That being said, there are legitimate questions that can be raised about the whole process and I’d like to focus in on one of them.
I don’t think we are necessarily at that point yet, but I do think that British mission agencies will need to consider whether a registered charity is the best organisational vehicle for them to carry out their calling.
A great film, a somewhat dodgy Instagram post and some reflections on charity and mission.
Just imagine how a local builder feels, when a bunch of teenagers from the UK or the US rock up to his town to build a church without any knowledge or experience of local building techniques.
For decades now, we have seen the same stereotypical images of the Global South in both the media and in fundraising campaigns. It reinforces the image of people as “exotic other”. We believe that these images create apathy, rather than action.