Serving Those in Extreme Poverty

Like much of the US, the state of Florida is being enundated with political attack ads. One particular series of ads is centered around whether on particular candidate either does or does not agree with the current Arizona laws regarding illegal immigration. The illegal immigration issue is a serious one that will not be solved by simple pat answers. Border laws and strict enforcement will not prevent people from trying to provide for and save their families. It is a symptom of a much larger issue that is not unique to the US or Mexico. It is a problem, however, that can be understood and resolved only through the power of the Gospel. The Armonia ministry was begun with the goal of alleviating this extreme poverty through the power of the Gospel.

Context is always helpful, so a brief history lesson is necessary. Over 500 years ago, Spanish explorers came to Central America looking treasures and riches. They found many fascinating and profitable things, but they also found a native people who didn’t exactly understand who these new people were or what it meant for their way of life. The native peoples initially thought the Spaniards were gods who were part man/part horse whose skin shined like metal and they arrived on floating mountains. In truth they were simply men on horseback with armor who arrived in tall sailing ships. The native peoples had no grid for this new encounter.

The Spaniards then began a wholesale extermination of the native peoples. This continued until 1552 when a friar, Bartolome de las Casas, published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. In this book, Casas pleaded the case of the native peoples of Mexico. The King Phillip II of Spain ordered an end to the extermination of the native peoples as a result of this book. Since extermination was no longer an option, the Spaniards forced the native people off the best lands and into the mountain highlands. Now, 500 years later, these native peoples still live in these mountain highlands. They are the poorest of the poor in the Mexico with little hope of a better life. Generally, these are the Mexicans that in hopes of saving their families illegally cross the border into the US. The dispossession and oppression of these peoples drive them from their own land and to the US in hopes of surviving. The roots of our country’s immigration crisis goes back to before the US was a country.

The Armonia ministry was founded by Dr. Saul Cruz to serve the poorest of the poor in Mexico. Many of the kids in these villages have no chance of getting an education. They have no chance of doing anything in their villages to improve life. They often have no chance. Armonia brings kids from these villages to Casa de Margarita (The Daisy House) to educate them and give them a chance at getting into a university in Mexico City. After graduation, these kids commit to coming back and working with the younger students before they return to their villages to serve. While in the house, the kids are often exposed to the Gospel for the first time. To this day, many of their villages are essentially unreached people groups.

Saul’s ministry flies in the face of conventional wisdom in the West. Our ideas of alleviating poverty often includes giving hand-outs and essentially Marxist or socialist philosophies. He was actually mocked and attacked by a Marxist professor during his PhD defense. His Gospel solution is the only one that will work, but the enemy seeks to continue to oppress people.

Even in the evangelical world, we will descend on a poverty stricken people, hand out bibles, money, and clothes. Then we leave and feel good that we have “shared the Gospel with the poor.” In fact, we’ve only taught them that they don’t need to embrace the call to build cultures that honor God.They simply need to rely on rich western Christians. We teach them that work is something that rich people do. If the poor are lucky, the rich will share with them. We cannot make the poor our “pet projects.” The poor need to recognize that they are created in the image of a Creator God. They have a call to create. They have a call to work. This honors God because it reflects his character. They are stewards of God’s riches every bit as much as Christians in the West. They have to learn this. We have to teach them. When the Church parachutes in and redistibutes our Western wealth, we only hurt and further disadvantage and oppress the poor. The Church must come alongside the poor and empower them to create and to work. Do the poor need our resources? Yes. Do the poor need our money? Yes. Do the poor need our time? Yes. Do the poor need our relationships? Yes. Our obligation is to be radically generous and divinely wise so that we help and not hurt.

In the process of this relationship we verbally proclaim the truth of the Gospel. These two wings (social action and verbal proclamation) allow the Gospel to soar. This is the ministry of Armonia. Armonia helps the poor by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and by empowering the poor of Mexico to serve others.

It is far too tempting in the US to answer the symptoms of poverty. We can try to shut down the border to keep out illegal immigrants. But the answer to this problem is to address the causes of poverty at its root. And that answer is the power of Gospel to redeem broken people. Is this not what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer? “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.” May the God of Grace give us the wisdom of help the poor and disadvantaged.