WHY A PARTNERSHIP WITH BAPTIST WORLD AID AUSTRALIA

The bible tells us that God created a world sufficient to sustain the needs of all people (Genesis 1:29-30).

Why then are 900 million people going hungry every day? Why are more than 9 million children dying each year from treatable diseases such as diarrhoea, measles and malaria? Why is it that over 1 billion of our fellow human beings cannot access clean drinking water?

Scripture suggests the problem lies not in the creation—which though fallen remains ‘good’ and able to nourish humankind and the animals (Genesis 8:22; 1 Timothy 4:4; Psalm 104); nor is the problem in God, who sends sunshine and rain on the just and unjust alike (Matthew 5:43-48), or (usually) with the poor. While Scripture recognises that poverty can be self inflicted through failings such as laziness (Proverbs 20:13), it normally sees poverty as the result of injustice (Proverbs 13:23, Isaiah 58, James 5:1-6). That is, people fall into poverty because they are excluded from access to the earth, to a decent income, to affordable credit, to health care, to education, to a voice in the running of their communities.

This is why Commit to Community projects focus on helping build safe, just, equitable and inclusive communities. Long term solutions to poverty require much more than the provision of food or wells. Commit to Community helps empower poor households and communities to build their skills, gain access to services, find affordable credit, demand justice, develop livelihoods and participate fully in community decision making processes. By building communities such as these, the root causes of poverty are addressed.

Will you join us?

Available resources