Teach a Man to Fish: Engaging the Local Church to Create Sustainable, Transformational Missions

You’ve probably heard the old saying, ＂Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.＂

The same basic principle applies to missions work. Too many churches and other missions organizations over-emphasize Relief Aid--no-strings-attached, handouts of vital supplies given in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. While necessary and lifesaving, Relief Aid is only a temporary fix. Once the funds dry up and the ground team leaves, the impoverished community is often no better off than they were before.

In Teach a Man to Fish, the authors illustrate the benefits of ＂wholistic transformational development,＂ where--through engagement with the local church-- the community is empowered to identify and carry out long-term sustainable solutions to meet its own needs. A few of the steps that ＂wholistic transformational development＂ includes are:

• Give dignity to ＂the least of these＂
• Address the root causes of poverty to provide solutions for the affected
• Help the vulnerable to become empowered in their own communities

Filled with real-life stories from the authors’ own experiences, Teach a Man to Fish provides churches and missions organizations with a blueprint for helping people help themselves in order to create lasting change and long-term sustainability and independence.