Both/And, Not Either/Or
I just returned from Geneva, Switzerland where I had the opportunity to meet with leaders of The Global Fund, the organization that raises money and provides significant grants to deal with HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis and malaria across the world. I was joined there by a small group of United Methodist leaders who are working with our Global Health Initiative, as well as three representatives of the Lutheran Church.
Since its inception less than 10 years ago, the Global Fund’s strategy has been to blanket a country with attention-- to focus direct help so that the goal of eliminating malaria might be reached there. This approach is very different from just helping one clinic or hospital, and it makes sense. If you put a bed net over one child in a community, what does that say about the other children in the community who don’t receive a net? And if you blanket one community with bed nets, mosquitoes still bite residents in neighboring areas. But if you blanket an entire country, the playing field is leveled and everyone there has a chance to live. This systematic approach to dealing with malaria is, I believe, a key to actually eliminating it.
I also believe that our work in making the globe healthier by dealing with the killer diseases of HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, and malaria must be a BOTH/AND approach. We must both raise money AND meet needs. We must both support a clinic or hospital AND focus on an entire country. We must both buy a net for $10 to save one child’s life AND raise $75 million to impact lives on an entire continent. We must actively do this both as United Methodists AND as a global partner with a whole host of other groups who share the same goal and are working for the same result.
Our tendency is to see our work and ministry as an EITHER/OR proposition. To make a difference, whether in evangelism or mission, we must bring hope, healing and salvation to individuals AND do so with the goal of transforming a community, a village, a country, a continent, and even the world in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
That’s the way malaria will be no more. It’s also the way in which we’ll reverse the decline of our denomination, find unity in our differences, and sense a common purpose in our efforts to grow the church and bring renewed vitality to our work.
It’s BOTH/AND, never EITHER/OR.
May it be so.
The Journey Continues, . . .
By: Bishop Thomas Bickerton On 7/27/2009