If you’re in the process of deciding whether you should volunteer in a soup kitchen near home or in one somewhere in Somalia, read on. The choice between serving near or far recently confronted 2011 Pepperdine alumnus Phoenix Eyre, and his conclusions are worth sharing.
If you’ve met Eyre, you know what it is to witness a fireball of energy in human form. I have met few people as stoked as he is on life, Jesus and to whomever he is speaking. After graduating, Eyre started the Global Christian Taskforce (GCT), an ecumenical organization working to form a worldwide network of Christians to better minister to the needy. He heard God’s call to this path in India last winter, where he witnessed people in dire situations and only a handful of overworked missionaries to help them. He thinks that inter-denominational cooperation and greater giving could improve the situation.
It turns out that even if you are following God, you still have to strategize. While spending the past week at Abilene Christian University’s Bible Lectures, representing the GCT, Eyre was encouraged to rethink the organization’s outreach model. Some people advised him that instead of organizing global missions, as he had planned, he should help the needy in our own country. This is a fair point. It’s a mistake to skip over the legitimate needs of our own neighbors for the sake of foreign ones. Additionally, travel to distant lands requires more resources. Not only do we face the challenge of navigating a different political and cultural system, we drop major cash on travel and shipping. Working locally can make a more sustainable and economical difference.
Serving locally also has a healthy humility about it. It’s not exotic, it’s not an adventure, and it attracts less attention to your heroism. It’s just meeting people’s needs that you witness as you go about your life.
At the same time, it’s impossible to argue that material need in the U.S. is anywhere near as great as in other countries. We have government programs for the destitute, at the very least. Compared to the impoverished existence of many around the world, America’s poor live a decent life. In addition, from a Christian perspective, there is a higher chance of reaching someone for Christ in a country where the gospel is not common knowledge. As Eyre saw in India, there are so many opportunities outside our borders.
Should we prioritize service near or far? To answer this question for yourself, you must choose between using resources most directly (nearer to home) or using them to help those who need it most (outside our borders). There’s no right answer, but you’ll make a wiser decision if you keep this in mind. You may be able to find an effective compromise between the two.
In seeking such a compromise, Eyre plans several changes for the GCT:
1. The GCT’s first ministry will be near its headquarters in Portland, Ore. This way it can spend conservatively in its first months and gain experience in a safer, more familiar environment.
2. Instead of starting a new mission campaign in a different country each year, the GCT will remain at a site for three to five years, allowing it to build on momentum that it creates through contacts and familiarity.
3. No matter where the GCT is focusing its efforts at any given time, the organization will always provide a resource network and funding for existing ministries around the world so they can work globally and efficiently at the same time.
These are just examples of ways to plan service that is both efficient and far reaching; experiment to find your own path.
Finally, if you do leave the U.S., remember that you don’t have to go all the way to Africa or Asia in order to find people in extreme need. Our neighbors in Haiti and Mexico are much closer and offer many opportunities to serve.
If you choose to go far, work as sustainably as possible. If you choose to stay local, work with a global awareness: It’s a balance.
