When you consider how much good, edible food is thrown away on a daily basis by restaurants and grocery stores, it is shocking that we actually have people in America, and in our very community, that go hungry.  I mean, how does that happen?!

 

Even in the toughest of economic times, I would argue that there is absolutely no shortage of food in this country, as evidenced by the 165 billion dollars of food we waste each year (voluntarily, I might add). (http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-ip.pdf)

 

Whether it be fighting against hunger or any other societal issue, our greatest problem in America is NOT a lack of resources.  Rather, it is our mismanagement of the resources God has already given us.  Having more resources does not always fix the problems we face.  In fact, many times, less is more…. and more can actually just make the problem worse.

 

We do not need more (fill in the blank)  to address the (fill in the blank) epidemic.  What we need is more collaboration and better coordination of resources.

Sometimes in our good-intentioned efforts to fix the problem, we create more problems, such as misallocation of resources and duplication of efforts.  Ironically, in America, the more social programs we erect, the more the needs seem to arise; and the more we produce, the more we tend to waste.  Tragically, in the end, we have an over-abundance of resources that are inevitably wasted, while poverty still increases.

 

It doesn’t make a lot of sense; yet, shamefully, we keep doing it.

 

Is the Church part of the problem or the solution?

The law of synergy teaches us that the whole is always greater than the sum of the individual parts.  Cohesive partnerships will always outperform the collection of individual efforts.  The very term, synergy, derives from the Greek word that means “working together.”  So, are we, the local churches, working  together or are we working independently to address our community’s needs?

 

It’s a relevant and necessary question if, in fact, our independent efforts are causing duplication and wasteful use of Kingdom resources.

 

Consider that, in the Parma and surrounding area, we have somewhere between 80 to 100 churches.  In just Parma alone, there are roughly 60 churches within a 20 square mile radius (http://comamb.org/index.php/area-churches).  This equates to about 3 churches per square mile (3:1).  With this kind of ratio, it begs the following questions:

 

1.  Are we utilizing our outreach ministries
          and resources in the most effective
          manner?

2.  Are we offering ministries or resources
          that are being provided more effectively
          elsewhere in the community?

3.  Can we/should we collaborate with other
          organizations (city administration, school 
          district, local businesses, neighboring 
          churches, etc.) in order to achieve better
          outcomes?

4.  Is working alone better than working
          together?

 

Bottom line

Conventional wisdom would suggest that more “money” or more “food”  or more “programs” will fix our community’s biggest challenges.  However, again, the problem is not a matter of having enough resources.  It’s a problem of coordinating and distributing the resources we already have in the most effective manner.  As the Church, we should be standing at the front lines, demonstrating to our community the excellence and efficacy of biblical, stewardship principles.  We do this, not on our own or by increasing our personal efforts, but by collaboration.  Collaboration should never be an option.  It should be the only way.