The Christian world has been abuzz all week about World Vision's position on hiring homosexuals. First they announced that they would hire them and then, after much negative reaction from the Christian community, they retracted the decision. The blogosphere has been on fire with the debate raging back and forth on the issue of homosexuality. It seems to me that lost in the whole debate is a rather sad fact. World Vision has not been a Christian organization for a very long time - and that is sad.
When World Vision began, it unashamedly claimed to feed children physically and spiritually. Somewhere around fifteen to twenty years ago, the organization quietly decided to jettison the Gospel in favour of just feeding children. Please don't get me wrong. I am glad that they feed children. I am glad that secular groups such as CARE and Save the Children's Fund feed children. However, I am profoundly saddened by the fact that World Vision has chosen to do so much less for children than they once did.
Let me see if I can make my point in another way. If the original mandate of a care agency was to feed children and to build hospitals that would be fine. However, if over time that agency decided that they were going to stop building hospitals and just feed children they would be doing less - and that would be sad. I would still be pleased that they were feeding children, but I would still believe they were doing less for the care of those children than they once did.
This is what makes me sad about World Vision. World Vision once did both. It fed children and it shared the eternal life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am glad that they have not stopped feeding children. But I mourn the fact that they are doing much less for the care of children than they once did. In the name of doing more for children around the world, they are, in fact, doing much less to care for those kids. Their vision for the world has become so much less than Jesus' vision for the little children to come unto him.
When World Vision began, it unashamedly claimed to feed children physically and spiritually. Somewhere around fifteen to twenty years ago, the organization quietly decided to jettison the Gospel in favour of just feeding children. Please don't get me wrong. I am glad that they feed children. I am glad that secular groups such as CARE and Save the Children's Fund feed children. However, I am profoundly saddened by the fact that World Vision has chosen to do so much less for children than they once did.
Let me see if I can make my point in another way. If the original mandate of a care agency was to feed children and to build hospitals that would be fine. However, if over time that agency decided that they were going to stop building hospitals and just feed children they would be doing less - and that would be sad. I would still be pleased that they were feeding children, but I would still believe they were doing less for the care of those children than they once did.
This is what makes me sad about World Vision. World Vision once did both. It fed children and it shared the eternal life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am glad that they have not stopped feeding children. But I mourn the fact that they are doing much less for the care of children than they once did. In the name of doing more for children around the world, they are, in fact, doing much less to care for those kids. Their vision for the world has become so much less than Jesus' vision for the little children to come unto him.
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