Anyone can point out problems.
It takes people of faith, tenacity, and camaraderie to pinpoint solutions.
And that’s just what churches around our city and across this nation are doing in the face of some of the world’s most intractable problems.
So, in a tribute to some Solutionist-Style churches, here are five you may not be aware of:
1. Solving the dilemma of clean drinking water in India. Granger Community Church in Indiana defines the concept of going “narrow and deep” in its international mission strategy. This Methodist Mega Church repeatedly delivers people, resources, and expertise to Tamil Nadu state in southern India. In particular, they have developed a system of building and maintaining wells in under-resourced villages in remote areas of that state. Granger captures its story in a gorgeous coffee table book called Share The Well.
2. Finding Solutions For School Inequity in Charlotte. Christ Lutheran Church in southeast Charlotte has a partnership with McClintock Middle School that is so effective and so comprehensive that is names sounds like a hamburger: McPIE. To find out more about McClintock Partners In Education, click here.
3. Inventive Approach To Solving The Foster Care Crisis in Mecklenburg County. Grace Covenant Church in Cornelius has had its heart stirred with the plight of children who are part of the foster care system. So the congregation developed The Father’s Heart, a ministry that both raises awareness of and invites participation in the ministry of foster care and adoption. You can read about The Father’s Heart here.
4. Solving World Hunger, one MRE at a time. You didn’t think I’d leave Good Shepherd out, did you? In 2014, we led the Million Meal March in southwest Mecklenburg and northern York counties. Good Shepherd’s own total on that Sunday morning was over 254,000 meals, as for one Sunday at least, people didn’t hear a sermon; they were the sermon. Here’s how we put a face to all that food.
5. Solutions for human trafficking, one survivor at a time. “Human trafficking” is the sanitized version of saying “rape for profit.” That’s what the “business” actually is. And the people of Good Shepherd hate that industry and what it does to adolescents around the world. So in early 2013, we embarked on the Home project — healing our own homes while building a home that heals. $400,000 on one day . . . and today girls are living in freedom instead of depravity.
This kind of solution-centered faith is at the heart of the book Solve, scheduled for May 17 release. You can pre-order copies here.
