Christian humanitarian aid


Christian humanitarian aid is work performed by Christian non-governmental organizations to alleviate the suffering of people around the world. Charity is a concept of great importance in Christianity. Humanitarian aid occurs in areas where some churches donate financial resources and get involved in order to show compassion.

Origins

The modern concept of Christian humanitarian aid is based on teachings from the Bible. Charity and providing assistance to the poor are concepts established in the Old Testament. According to Exodus, part of one's tithe was devoted to the needy. In the New Testament, Jesus taught much about the subject of charity. In the Sermon on the Mount, he called for people to help not only friends but also enemies, as well as those rejected by society, such as people with disabilities. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, he described the medical care paid by a Samaritan to a Jew, as a model of love for his neighbor. Paul of Tarsus has also raised funds for the underprivileged.
Dating back as early as the Middle Ages, Catholic monasteries and monastic orders have a long tradition of providing charity, asylum, and assistance to the poor. Protestant churches established the Department of Deacons responsible for helping the poor. Missionary societies of the 18th and 19th centuries often offered humanitarian assistance in addition to their main activity of evangelism.
In the 19th century, the first Christian non-governmental organizations began emerging. YMCA, a Protestant NGO, was created in 1844 in London. Caritas, a Catholic NGO, was founded in Cologne in 1897. The entrepreneurial culture of Evangelical churches also led to their creation of multiple NGOs.
Like the humanitarian movement, Christian NGOs attracted more attention in the 1970s. Some Christian NGOs, such as those run by evangelical doctors providing medical assistance in impoverished countries, are recognized for their contributions to development.

Features and Benefits

A Christian humanitarian NGO has at least one of the following traits:
Affiliation with local Christian churches across the world often make it possible for Christian NGOs to work in countries or regions that are otherwise difficult for governmental or international organizations to access. The international network of many Christian religions allows their NGOs to gather significant funding and publicity to promote their humanitarian actions across the world.

Humanitarian staff

In some Christian NGOs, the staff is not only Christian. However, common spiritual values are a common feature among Christian NGO employees and volunteers. According to Christian aid workers, their commitment is motivated by spiritual values of compassion and mercy. In some NGOs, such as Mercy Ships, all employees are volunteers and have to pay for accommodation and food, as well as work for free.

Intervention policies

The majority of Christian NGOs help everyone, regardless of religion. With the growth of secularization in some countries, some Christian NGOs have downplayed their religious identity. In some NGOs this depends on the cultural context of the national antenna.
Contrary to certain clichés, many Evangelical NGOs do not mix humanitarian and evangelization. But on the other hand, some evangelical NGOs can not provide help without accompanying evangelization. The diversity of evangelical movements makes both scenarios possible. In some parts of the world, as on the African continent, local culture places a great deal of importance on spiritual things, which makes it difficult for some people to understand or accept the work of Humanitarian NGOs that do not display their religious identity.

Results and budgets

In 2007, Christian NGOs comprised 57.4% of the NGOs affiliated with the United Nations.
According to a British study by Elizabeth Ferris, published in 2005 in the periodical ''International Review of the Red Cross", Christian NGOs have large budgets and provide considerable financial support worldwide. This same study gives the following figures:
According to sociologist Sébastien Fath, Evangelical churches and their respective NGOs develop an international humanitarian entrepreneurship that influences policy decisions. Therefore, they are unavoidable geopolitical players in the humanitarian field.

International Catholic Organizations

Among the most important International Catholic Humanitarian NGOs, there are Caritas Internationalis and Emmaus International.

International Protestant Organizations

At the level of international Protestant humanitarian NGO, there are church-related organizations such as Lutheran World Relief and United Methodist Committee on Relief. The largest NGO humanitarian Protestant international not directly attached to a church is the YMCA.

International Evangelical Organizations

At the beginning of the 20th century, the American Baptist pastor Walter Rauschenbusch, leader of the Social Gospel movement, developed the importance of social justice and humanitarian actions in Evangelical churches. The majority of evangelical Christian humanitarian organizations were founded in the second half of the 20th century. Among those with the most partner countries, there was the foundation of World Vision International, Samaritan's Purse, Mercy Ships, Prison Fellowship International, International Justice Mission.

Problems and critics