Christian humanitarian aid is work performed by Christian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to alleviate the suffering of people around the world.

Charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

is a concept of great importance in

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

. Humanitarian aid occurs in areas where some churches donate financial resources and get involved in order to show

compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on n ...

Origins

The modern concept of Christian humanitarian aid is based on teachings from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

and providing assistance to the poor are concepts established in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. According to

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * E ...

, part of one's

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

was devoted to the needy (

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

s, widows, foreigners). In the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

taught much about the subject of charity. In the

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It ...

, 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 The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First, a Jewish priest and then ...

, he described the medical care paid by a Samaritan to a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

(both peoples were enemies), as a model of love for his neighbor.

Paul of Tarsus Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

has also raised funds for the underprivileged. Dating back as early as the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

and

monastic orders Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important ro ...

have a long tradition of providing charity, asylum, and assistance to the poor.E. Ferris
Faith-based and secular humanitarian organizations
''International Review of the Red Cross'' 87, 858 (2005), pages 311-325

Protestant churches Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

established the Department of

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

s 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 Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are ...

. In the 19th century, the first Christian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) began emerging.

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

NGO, was created in 1844 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Caritas, a Catholic NGO, was founded in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

in 1897. The entrepreneurial culture of

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

churches also led to their creation of multiple NGOs.E. Fayner
World Vision:l'ONG la plus riche au monde
, ''Témoignage chrétien'', October 21, 2010 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 a Christian religious organization * Explicit references to a Christian religion in its statutes * Financial support from a Christian religious organization * Selection of its Board of Directors or teams based on Christian principles or religious affiliation * Decision-making based on Christian religious principles 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

and

mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...

. In some NGOs, such as

Mercy Ships Mercy Ships is an international charity that operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world, providing humanitarian aid like free health care, community development projects, community health education, mental health programs ...

, 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

NGOs do not mix

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

and

evangelization In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are ...

. 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 Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, 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 The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

. 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: * NGOs related to the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

and those of the group of

Caritas Internationalis Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Collectively and individually, their missions are to work to build a bet ...

spend over a billion dollars a year in aid and development. * The

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

has a budget of $73 million for aid and development. * According to a 1953 study, religious NGOs gave 90% of the assistance provided after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. * According to William Headley of (

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

), 1/3 of the persons living with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

in the world are treated with the help of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. 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

humanitarian

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

, there are

and Emmaus International. See also

Catholic charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and s ...

International Protestant organizations

At the level of international

humanitarian

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

, there are church-related organizations such as

Lutheran World Relief Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is an international non-governmental organization that focuses on sustainable development projects and disaster relief and recovery. The organization was founded in 1945 to collect and send aid to people living in p ...

and

United Methodist Committee on Relief The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian aid and development organization of the United Methodist Church (UMC). UMCOR is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization operated under the auspices of the General Board of Globa ...

. The largest NGO

Protestant international not directly attached to a church is the

International Evangelical organizations

In the 1940s, in the United States, neo-evangelicalism developed the importance of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals ...

and humanitarian actions in

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 World Vision International is an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organization. It prefers to present itself as interdenominational and also employs staff from non-evangelical Christian denominations. It was ...

(1950),

Samaritan's Purse Samaritan's Purse is an Evangelicalism, evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides aid to people in physical need as a key part of its Christian missionary work. The organization's president is Franklin Graham, son of Chri ...

(1970),

(1978), Prison Fellowship International (1979),

International Justice Mission International Justice Mission is an international, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization focused on human rights, law and law enforcement. Founded in 1997 by lawyer Gary Haugen of the United States, it is based in Washington, D.C. All IJM emp ...

(1997).

Problems and critics

* Conflicts of collaboration have occurred between Catholic

s and non-confessional NGOs in the fight against

, mainly because of different views on the use of

condoms A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of inte ...

. * In

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

, some Christian NGOs are criticized for their activity of

. According to the sociologist Geoffrey Martin, there is no overall policy, but some employees of Christian NGOs distribute bibles to the people they assist.

aid has been criticized by more traditional Christian NGOs because they have not separated evangelism and humanitarian aid, which could affect all Christian humanitarian NGOs. * It has been difficult for some Christian and Muslim NGOs to collaborate. * In areas of armed conflict, some Christian NGOs have been criticized for not respecting the principle of neutrality. * Some have criticized the actions of

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

as "an imperialist enterprise of the Catholic Church, against an Eastern population, in an oriental city" and a "cult of suffering" little concerned about hygiene. * According to Tamsin Bradley, who performed a study in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

(

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

), faith and compassion occasionally result in members of Christian NGOs overlooking the actual needs of people they assist, as well as their long-term needs.Tamsin Bradley
Does Compassion Bring Results? a Critical Perspective on Faith and Development
''Culture and Religion'' 6 (3) (2005), pages 337-351

References

External links

{{Portal, Christianity * Elizabeth Ferris,
Faith-based and secular humanitarian organizations
, ''International Review of the Red Cross'' 87, 858 (2005), pages 311-325 * Christopher L. Pallas,
Canterbury to Cameroon: a new partnership between faiths and the World Bank
, ''Development in Practice'' 15, 5 (2005) Humanitarian aid Christian practices