Indifference on Genocide

Pastors, political activists, and concerned citizens beware! Alerting others to mass atrocities may not be the best manner to engender concern and compassion to people in need, according to a recent research article. My suggestion to the natural human reaction to be overwhelmed by mass suffering would be to focus specifically on an individual case of suffering rather than presenting numbers of how many people are actually suffering. I don't think preaching at our need to become sensitive to the actual numbers will work - that is to say I don't think you should force your numbers on people to make them comply. Instead, by focusing on an individual it becomes possible to address larger concerns regardless of this phenomenon.

Boasting

My church had set a goal to raise $160,000 in a single Christmas Eve offering to build a hospital in Malawi. Not only did we surpass that goal (our previous largest Christmas offering was $23,000) but we raised $525,000 and we now have to figure out what to do with the excess, possibly considering building more hospitals. I'm proud to attend Whittier Area Community Church and am glad about how our church is now considering what we can do to show love to the global community and help make a difference.