Quo Vadimus

Five Talents

The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.'
His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.'

Nothing amazes me more than the beauty of God working through people with pure hearts, creative minds and the courage to put both to action. And since I started working with Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, it seems like I come across these people all the time.

One of them I've had the privilege to work with more and more over the past couple years is Craig Cole, the executive director of Five Talents International.

Five Talents International is an Anglican initiative which is committed to combating poverty in the developing world by:

* Equipping the poor with small business training and small loan programs
* Equipping the church with the tools to help the poor in small business
* Showing Christ's love and mercy in thought, word and deed
* Affirming human dignity

In short, it is an amazingly effective way on a small scale to help people help themselves. One of the other amazing people who astound me, Becca Stevens of Magdalene House, calls what she does "changing the world one life at a time." That would apply to 5T's work as well.

And what I also love is the name ... because Five Talents is really what it's all about. Like the Biblical story -- it's all about what you do with what you're given.

But the really amazing thing you find when you start looking around is that there are countless people who are doing things like this. People whose hearts have been moved and minds have been engaged by God's call to help those in need -- and have found in so doing that they are getting the life they need as well.

I got an email today from a professor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA about one of her students (I'll publish the name once I have her permission). She wrote:

"She's a senior this year at Westmont College, back on campus after spending a semester studying with the Houghton in Tanzania Program. She kept us updated on both the beauty and the grinding poverty she saw while she was in Tanzania, and came home committed to keeping up a dialogue between these two parts of her world.

One thing that nagged at her is how bright children were passing the rigorous state exams for grade school, but their families couldn't afford the $40 in expenses to keep them in school for the next year. She knew that she was back on a campus of 1200 students, where everyone can afford a dollar for something. So, she's sitting in front of the dining commons this week, challenging students (and faculty and staff along with them) to give her one dollar.

She has great faith, and she's convinced that by the end of the week, she'll have enough money to mail off to her contact in Tanzania so that he can help 30 children enroll in school for the year. I've seen her faith at work, and I won't be surprised if there's enough there for many more than 30 children when she is done."

It's a perfect five talents story. A story of what you can do with what you've been given if you just let your heart and mind run free.

And the most amazing thing is that the story is right. When we use what we have to create more for others, we share in God's joy. It's such a simple equation, it's a wonder everyone isn't doing it.

But a lot of people are.

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Mike at 10/03/2005 03:56:00 PM

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