Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy: The Journal of the Accord Network

Strong Together: Building Partnerships Across Cultures in an Age of Distrust by Andrea Nelson Trice

Roxanne Addink de Graaf — 2024-11-13

Spiritual Metrics as a Bulwark Against Secularization

David Bronkema — 2024-11-13

One of the problems that Christian relief, development, and advocacy organizations wrestle with is how to ensure that their programs are holistic in terms of integrating the spiritual with the material. This article explores how and why being intentional about including spiritual metrics into our planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation processes holds great promise to enable that integration to be done well, and to guard against the “secularization” of those efforts.

“Spiritual Metrics as a Bulwark Against Secularization”

David Bronkema — 2024-11-13

Almost a year and a half ago, on May 4, 2023, the Accord Research Alliance (ARA) community of practice of the Accord Network organized a virtual symposium to discuss David Bronkema’s “Spiritual Metrics as a Bulwark Against Secularization: Reflections on Jayakumar Christian’s Words at the ARA on “Slicing Off” the Spiritual.” The purpose of the symposium, and of Bronkema’s thought piece that underpinned it (and published as part of this issue of the journal), was to tackle the critique advanced by Jayakumar Christian in the ARA pre-conference intensive of October 2022 on the danger of engaging in spiritual metrics in a way that separated out the spiritual from everything else. The symposium was moderated by Peter Howard of the Accord Network. The first part consisted of introductory remarks by David Bronkema (a professor at Eastern University) and responses to Bronkema’s paper by Jayakumar Christian (former National Director, World Vision India), James Waters (founder and director Kingdom Impact, Ltd.), Katie Toop (senior director of transformational development at World Concern), Subodh Kumar (vice president of mission impact for Food for the Hungry), and Victor Cortez (regional director for Latin America at Water Mission). This was followed by a discussion in which David Bronkema and Jayakumar Christian responded to the comments that had been proffered, after which the respondents were given the opportunity a to add their own observations to the discussion. Below is an edited version of the remarks at the symposium. The full recording of the symposium can be found at https://vimeo.com/823841424.

Multiplying Impact for Smallholder Farmers

Scott Sabin — 2024-11-13

Smallholder farmers around the world often find themselves at the nexus of poverty and environmental degradation. Promotion of savings groups has become a well-recognized strategy for addressing poverty. Evidence shows that while savings group promotion can result in positive impact, these results are often small. This paper examines a quasi-experimental (difference-in-differences) study of an integrated approach to savings group promotion, combining a savings methodology with participatory training in regenerative agriculture/agroecology techniques. After 2 years of participation, farmers who participated in both church-based savings group activities and regenerative agriculture training saw positive change across economic, environmental, and spiritual dimensions, with the treatment group experiencing a 39% decrease in poverty as measured by a multidimensional poverty index relative to the control group. Results support the integration of savings methodologies with agricultural training to multiply impact among smallholder farmer communities.

A Pilot Study of a Combined Faith-Based Recovery and Financial Literacy Program

Jason Paltzer — 2024-11-13

Background: Faith-based recovery models are available for individuals seeking help with substance use. Combining a Christian recovery program with financial goal setting is a novel approach to enhancing recovery support. This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of a combined faith-based recovery plus financial literacy program.

Methods: Participants (n=33) were recruited from residential recovery homes in Phoenix, Arizona, to participate in one of two groups: a Resilient Recovery alone group or a Resilient Recovery plus Faith & Finances group. Recovery, spiritual well-being, forgiveness, perceptions of God, religious coping, and financial behaviors were measured at three points to assess change over time.

Results: Resilient Recovery + Faith & Finances program participants showed some decrease in problems associated with their substance use. Individuals receiving Resilient Recovery alone had positive feelings of spiritual well-being. The correlations were weak to moderate among both groups.

Discussion and Conclusion: A combined recovery with financial literacy was feasible, but the short duration of the intervention was a limitation. The results did not determine effectiveness in the recovery, spiritual, and financial outcomes measured. Still, the study provides lessons for future research and implementation of an integrated approach, including the use of a single facilitator, consistent meeting schedule, and conducting both programs concurrently rather than consecutively. More extensive and longer studies are needed to account for additional confounding and socio-demographic factors related to recovery and spiritual outcomes. Alignment between Christian health and development programs and research measures related to the content is needed to better understand effectiveness and causal mechanisms.

Editors' Introduction

Roland Hoksbergen — 2024-11-13