As 127 collaborates with our partners to address the root causes of family-fracturing, poverty, and other evidences of brokenness, we prioritize gospel-centrality in two primary ways. First, we support projects that foster gospel proclamation. We want the vulnerable communities our partners serve to hear and believe the message that Jesus Christ died for sinners and rose again to secure eternal life and relationship with God for his followers. Evangelism is critical to achieving flourishing for vulnerable communities because people who are rightly aligned to God also become rightly aligned to the people around them. As new Christians learn to obey the Bible’s commands to care for the vulnerable, they begin meeting the needs of their community and contributing to human flourishing.

The second way our commitment to gospel-centrality plays out is that 127 actually helps our partners promote healthy churches as part of or near their ministries. When people in these vulnerable communities come to faith, they need a local church to commit to. 127 supports the planting and development of healthy churches in the communities where our partners serve.

The Chalmers Center does an excellent job of explaining why gospel proclamation and healthy local churches are critical to empowering vulnerable communities. Read the article below to learn more about how 127 pursuing these two initiatives is actually the foundation for development work.

What Does the Lord’s Supper Have to Do with Poverty Alleviation? – The Chalmers Center