The church can end extreme poverty

CNN: The church can end extreme poverty Scott Todd

(CNN)–Here’s a headline I haven’t read or heard yet: We’re winning the battle against extreme poverty.

I know that sounds unbelievable, but it’s not. It’s just that we’re conditioned to believe the opposite is true. …

… But I believe there is a better story when it comes to extreme poverty and long-term solutions. People are often surprised to hear this, but I am rationally optimistic about the destruction of extreme poverty. There’s no anesthetic needed because we’re winning.

Consider that from 2000-2008, 78% fewer children died from measles.

Malaria infections have plummeted by 19 million cases per year between 2005 and 2009.

We used to say 40,000 children under 5 died every day from preventable causes. No more. In 2010, that number is 21,000.

We’ve dramatically slowed the spread of HIV infections.

And most of all, 26% of the world’s population now exists in extreme poverty. That’s a staggering number until you realize that it is half of what it was in 1981. We’ve cut the extreme global poverty rate in half in just 30 years.

Let me say that I don’t believe in the magic power of positive thinking or soft, Pollyanna optimism. I don’t subscribe to naïve idealistic platitudes. But I do believe that churches—thinking creatively and working strategically—have done and are yet to do amazingly redemptive things.

This is really the strength of my optimism. Governments have their role. Charitable organizations have theirs. But no entity has the reach, the placement and the backbone to meet the needs of the poor, as do the churches located in the world’s poorest communities. …