Teach a Man to Fish

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

The same basic principle applies to missions work. Too many churches and other missions organizations over-emphasize Relief Aid―no-strings-attached, handouts of vital supplies given in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. While necessary and lifesaving, Relief Aid is only a temporary fix. Once the funds dry up and the ground team leaves, the impoverished community is often no better off than they were before.

In Teach a Man to Fish, the authors illustrate the benefits of “wholistic transformational development,” where―through engagement with the local church― the community is empowered to identify and carry out long-term sustainable solutions to meet its own needs. A few of the steps that “wholistic transformational development” includes are: Give dignity to “the least of these,” address the root causes of poverty to provide solutions for the affected, and help the vulnerable to become empowered in their own communities.

Filled with real-life stories from the authors’ own experiences, Teach a Man to Fish provides churches and missions organizations with a blueprint for helping people help themselves in order to create lasting change and long-term sustainability and independence.

1. Opening Credits
2. Dedication
3. Foreword by Steve Saint
4. Preface
5. Part 1: How We Learned Cross-Cultural Partnership
6. Chapter 1: Let's Go Together
7. Chapter 2: Eighty-Five People We Can't Help!
8. Chapter 3: Florence and the Missionaries
9. Chapter 4: United in Prayer in Kabul
10. Chapter 5: Overwhelmed on Christmas Eve in Ethiopia
11. Chapter 6: An Invitation to a Different Way
12. Part 2: Principles of Transformational Development
13. Chapter 7: What Is Transformational Development?
14. Chapter 8: The Importance of Prayer
15. Chapter 9: Living with an External Perspective
16. Chapter 10: Loving the Whole Person
17. Chapter 11: Using Relief and Development Wisely
18. Chapter 12: Short-Term Missions in Partnership
19. Chapter 13: Don't Seek the Glory
20. Chapter 14: Program Ownership by the Local Church
21. Chapter 15: Disciples Making Disciples
22. Chapter 16: Collaborating in Unity
23. Chapter 17: Following a Strategy
24. Chapter 18: Putting It All Together
25. Part 3: Lasting Fruit
26. Chapter 19: Where Is the Fruit
27. Chapter 20: Stories of Fruit
28. Chapter 21: Fruit in a Rural Community
29. Chapter 22: Fruit in a Capital City
30. Chapter 23: Fruit in Africa's Largest Slum
31. Chapter 24: Impact Assessment Study
32. Part 4: How This Affects You
33. Chapter 25: The New Missions Landscape
34. Chapter 26: Shaping a Kingdom Mindset
35. Closing Credits