Do More with Less?

by Marilyn Borst

"Do more with less" usually means to be (more) productive or creative with less money or resources. Business “guru” Bloomberg muses that: “The traditional view, from both the organization’s and employee’s perspective, is all about what employees need to do to help organizations accomplish more with fewer resources.” (Yea…. like that is gonna work!)

I just finished reading an in-depth report, written by one of The Outreach Foundation’s partners in Jordan, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). For the past few years, and with generous gifts from churches and individuals, The Outreach Foundation has supplied funds for MECC’s ministry with some of the 2.7 million – million – Iraqi and Syrian refugees who have sought a haven in this country, which, admirably and with great dignity, refers to them as “guests.”

At the end of the report, which lifts up the recent initiatives MECC has done with these refugees through its “boots on the ground,” the Greek Orthodox Church, and includes the distribution of food and hygiene kits (toothpaste, towel, soap etc.) and also art and drama camps for the children, an assessment is made that echoes Christ’s words in Matthew 25 (…I was hungry and you gave me something to eat….): “This Winter Appeal achieved its purpose, reaching to all the most vulnerable, whether in feeding the hungry or in guarding their dignities through providing their necessities and daily bread; the most important thing that counts at the end is if you have the good intention to reach the hungry, the sick, the stranger, the naked; support will appear and, most important, no matter how humble is the fund, God blesses and doubles and triples.”  

God blesses and doubles and triples…I am reminded, yet again, that in the doing of Kingdom things, and in God’s economy, we really CAN do “more with less” …. because HE “doubles and triples.” Now there is math that we all can use!

Marilyn Borst
Associate Director for Partnership Development