DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70004#0203
201
This account is only able to provide an insight into some of the most important
characteristics of church development work, using the example of the churches
and church organisations working in Zambia. Because of a bias towards provid-
ing for the basic needs of marginal groups, and an emphasis on self-help, which
is much greater than with state projects, its success is dependent on the pre-
paredness and the motivation of the workers involved. In this lie considerable
dangers, but also great opportunities. At the end of a study of Adventists and
Jehovah’s Witnesses3 in the Luapula Province, POEWE (1978, 319) stressed
that it is evident from these religious communities that change in behaviour
and the acceptance of new work methods and attitudes are also possible in
very traditional societies. One cannot fail to agree when it is pointed out,
in respect of development work, “that to provide capital and machinery for a
prepared population is, after all, like placing seed into fertile soil. It may also
spell the difference between evolution and underdevelopment” (loc.cit.).
Notes to Chapter VIII
1 Thus, for example, Protestant theologians are more cautious to use the notion of develop-
ment since it is often linked with cultural optimism (SCHWEITZER 1970, 7).
2 The information used was collected during several visits in the second half of 1984 to the
Catholic Secretariat, to the Zambian Christian Council and to the office of World Vision in
Lusaka. It is based both on written reports and on informal interviews.
3 The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religious group which, according to the author’s knowledge,
have yet to be drawn into any church or state run development projects.
This account is only able to provide an insight into some of the most important
characteristics of church development work, using the example of the churches
and church organisations working in Zambia. Because of a bias towards provid-
ing for the basic needs of marginal groups, and an emphasis on self-help, which
is much greater than with state projects, its success is dependent on the pre-
paredness and the motivation of the workers involved. In this lie considerable
dangers, but also great opportunities. At the end of a study of Adventists and
Jehovah’s Witnesses3 in the Luapula Province, POEWE (1978, 319) stressed
that it is evident from these religious communities that change in behaviour
and the acceptance of new work methods and attitudes are also possible in
very traditional societies. One cannot fail to agree when it is pointed out,
in respect of development work, “that to provide capital and machinery for a
prepared population is, after all, like placing seed into fertile soil. It may also
spell the difference between evolution and underdevelopment” (loc.cit.).
Notes to Chapter VIII
1 Thus, for example, Protestant theologians are more cautious to use the notion of develop-
ment since it is often linked with cultural optimism (SCHWEITZER 1970, 7).
2 The information used was collected during several visits in the second half of 1984 to the
Catholic Secretariat, to the Zambian Christian Council and to the office of World Vision in
Lusaka. It is based both on written reports and on informal interviews.
3 The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religious group which, according to the author’s knowledge,
have yet to be drawn into any church or state run development projects.