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31 
 

 

Faith Integration and Christian Witness in 

Relief and Development:  

 Reflections and Practical Guidance  

for Field Teams 

Ray Norman and Odoi Odotei 

 

 
This paper examines practical opportunities to strengthen faith integration within relief and 

development field teams through intentional development of a shared understanding of Christian 

witness, leveraging Christian identity (through the development of messaging statements), recognizing 

“sacramental moments,” engaging faith leaders and understanding unique opportunities that exist 

when working with mixed faith teams. Field teams often struggle to effectively and consistently 

integrate their Christian faith in their technical programs. Many are comprised of staff who have 

professional training and/or technical backgrounds, but little theological training or experience with 

how their Christian faith can practically inform the way their field programs are implemented. Field 

teams may also be comprised of individuals with diverse denominational backgrounds and Christian 

faith traditions, and some team members may even be of another faith, which can present challenges 

in developing a team-owned approach to Christian witness. Moreover, field teams may work among 

mixed-faith, or other-faith communities, which can present unique challenges for how Christian faith 

is appropriately integrated in the relief or development milieu. In addition to examining the 

aforementioned opportunities, this paper suggests best practices, along with practical considerations 

and steps to develop applicable methods, especially for restricted contexts. While these suggested 

practices have been developed in the context of World Vision’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 

(WASH) programs, the methods presented should be easily adaptable for field activities in other 

development sectors.  

 

 

 
 

 

Introduction 

 
This paper offers perspectives and approaches for 

the integration of Christian witness in relief and 

development work. It provides some practical 

suggestions and guidance on how to assist technical field 

teams to better “own” the responsibility of Christian 

faith integration and more consistently engage in 

effective forms of Christian witness within the unique 

yet often challenging contexts in which they work.  

Furthermore, the paper draws on initiatives 

developed in World Vision’s Water, Sanitation and 

                                                        
1 In this paper the term “other-faith communities” refers to those that are predominantly of faiths other than Christianity, and where 

more explicit or direct forms of open Christian witness are generally restricted. World Vision’s internal preference is to use “other-

faith” terminology, rather than “non-Christian” terminology which can carry connotations that seem negative or exclusive. “Mixed-

faith” communities are those comprised of both Christians and individuals of another faith, such as Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist.  

Hygiene (WASH) program, where intentional steps 

have been taken to integrate aspects of Christian faith 

into field programs. In addition to World Vision’s aim 

of integrating its Christian values in its approaches to 

relief, development, and advocacy work, the WASH 

program has been compelled to develop these 

initiatives and guidelines for two primary reasons. First, 

many of the communities where WASH programs are 

implemented are other-faith majority contexts, where 

explicit or direct forms of Christian witness may be 

inappropriate or even illegal. 
1

 Second, when World 

Vision begins work in new communities, WASH is 

often the first entry point. It is during these periods of 

initial entry that curiosity (and expectations) run the 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

32 
 

highest – especially in communities that have had little 

or no exposure to any form of Christian ministry. 

Community members are often curious about who we 

are and why we want to help. These contexts, while 

potentially challenging, can present unique 

opportunities that can be strategically leveraged, not 

only for needed trust-building, but for Christian witness. 

The way we represent Christian faith is critical, as it sets 

the stage for ongoing community engagement 

(including understanding and acceptance) as we move 

on to other community development initiatives.  

What follows are practical reflections, guidelines, 

and suggested initiatives to be considered by field teams 

working in these contexts to integrate their Christian 

faith into their work as they engage in technical 

programs among communities. An underlying 

assumption is that organizations that stand to benefit 

most from these recommendations are those that 

uphold a commitment to express God’s unconditional 

love in their work, pursue justice for all people, work 

without discrimination with all people regardless of 

their faith, and hope that people served through their 

ministries will live as followers of Jesus Christ. While 

these recommendations were developed in the context 

of WASH programs, the methods that follow may be 

easily adapted for field activities in other development 

sectors, as well as in some relief contexts.  

 

Defining Christian Faith Integration 

 
In its current global strategy, one of World Vision 

International’s strategic imperatives is for the 

organization to “live out its Christian faith and calling 

with boldness and humility” (World Vision 

International 2018). To achieve this aim, four 

objectives are defined to support the practical 

outworking of Christian witness and Christian faith 

integration into the ministry of the organization.  

 

• Equip leaders and staff to live out their faith as 

appropriate in their context, by providing training, 

mentoring, and guidance.  

• Further develop and scale guidance and evidence-

based models for integrating faith in ministry 

practice and tackling the roots of poverty, 

vulnerability, and injustice. 

• Ensure that all entities consistently and clearly 

communicate our Christian identity and mission, 

with messaging adapted for their different 

audiences.  

• Expand and deepen our partnerships with churches 

and faith leaders, acting as connectors, and 

mobilizing Christians and the Church together with 

other faith leaders. 

World Vision has also defined sets of tools and 

guidelines to help equip leaders and staff achieve these 

objectives. Using the above objectives and resources, all 

World Vision entities have been asked to develop a 

strategic plan for Christian faith integration into their 

work.  

 

Predicaments Challenging Field Teams’ 

Christian Faith Integration 

 
Field teams represent the “front edge” of relief and 

development work. They occupy the interface where 

our organizations intersect with the communities they 

are called to serve. Therefore, their capacity and 

disposition to both “own” and proactively engage in 

faith integration is crucial. Often, when implementing 

technical programs, field staff operate under dire and 

urgent circumstances, with challenging schedules and 

agendas in hard-to-reach, remote locations. Field staff 

may also face challenges of high staff turnover or under-

staffed teams. As a result, engagement in, and 

maintenance of, a clear faith integration strategy can 

often take a back seat to the more pressing needs of 

technical program implementation by over-extended 

field teams. There is also a tendency for this to happen 

among field staff with largely professional training and 

experience. These staff may be dedicated Christians 

with a deep commitment to the mission and values of 

the organization, but may have little theological training 

or limited understanding of how their Christian faith 

can be integrated into their professional work. In such 

cases, field staff may tend to defer to other 

organizational staff charged with spiritual or missional 

formation and integration (or to local church partners, 

if they exist) to ensure that some form of staff care and 

values teaching/reflection, as well as faith engagement 

and witness, occur during field operations. Moreover, 

field teams may also be composed both of persons from 

diverse Christian faith traditions and persons of other 

faiths. As such, these individuals may have very 

different perspectives on the meaning of Christian 

witness.  

 

Proclamation and Demonstration of the 

Gospel 

 
Christian Humanitarian Organizations (CHOs) 

generally agree that their humanitarian work alone does 

not fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 19-20). 

These organizations work out of a belief that 

proclamation of the gospel is inconsistent with the full 

mandates of scripture and the examples of Jesus’ 

earthly ministry if, at the same time, the organization 

ignores needs and injustices in a broken world (see 

Luke 10: 25-27). Most of these organizations adhere to 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

33 
 

the principle of integral mission, which emphasizes the 

importance of both proclamation and demonstration of 

the gospel. This principle is perhaps best detailed in the 

Micah Declaration and one that many CHOs affirm, as 

does the ACCORD Network. The Micah Declaration 

defines integral mission (or holistic transformation) as  

the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. 

It is not simply that evangelism and social 

involvement are to be done alongside each other. 

Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has 

social consequences as we call people to love and 

repentance in all areas of life. And our social 

involvement has evangelistic consequences as we 

bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus 

Christ (Micah Network).  

In CHO field work, the connection between 

“proclamation” and spiritual consequences is usually 

clear, as is the connection between “demonstration” 

and social consequences (as well as physical, economic, 

and psychological consequences, see Figure 1: A and 

B). Staff may proclaim the gospel (or bear witness to the 

good news of the kingdom of God) in the hope that 

people will be transformed by Jesus Christ and 

experience spiritual renewal. The CHO drills a water 

well and the community’s physical and economic well-

being is dramatically enhanced (Figure 1: A). But do 

field staff sufficiently understand the important 

connections between “proclamation” and social, 

physical, economic, and psychological consequences 

(Figure 1: D), and between “demonstration” and spiritual 

consequences (Figure 1: C). For example, the hope that 

comes with new life in Jesus Christ can also result in 

stronger families, enhanced well-being of children, and 

more caring communities. On the other hand, 

acceptance of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith may 

also lead to confusion, isolation, and cultural 

dissonance in families and communities. Moreover, 

many who have suffered long without a source of clean 

water may feel God has abandoned them or does not 

care. The drilling of a new well in such circumstances 

may serve to inspire community members to believe 

that the CHO’s actions are, in fact, a demonstration 

(and provision) of a loving and caring God.  

To adequately carry out such an integral mission, 

field staff, regardless of their professional backgrounds, 

need to be familiar with the principles of integral 

mission and how it plays out in their work. They need 

to recognize and communicate that “Every good gift 

and every perfect gift is from above, coming down 

from the Father of lights…” (James 1: 17).
2

 When they 

reason that the God of creation is the source of all 

things, including their own work, it anchors their witness 

in a concrete world view.  

                                                        
2

 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV). 

Staff should understand not only the importance of 

both proclamation and demonstration of the gospel, as 

well as the various connections between these and the 

spiritual and social/physical well-being of communities 

served. Providing field teams regular opportunities to 

discuss and share examples of these connections is 

crucial to helping them think more systematically about 

how they can integrate Christian faith into technical 

programs. This exercise can also provide an important 

platform for reflection about how Christian witness 

occurs through their field programs.  

 

 
Figure 1. Integral mission – outcomes of proclamation and 

demonstration of the gospel (holistic transformation).  

 

 

Organizational Integrity. Developing and 

Owning a Shared Understanding of Christian 

Witness 
 

Addressing predominant and diverse views of Christian 
witness among field teams 

 

Most Christians own an individual understanding 

of what Christian witness means, which is usually 

conditioned by their own experiences of Christian 

tradition and denominational affiliation. CHO staff 

likely come from a variety of Christian faith traditions 

(Evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, etc.), and interpretations 

of the organizations’ views (or policy, if it exists) on 

Christian witness may be viewed through the lens of 

each of those traditions. Similarly, views on the most 

effective approach to Christian witness may often be 

strongly conditioned by the predominant Christian faith 

tradition from which the majority of staff come. For 

example, in many CHOs, an “evangelical” view of 

Christian witness dominates – one that is primarily 

focused on witness through word – while different 

forms of witness valued by other team members from 

less predominant Christian faith traditions may be 

downplayed or ignored in terms of strategic 

importance. This default approach may serve to isolate 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

34 
 

minority faith staff from others on the team, and thus 

limit the development of a broader, more inclusive 

understanding of witness. It may also limit the team’s 

potential spiritual impact. We suggest that, in many 

settings, field teams may benefit from a well-rounded 

and holistic understanding of Christian witness – one 

unfettered by denominational experience and traditions, 

yet fully anchored in the biblical narrative.  Moreover, 

field teams should approach their witness with a 

willingness to listen and learn from the experiences of 

their peers and the community members with whom 

they work.  

World Vision’s core documents state that “witness 

to Jesus Christ by life, deed, word, and sign” (World 

Vision International 2019). Among organizations that 

readily associate with “evangelical” faith traditions, staff 

are more familiar (and comfortable) with witness 

through verbal witness (word), and less so through the 

benevolent work they do (deed). In these settings, many 

staff may have less understanding, experience, or 

comfort with forms of witness through life and sign, or 

even deed – such as the potential impact of the way we 

live our lives among communities, and the importance 

of prayer (and answers to prayer) in their work. Even 

those who view their “deeds” as their primary form of 

“witness” may not be equipped to do it with the kind of 

grace, love, and decorum that reflect a Christ-likeness 

so that their field approach is relational and not just 

transactional.  

Christian staff should appreciate how witness is 
viewed and lived out in Christian faith traditions other 

than their own. When field teams are dominated by a 

single or limited view on how to engage in Christian 

witness, and when teams fail to value and draw upon the 

diversity of Christian faith traditions among themselves, 

opportunities for the team to own a much broader and 

richer appreciation of forms of witness provided for us 

in the biblical narrative may be precluded. 

Furthermore, many of these other forms of witness 

(such as through life and deed) may well be the most 

appropriate methods to employ initially in sensitive 

contexts.  

 
An example: developing a team-owned understanding 

of Christian witness 
 

A powerful example of the development of a 

shared vision of Christian witness comes from a major 

CHO in Ethiopia that wrestled with these issues in a 

context that featured Orthodox and Evangelical 

Christians as well as Muslim communities. Leadership 

among field teams was dominated by individuals from 

largely evangelical backgrounds, and thus more 

“evangelical” (i. e. proclamation) forms of witness were 

valued. Yet these methods were not always effective 

especially among Orthodox and Muslim communities. 

At the same time, Orthodox Christians on the team 

often felt excluded or undervalued when it came to 

issues of the spiritual impact of their work. Orthodox 

staff felt their most important contribution in terms of 

witness was the way they faithfully (and quietly) served 

and lived out their lives, in ways that glorified Christ, 

among poor communities. Most Evangelical staff felt 

this relational approach was not a true form of witness; 

instead, it was evidence of a lack of conviction and/or 

courage. Evangelical staff valued and employed bolder, 

more direct forms of verbal witness, which many 

Orthodox staff felt were culturally inappropriate and 

fostered both offence and suspicion in Orthodox and 

Muslim communities. Eventually, during a day-long 

retreat facilitated by the organization’s spiritual nurture 

and formation staff, the team was able to listen to each 

other’s views and values on Christian witness, and then 

explore the biblical narrative that supported each 

viewpoint. In the end, the team was able to adopt a 

broader, enriched view of how to engage in witness, 

resulting in each group’s enhanced appreciation and 

value for the other’s contribution to this important 

aspect of their work.  

 
Practical steps for developing a team-owned 

understanding and statements for Christian witness  
 

Field teams benefit from intentional efforts to 

explore, understand, and value the breadth of how 

Christian witness is viewed across the spectrum of 

traditions and denominations represented. Teams thus 

develop more inclusive and team-owned views of how 

values about witness can be lived out in their work. 

Suggested steps for such encounters are as follows.  

 

1. This initiative is best begun by first reviewing the 

organization’s core documents that speak to 

Christian witness. Many technical field staff may 

not be familiar with these documents (or policies), 

and organizations need to ensure that all field 

team members are familiar with them.  

2. Team members are given the opportunity to 

present the views on witness of their own 

Christian traditions and comment on how those 

views align with the biblical narrative and the 

organization’s policies.  

3. Taking into consideration the organization’s 

policy statement(s) on witness, their own 

experience and views on witness, and the 

cultural/religious contexts of the communities 

they serve, the team then develops a jointly-owned 

Christian witness statement that reflects the 

breadth of the team’s understanding of how it will 

engage in witness through its field work. 

Consideration can also be given to the type of 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

35 
 

sector work the team engages in. For example, for 

WASH teams, the statement may be enriched by 

linking biblical themes around water and health to 

approaches to witness.  

4. A final step is the development of messaging 

statements, which are a practical means by which 

field teams can be helped to appropriately 

articulate their Christian identity in varying 

contexts (This exercise is detailed later in this 

paper).
3

  

Organizational staff charged with spiritual nurture 

and formation can assist the team with this initiative. 

Steps 1-3 can usually be done minimally during a half-

day session, or during 1-2-hour sessions over a longer 

period, while step 4 generally requires at least an equal 

amount of time. This team statement on Christian 

witness should then be used for orienting new 

employees. It can also be incorporated regularly into 

meetings, devotional agendas, and team capacity-

building exercises – so as to ensure continued ownership 

and understanding of the team’s approach to Christian 

witness (Similar exercises for the very different context 

of mixed-faith field teams are addressed later). 

 
Changing team views and mindset 

 
For many over-stretched, technically-oriented field 

teams, the prospect of folding in additional expectations 

around Christian witness can be daunting, with 

expectations of more work or a heavier agenda being 

the norm. What is needed is not the addition of witness-

focused tasks, but rather a “cultural shift” among the 

team – a change in views and mindset around what it 

means to faithfully integrate Christian faith into 

technical aspects of their field work. Field teams should 

understand that by addressing the spiritual root causes 

of poverty through witness and working with local faith 

leaders the likelihood of sustained change in 

communities also increases. Moreover, teams need to 

change their thinking and understanding of witness in 

the specific context of their technical endeavors. For 

example, they can discuss how existing service and 

community dialogue events (in which the team regularly 

engages) can be better leveraged as opportunities for 

Christian witness. Examples in the WASH sector are 

borehole site selection dialogues with the community, 

community volunteer training for hygiene promotion, 

and other community events, where discussion about 

technical work can be naturally combined with 

opportunities for Christian witness.  

 

                                                        
3

 By definition, “messaging” is how you tell the story of your organization and your brand (especially in business contexts), and is 

closely related to “positioning,” which in business terms identifies the benefit of your product or service and its uniqueness in the 

market.  

The dangers of domination and ethnocentrism 
 

Many sincere Christians entertain the belief that 

witness is most effective if those to whom they witness 

become like them. Subconsciously, this may be 

considered the ultimate mark of success for one who 

witnesses to their Christian faith among non-believers. 

Care must be taken, however, as this tendency may 

often be borne out of an intuitive or instinctive desire to 

control others with one’s beliefs, or out of one’s own 

insecurities, ethnocentric tendencies, and the fear of 

having their anchor pulled from their familiar Christian-

faith moorings. Just as technical field teams need to 

develop an approach to Christian faith integration that 

provides for a rich and diverse application of Christian 

witness methods, staff also need to embrace a broader 

set of expectations on the outcomes. By being sensitive 

to the realities of the contexts they work in, staff need 

to temper both their approach and desired outcomes of 

their witness. We must remember that we each view 

Jesus through different filters of scriptural 

understanding and experience, but when we witness to 

others, the outcomes may differ from our own 

experience. Even so, we must remember that it is the 

same Jesus who is at work in other people, though 

perhaps in new and unfamiliar ways.  

 

Leveraging our Christian Identity 
 
Mixed-faith and other-faith predominant contexts 

 
CHOs have the opportunity to engage and work 

with people of other faiths, because they are called to 

address the well-being of needy communities around 

the world without discriminating on the basis of faith. 

At the same time, these organizations must remain 

committed to their Christian identity and to the impact 

of their work. These two commitments often create a 

tension with one another, especially in mixed- and 

other-faith predominant contexts. Most CHOs have 

developed mission and vision statements in documents 

that detail their core values. These underpin all the 

organization does. They define the organization’s 

identity as an institution and the perspectives and 

behaviors expected of the organization’s leaders and 

staff members. This understanding is of particular 

importance where the organization’s programs intersect 

with the communities they serve. In many field 

programs, there remain significant opportunities to 

better connect the organization’s work with its Christian 

identity, and, when the organization’s field staff 

consistently understand, articulate and integrate 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

36 
 

Christian faith into their work, this can be their most 

effective tool for Christian witness, especially in 

restricted environments. As such, it behooves field 

programs to identify ways to be intentional and 

consistent in how this identity is owned, articulated, and 

demonstrated. Furthermore, efforts should also be 

extended to equip field teams to recognize the strategic 

opportunities where their Christian identity can and 

should be leveraged. Examples of how to equip teams 

in this way are provided below.  

 
The problem of proselytism: knowing what it is and 

isn’t 
 

As a policy, most CHOs do not use their influence 

to coerce people to listen or respond to a message about 

the Christian faith, nor do they provide humanitarian 

assistance on the condition that people respond to a 

message or adhere to the tenets of the Christian faith. 

Such practices are often referred to as proselytism. 
4

 

The commitment to avoid proselytism is particularly 

important in restricted contexts, and the organization’s 

assurances on this point are at times required for being 

allowed to work in other-faith communities. But such a 

policy does not need to preclude open, consistent, and 

sensitively communicated articulation of the 

organization’s Christian identity in such contexts. At 

some point in the implementation of field work, all 

communities – and especially other-faith communities 

– are curious as to why the organization does what it 

does. Even in the most restricted environments where 

there may be cultural, religious, or legal constraints on 

the expression of Christian faith, community members 

are rarely offended when staff explain openly and 

winsomely their reasons and motivation for assisting 

communities in need. When the organization is clear 

and transparent about its identity and motivation 

(notably that we follow the commands of Jesus to help 

those in need regardless of their religious or political 

affiliations) other-faith communities are often more at 

ease with the CHO’s presence. Moreover, transparent 

and open articulation of Christian identity, when done 

sensitively and respectfully, is not usually viewed as 

proselytism. True, open or direct forms of witness may 

be inappropriate and/or restricted in many 

communities, but rarely are there cultural or religious 

restrictions on responses to sincere questions from 

community members. As such, when Christian identity 

is leveraged in this way, over time it can serve to quietly 

and faithfully provoke, as Bryant Myers says, “a 

                                                        
4

 Proselytism, which at times is carried out coercively, takes place whenever assistance is offered on the condition that people listen 

or respond to a message, or as an inducement to leave one religion or part of the Christian church to join another religion or 

church.  
5

 These statements come from an internal WVI communication framework, made available to WVI employees. It is called “Giving 

Word to Our Faith” 

question to which the gospel is the answer” (Myers 

2006a, 8).  

 
A helpful strategy: messaging statements 

 
A simple and practical means by which field teams 

can be helped to appropriately articulate their Christian 

identity in varying contexts, is through the development 

of messaging statements. We would suggest that CHOs’ 

national offices (as well as the organization’s spiritual 

formation and nurture staff) facilitate opportunities for 

field teams to develop these statements for the varying 

contexts which may exist among communities within 

the national program (e.g., mixed-faith, other-faith 

and/or multi-denominational).   Such statements should 

draw from the organization’s core documents, including 

statements of faith and mission and vision. They serve 

to help technical field staff unapologetically leverage 

their Christian identity in ways that are transparent, 

accurate, and contextually appropriate. Moreover, 

these statements may serve to help beneficiary 

communities better understand the connection 

between the organization’s Christian faith and its work. 

It is helpful to base these statements on shared human 

values and challenges, such as caring for neighbor, love, 

justice, compassion, mercy, the desire for healthy 

families, secure livelihoods, and hope for the future. 

The organization’s broader values can be reflected in 

such statements as: “We believe in upholding, 

restoring, and honoring the dignity, value, and identity 

of every human being,” and, “We believe that God 

works through all people.”
5

 Written to be appropriate 

for the context, these statements can also provide 

explicit connections between Christian faith and the 

organization’s motives. Here are three illustrative 

examples:  

 

• “Our motivation for serving this community flows 

from our understanding of the commands of 

Christ to help those in need.” 

• “We are here to serve because of our faith’s calling 

and not to manipulate people about their faith.” 

• “The services we provide are a reflection of God’s 

unconditional love for this community.”  

In some contexts, it may also be useful to consider how 

to connect biblical concepts to the type of sector work 

the field team does (e.g., WASH, health, education).  



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

37 
 

We suggest developing these short statements 

during team building exercises or workshops for staff. 

One effective way of demonstrating the need for such 

statements is through a brief role-playing exercise where 

one or two volunteers from the group are asked to place 

themselves in a hypothetical setting where the 

organization is preparing to begin work in a new 

community. The volunteers have been sent to the 

community to speak to the community leader to explain 

the organization’s proposed program, as well as 

articulate the organization’s identity and motivation for 

its work. One of the workshop’s organizers then plays 

the role of a belligerent community leader who does not 

trust the motivation of the organization, and has 

concerns about having a “Christian” organization 

working in his other-faith community. The objective is 

to have the village leader repeatedly pose challenging 

questions to test field staff on their preparation for 

providing appropriate and accurate answers, answers 

that leverage the opportunity to articulate the 

organization’s Christian identity and motivation in an 

appropriate way, and thus pave the way for future 

dialogue about these issues. This exercise usually 

demonstrates how poorly prepared field staff are to 

handle such situations in an effective way. It also sets 

the stage for workshop participants to reflect on the 

types of messaging statements they need in such 

contexts.  

The resulting messaging statements should be brief 

and limited to specific contexts the field teams expect 

to encounter. Moreover, brief, simple statements serve 

to help field teams memorize and employ them when 

opportunities arise (even if their employment of the 

statements is essentially paraphrased). All field team 

members should be well acquainted with these 

statements. As with the above-proposed Christian 

witness statement, messaging statements should be used 

in orientation of new staff hires and regularly incorporated 

into reflection/devotional agendas and capacity-building 

exercises. These exercises are more effective if there is 

ample opportunity for repetition and practice in 

articulating these statements. Increasing familiarity will 

help staff feel more prepared for those moments when 

they are needed.  

 
Opportunities to leverage our Christian identity 

  
In general, our experience shows that many more 

strategic opportunities exist to tell the story than are 

typically leveraged in programs managed by our field 

teams. There are certainly multiple opportunities to 

leverage our identity during one-to-one encounters with 

community members, but we also encourage staff to 

take advantage of leveraging opportunities when the 

community is gathered for purposes related to program 

implementation (e.g., events related to training, 

community sensitization, and commissioning or 

certification). At many of these gatherings not only are 

community members present, but also community 

leaders and government representatives who also stand 

to benefit from a better understanding of our identity 

and motivations. The more they come to understand 

how a CHO’s faith identity informs its work, the better 

these stakeholders can articulate that perspective to 

others in their networks, thus helping to spread that 

understanding throughout the community. At such 

gatherings, it is always strategic for field teams to 

consistently seize the opportunity to say a word about 

the organization’s identity and reasons for the work it 

does. Messaging statements introduced in the previous 

section can often be effectively employed during these 

settings.  

It is important during individual or group 

encounters to be prepared to address perceptions held 

by the community (or its leaders). For example, in 

World Vision’s WASH programs we often hear 

expressions of gratitude from served communities for 

the provision of safe water. Yet we always encourage our 

field teams to be prepared in such circumstances to 

leverage the opportunity through responses (based on 

developed messaging statements) that articulate what we 

believe has happened in the community. We 

intentionally note that it is not solely out of sheer 

altruism or benevolence that World Vision has come 

and provided water. Rather, it is God who has 

motivated and enabled World Vision to assist in the 

provision of water because of his love for the 

community and its people. It is God who has provided 

this water, not World Vision.  

 

Recognizing and Leveraging “Sacramental 

Moments” 
 

In the rollout of field programs it is important to 

faithfully infuse among staff an acknowledgment that 

God is in the process, because staff need to better 

understand (and outwardly affirm) that their technical 

knowledge is in fact a reflection of the activity and 

character of a loving God. In our experience, throughout 

the process of field implementation, most field teams 

need to be better equipped to identify sacramental 

moments that can be leveraged to reveal God’s hand in 

the organization’s work. A sacrament is an event that 

has a sacred character or spiritual (or mystical) 

significance. For example, Jesus leveraged the annual 

Passover meal to unpack the spiritual significance of his 

impending death (and resurrection). Some two 

thousand years later, the church remains impacted by 

that “sacramental moment” when we celebrate 

communion or the Eucharist. Other examples of 

sacramental moments include Jesus’ encounters with 

the woman at the well in Samaria and Zacchaeus in 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

38 
 

Jericho. Examples from World Vision’s WASH 

programs would be geophysical work and borehole site 

location, the process of well drilling, pump installation, 

and software rollout (e.g., borehole and pump 

maintenance, as well as hygiene training). At times, 

communities assume geophysical work to be acts of 

magic or the miraculous. Field staff can leverage this 

part of the process as a time to stop and give thanks to 

God for his gift of knowledge of how best to use his 

creation. When World Vision engages in project 

agreements with the community, we can recognize 

these as more than legal agreements on paper; we can 

also leverage them as covenant agreements that reflect 

something sacred, emphasizing God’s caring 

relationship with his people. (Myers 2006b, 

“Reflections…”) 

Field staff must develop the sensitivity to identify 

potentially sacramental moments, as well as learn to 

discern how best to leverage such opportunities. This 

comes through prayer and preparation of the heart. We 

thus encourage field teams to spend time regularly to 

reflect upon, explore, and share their experiences of 

identifying and leveraging such moments in their work. 

In World Vision, employees participate in a “Mission 

Immersion Program” that helps them consider how the 

organization’s mission, vision, and core values, with a 

particular emphasis on its Christian identity, practically 

inform how they approach their work. World Vision 

Senior Leadership Teams of field and support offices 

also conduct a biennial reflection and learning process 

focused on how staff and external partners (including 

adults and children) familiar with World Vision’s work 

collaborate to live out the organization’s Christian 

identity. In general, technical interventions can be 

leveraged as “sacramental moments” in which the 

community encounters the tangible fingerprints of God. 

Field teams and the community can capture stories and 

other qualitative information of how the community has 

experienced God’s love and care through this work. 

These stories, in turn, can be used to construct case 

studies about how faith is expressed and produced 

through the CHO’s work. If field teams become so 

preoccupied in the implementation of the 

organization’s technical programs, and do not pause 

long enough to identify these potentially sacred 

moments, they may be missing out on the reason God 

has brought them to these communities.  

 

Engaging Faith Leaders 
 
Why engage faith leaders  

 
There is a growing body of literature that confirms 

the importance of development organizations’ efforts in 

adopting approaches that bring together social and 

spiritual considerations (United Nations 2012). 

Engagement with faith leaders plays a major role in 

these approaches (Le Roux, et al. 2016). Nearly 85% of 

the world’s people consider themselves to be religious, 

a percentage that tends to be much higher among poor 

communities where CHOs focus their work (Pew 

Forum 2012). As faith-based organizations, CHOs are 

thus in a position to engage with the spirituality of the 

communities they serve. In some respects, faith-based 

organizations are much better positioned than many 

secular humanitarian organizations to engage in this 

way, even across different faiths (Backues 2009). As 

with most CHOs, World Vision never puts pressure on 

people to change their faith, nor does it use people’s 

faith orientation as a condition for the aid it provides. 

World Vision employees are simply expected to 

acknowledge Jesus Christ as the source of, and the 

strength behind, all of its work. This perspective is 

generally respected by faith leaders, be they Christian 

or of another faith. This approach opens remarkable 

doors of opportunity to mobilize local faith leaders as 

community advocates for relief and development 

initiatives, especially in the challenging domain of 

attitude and behavior change needed for improved 

community health. Local faith leaders are often the 

gatekeepers in their communities, and engaging them 

as collaborating advocates and agents of change in their 

communities can be strategic (BBC World Service 

2005).  

 

Methods of engaging local faith leaders 
 

CHOs are increasingly exploring the benefits of 

engaging with faith communities, especially through 

faith leaders. For its part, World Vision has 

championed the engagement of faith communities 

through its Channels of Hope (CoH) model to promote 

child well-being. The CoH model mobilizes faith 

leaders and other community leaders in a 10-day 

training program to “move the heart, inform the mind, 

and motivate a sustained and effective response” to core 

issues affecting their communities, such as HIV and 

AIDS, maternal and child health, gender equity and 

gender-based violence, and child protection. The 

training equips faith leaders to break down walls 

between faiths in their own communities, and to better 

understand and apply their sacred texts to key social 

issues (World Vision International 2013; Lee 2016).  

Building on the CoH model, World Vision’s 

WASH program has developed a two-day workshop 

that targets local faith leaders in communities where 

new WASH programs are being initiated. Faith leaders 

gather to reflect on their own faith perspectives and to 

discuss aspects of good hygiene practice. The goal is to 

mobilize them as advocates for WASH initiatives in 

their communities. During these workshops, faith 

leaders learn about the technical aspects of water and 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

39 
 

sanitation, and the science of good hygiene (usually 

through a presentation by a CHO field team member). 

A leader from each represented faith is then invited to 

share about aspects of WASH from their own faith 

perspective (as supported by their sacred texts), 

providing a unique time of exchange and learning for 

all. Faith leaders discuss how they can work together to 

enhance the health of their communities. Finally, they 

develop and present action plans detailing how they can 

collaborate to promote good hygiene practice in their 

communities. Most morning and afternoon sessions are 

opened in prayer (with a focus on prayer for the 

community and for God’s guidance during the 

workshop), with faith leaders from different faith 

orientations or church denominations (e.g., imam, 

pastor, priest) given equal and alternating opportunity 

to lead the prayers. Faith leaders typically complete 

these workshops with greater respect and trust across 

faith boundaries and better equipped to effectively 

address their respective congregations on matters of 

hygiene, and to collaborate with World Vision field 

teams in a range of hygiene promotion efforts.  

Various adaptations of this method of faith leader 

engagement (and mobilization) can be applied to most 

any type of community development program, and field 

teams should be encouraged to consider employing a 

method appropriate to their local contexts. As in other 

faith integration exercises, field teams may wish to 

engage organizational staff charged with spiritual 

nurture and formation to assist and moderate these 

workshops. Naturally, workshop participants should be 

encouraged to avoid sensitive and/or divisive topics 

around theological differences, keeping in mind that it 

is the well-being of the community that brings them to 

a common table. The implementation of successful 

workshops among leaders of different faiths therefore 

requires that certain rules and standards of engagement 

are established to assure that the exchange remains 

respectful and fruitful for all. These rules (or boundaries) 

should be clearly articulated at the onset of the workshop, 

along with the workshop’s objectives and expected 

outcomes.  

 
Outcomes 

 
During these workshops, field teams and local faith 

leaders learn that when they are intentional about 

bringing their respective knowledge and perspectives to 

the same table, trust and common ground can be 

established among people of diverse faith (and 

denominational) backgrounds, especially when united 

around a shared desire to impact the lives of vulnerable 

communities. During the process, field teams and local 

faith leaders come to know one another and develop 

habits of working together, which provides a unique and 

strategic platform to achieve program objectives in the 

community. In World Vision’s WASH program, and 

through the action plans developed in these workshops, 

we have seen faith leaders develop sermon outlines on 

hygiene, create and broadcast hygiene promotion talks 

on local radio and television, and conduct joint 

presentations (e.g., an imam and pastor together) on 

good hygiene practice among district schools in mixed-

faith communities.  

This type of engagement also provides another 

opportunity for the CHO to demonstrate its Christian 

identity and values among faith leaders of other faith 

groups in ways that are appropriate and sensitive to the 

diverse milieus where CHOs serve. It provides local 

Christian leaders (especially in other-faith majority 

contexts) an opportunity to learn in a profound way 

about the culture and views of the communities. For 

leaders of other faiths, it provides a unique opportunity 

to be exposed to Christian scripture and the CHO’s 

biblical values and motivation, especially the CHO’s 

perspectives on the nature of a loving and caring God. 

Moreover, engaging other faith leaders in this manner 

serves to fulfill our biblical mandate to “love our 

neighbor” and fulfill the role of “peacemakers” (see 

Matthew 22: 37-40, I John 4: 7, Matthew 5: 9). We 

encourage field teams to also pray intentionally for faith 

leaders during these exercises – not only that they 

would build trust and habits of working together for the 

good of their communities, but that leaders of other 

faiths would experience “sacramental moments” during 

times of learning and working together.  

Perhaps the most poignant example of this in 

scripture is Jethro’s encounters with Moses, which 

began at a well in Midian and finished in Moses’ tent 

after the exodus (Exodus 2: 15-22, 18: 1-12). Jethro, a 

priest of another faith, was so impacted by the 

encounter and narrative of Moses that he declared. 

“Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, 

because in this affair they (the Egyptians) dealt 

arrogantly with the people.” Jethro then “brought a 

burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came 

with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' 

father-in-law before God” (Exodus 18. 11-12). 

Reciprocally, this “priest of Midian” provided advice 

and counsel on establishing a system of delegated, legal 

decision-making. This story reinforces that God can 

work through all people, of all faiths, to establish his 

work and fulfill his purpose.  
 

Boundaries and thresholds 
 

Through this type of engagement, we have learned 

that the boundaries among people of diverse cultures 

and faiths are not always as restrictive as often 

perceived. While boundaries certainly exist, we have 

learned that the landscape among these boundaries is 

actually wide and far-reaching. When this landscape is 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

40 
 

explored together, as it is in faith leader engagement, 

faith leaders, along with CHO staff, build trust and learn 

to value each other.  

Unsurprisingly, the biggest challenges occur where 

there is a history of tensions among various faith groups, 

ethnicities, and even church denominations. These 

tensions and the lack of trust they engender can, at 

times, also be found among CHO staff, who may come 

from very different backgrounds and life experiences. 

In such settings, there is often a hesitancy or 

ambivalence to take the initial, often intimidating, step 

across the threshold of interfaith or inter-

denominational dialogue. As such, faith engagement 

work often begins by helping staff take courageous steps 

instead of succumbing to the understandable 

temptation to stay on safe ground. Once this initial 

threshold is traversed, the intimidation factor usually 

begins to dissipate. As stated earlier, World Vision’s 

new global strategy calls us to “live out our Christian 

faith and calling with boldness and humility” (World 

Vision International 2018). We are learning that 

boldness calls us to step across these initial thresholds 

without fear, while humility compels us to do this with 

sensitivity and respect for others, always listening and 

ready to learn.  

Some may wonder if such interfaith engagement 

represents a step towards compromising our Christian 

values and identity. They ask what the contours and 

boundaries of interfaith engagement should be so such 

compromise does not take place. We suggest that, 

minimally, interfaith engagement should respect, but 

not promote other faiths. For example, in World 

Vision we often share prayers among people of other 

faiths – inviting people of other faiths to pray for our 

work and the outcomes of our community 

interventions. But during interfaith engagements our 

staff do not participate in joint acts of worship together. 

We believe that inviting people of other faiths to pray 

reflects our belief that God hears the petitions of all 

people who pray with a sincere heart. As CHOs explore 

possible methods of interfaith engagement, and its 

associated contours and boundaries, a helpful and 

simple measure is the question, “Will this type of 
engagement serve to lead people towards Christ or away 

from him?” 

 

 

Mixed-Faith Field Teams 
 
Context 

 
Many CHOs hold to a policy of engaging in their 

field work through partnership with the local church, 

and many of these organizations hire only Christian 

staff, usually local Christians, to implement their field 

programs (Narducci 2019). This approach certainly has 

its merits in Christian majority countries, and in 

countries where there is a strong Christian presence and 

a sufficient cadre of Christians well-trained in various 

professional disciplines. Yet many communities in 

need of both humanitarian work and exposure to the 

gospel are found in countries where local churches do 

not exist and where few local Christians are qualified for 

key types of development work. A policy of exclusive 

employment may therefore limit opportunities to 

impact some of the world’s neediest and least-reached 

communities. In such cases, the costs and risks involved 

in bringing Christian expatriates to do such jobs, 

expatriates who may have limited understanding of 

local culture, may not always be the best stewardship of 

limited resources, especially when we are in the urgent 

business of trying to save and improve people’s lives 

among communities in other-faith contexts.  

Some CHOs, like World Vision, adopt this model 

when appropriate, especially in Christian majority 

contexts. But in contexts where people of another faith 

are in the majority, they may hire staff of other faiths in 

order to accomplish urgent humanitarian tasks and to 

make effective use of the organization’s resources. 

Some worry that this approach compromises the 

organization’s Christian identity and limits the 

opportunity for Christian witness. We would like to 

suggest another perspective. First, it is important that 

CHOs find ways to engage effectively in other-faith 

contexts, so as to address the needs of all people facing 

injustice and crisis. Second, few opportunities may exist 

for a legitimate and faithful Christian presence other 

than through the provision of humanitarian assistance. 

In order to meet such humanitarian needs in effective, 

timely, and sustainable ways, the work of CHOs can be 

enhanced by the engagement of qualified staff of other 

faiths. Granted, when field teams include persons of 

other faiths, some obvious challenges can arise, like 

intra team conflicts stemming from religious 

differences, and mixed or unclear messaging from field 

teams to target communities. While these challenges 

must certainly be addressed, we suggest that CHOs give 

attention to both understanding and leveraging the 

opportunities mixed-faith teams can provide.  

 

 
 

Expectations, orientation and team building for staff of 
other faiths 

 
When staff of other faiths are employed by CHOs, 

it is often done to fill strategic positions for which 

qualified Christian staff are not available, like truck 

drivers, public health workers, or well drillers. In 

general, staff of other faiths do not occupy management 

or senior level positions in CHOs. As such, there are 

often limits to how far they can progress in the 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

41 
 

promotion process of the organization. These 

conditions should be made clear during the hiring 

process. During the orientation process, the CHO 

should ensure that staff of other faiths are well-exposed 

to the organization’s Christian identity and core values. 

Prospective employees must willingly commit to 

working within the context of an organization that 

follows the mandates of scripture and the example of 

Jesus to engage the poor, regardless of their religious, 

social, or cultural status. Adherence to certain lifestyle 

expectations for all CHO staff should also be made 

clear. Concurrently, these staff should be assured that 

there are no expectations that they convert to the 

Christian faith, and that their work performance will be 

assessed independent of their faith orientation.  

During ongoing staff training and capacity building, 

it is helpful to provide opportunities for staff of other 

faiths to reflect on how their own faith values can be 

lived out through the ministry of the CHO. These 

helpful connections are often found around such 

shared values as helping those in need, addressing 

societal and economic injustices, and community 

building. At these times it is helpful to provide 

opportunities for these staff to reflect and exchange 

experiences on challenges they may face as employees 

of a Christian organization, and how they can effectively 

provide constructive feedback to community members 

who may question this association. It is important that 

Christian staff be involved in these transparent 

exchanges, as it helps them better understand the 

challenges their colleagues may face – thus 

strengthening the coherence and impact of the entire 

team. We also suggest providing opportunities for these 

staff to develop messaging statements which articulate 

why they work for a Christian organization, and what 

values they share with their Christian colleagues. This 

exercise can be done when the team works on 

messaging statements on their Christian identity. When 

World Vision WASH teams work on Christian identity 

messaging statements, there is a separate, concurrent 

session for other-faith staff to work on messaging 

statements more appropriate for their context. All 

capacity and team building exercises among mixed-faith 

teams should include the building of understanding, 

tolerance, trust and mutual respect among their 

members.  

 
Opportunities 

 
When CHOs engage with majority other-faith 

communities through mixed-faith teams, numerous 

opportunities emerge for the organization to be 

uniquely effective in its humanitarian work, leverage its 

Christian identity, and live out its biblically inspired 

values, and thus demonstrate the love of Christ for all 

people. In a number of World Vision’s programs, we 

have found that the only way to sustain access to 

communities in some very restricted environments is to 

work with mixed-faith teams. When other-faith 

communities observe the mutual respect that exists 

within our mixed-faith teams, trust-building and 

acceptance of the presence of a Christian organization 

working in their community is often accelerated. When 

delicate issues of distrust arise due to our Christian 

identity, it is often other-faith staff who are able to best 

articulate our motives, dispel misunderstandings, and 

initiate the building of trust that paves the way for 

effective and long-term community interaction. When 

communities observe the mutual respect that exists 

among mixed-faith teams, a powerful message is sent 

about our Christian values of love, respect, and 

honoring/recognizing the dignity of each individual. 

Frequently, community members note that the CHO’s 

willingness to engage staff from their faith indicates a 

deep respect for their culture and values. This, in turn, 

can earn the CHO the right to be listened to as it seeks 

to impact behaviors and practices that make for more 

healthy communities. This facilitates the community’s 

perception of the CHOs work of building a healthier 

community as a reflection of the work of a loving and 

caring God. Even in the most restricted contexts, as the 

community observes the work, comportment, and 

attitudes of the field team, they will over time be 

exposed (often in discreet and winsome ways) to the 

organization’s Christian values. This in itself can be a 

significant and impactful witness in communities that 

may otherwise have none.  

The individual impact on staff of other faiths 

working alongside Christians should also not be 

ignored. When staff are consistently exposed to the 

CHO’s identity and core values, scripture, Christ-

honoring prayers and devotional reflections, and when 

they feel respected and appreciated by Christian staff, 

they can be deeply affected. In turn, the impact of these 

experiences invariably spills over to the community as 

they interact with our other-faith staff.  

In summary, the engagement of mixed-faith teams 

can serve to facilitate the CHO’s ability to be a 

sustained, faithful Christian presence in otherwise very 

restricted environments and among communities with 

little or no previous exposure to Christian work or the 

gospel. In these contexts, where forms of open witness 

are forbidden or ill-advised, developing such a 

sustained presence can nevertheless serve to awaken 

the community to the notion of a caring and loving 

God, and, perhaps more strategically, gently provoke “a 

question to which the gospel is the answer” (Myers 

2006a, 8).  

 

 

 

 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 1(1),  Summer 2019  

42 
 

Measuring Impact 
 

As with all aspects of relief and development work, 

it is important that priority be given to evidence-based 

interventions. For this reason, there is a need to build 

evidence which demonstrates the effectiveness of our 

efforts in leveraging our Christian identity and in 

Christian witness. The same holds true for how 

effectively interfaith engagement impacts our 

community development outcomes. Presently, while 

there is qualitative evidence that supports this work, 

quantitative evidence remains scant. One reason for this 

is that development organizations have, in years past, 

not prioritized gathering this type of evidence. Another, 

perhaps more compelling, reason is the complexity of 

establishing and measuring such indicators. We 

therefore encourage CHOs to consider how this 

evidence can be gathered. It is especially important for 

CHOs crafting new initiatives to give attention to these 

faith-driven issues during initial planning. When the 

CHO begins to think about how it will leverage its 

Christian identity and engage in witness, we suggest as a 

first step that field teams be asked to think about their 

desired spiritual impact(s) in the community. Once 

these goals are established, the next, and more 

challenging, step is to consider how these desired 

spiritual impacts can be measured (see Bronkema 

Forthcoming). In faith leader engagement, the intended 

impact is often tied to desired changes of attitude, 

behavior, and practices in the community. Such 

changes must be measured in the community. They 

must also be linked back to the influence of local faith 

leaders (as opposed to, or distinct from, other 

influences such as CHO staff, government agents, and 

other community workers and/or influencers). As 

CHOs begin exploring these metrics, we encourage 

dialogue and exchange with others so that these 

experiences and learnings can be shared.  

 

Concluding Remarks 
 

We hope the reflections, experiences and 

suggestions shared here will serve as a practical tool for 

CHO field teams as they look to integrate their 

Christian faith in field programs in more intentional and 

effective ways. We also hope the contents of this paper 

will serve to broaden CHOs’ understanding of the 

many opportunities we have to leverage our Christian 

identity and cultivate a more comprehensive 

appreciation for diverse forms of Christian witness in 

our work, especially in mixed- and other-faith contexts. 

Finally, as CHOs engage in these initiatives, we remind 

them to consider the second (and less recalled) part of 

Peter’s well-known admonition in I Peter 3: 15: “Always 

be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks 

you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But 
do this with gentleness and respect” (NIV).  

 

 

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Ray Norman is Senior Director, Global WASH 

Operations, at World Vision International. A 

development practitioner for 20+ years, he is also a 

Scholar-in-Residence and former academic dean at 

Messiah College. He holds a PhD from Cornell 

University.  

 

Author email: Ray_Norman@wvi.org  
 

Odoi Odotei is the Technical Director of Learning & 

Development for World Vision International's Global 

Faith & Development team.  He has been a 

development practitioner for 16 years.  
 

Author email:  Odoi_Odotei@wvi.org 

 

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mailto:Ray_Norman@wvi.org

