Response to Tyler's Week 5 Analysis

Your questions regarding how churches can partner with organizations not necessarily faith based is an intriguing one. It is true that much of our research thus far has concentrated on what faith based organizations have done either by themselves or in collaboration with other faith based organizations. What can we do indeed!

Perhaps a good starting point is to work with widely accepted philanthropic organizations that may not necessarily be faith based. Habitat for Humanity does have faith based roots, but it is so widely recognized now especially with its push during the Hurricane Katrina incident that most outside the church do not know or care that its Christian roots run deep.

I am afraid that there are no equivalents to Habitat for Humanity for the HIV/AIDS issue. Perhaps World Vision is the closest, but the local church can and does make a significant presence when it moves outside of its walls to help organizations even that are not faith based. The reason why I'm going in this direction is that many non-church going people are suspicious of giving money or donating their time to "overtly" Christian organizations. Perhaps working with a more "undercover" or more "secular" organization would provide a safe neutral ground for collaborative works as you seem to be pushing in your last analysis.

How do you suppose we should propose taking on these collaborative efforts on our wiki?

The microfinancing articles are incredibly intriguing. To put in a pedestrian way, it sounds like AIDS insurance at least in the way that the UNAIDS page presents it. But this is definitely a concrete way that people can become involved in the fight. This stuff would be great for the wiki as a semi-indirect strategy that may have longer lasting and more widespread effects.