Who has helped the poor more -- Mother Teresa or Bill Gates? Though it sounds almost blasphemous to say it, if we are measuring in terms of helping people move out of poverty, the answer is overwhelmingly Gates.
It is popular among some Christians to denigrate entrepreneurs. Strangely we think it is more spiritual to serve at a soup kitchen than to begin a business which will employ the poor. One CEO in Silicon Valley grew impatient with such talk: “I keep hearing feed the poor, clothe the hungry, give shelter to those who don’t have it. The [people] that say this don’t recognize that capitalism and technology have done more to feed and clothe and shelter and heal people than all the charity and church programs in history. So they preach about it, and we are the ones doing it.”
David Livingstone, the great Scottish missionary who helped open Africa to missions, believed that God is concerned about the whole man: “I have labored in bricks and mortar, ... as well as in preaching and medical practice. I am serving Christ when shooting a buffalo for my men, or taking an astronomical observation.” Caring for the physical needs of the poor may be most effectively done by the spiritual work of starting businesses. The poor need to work. Adam and Eve were given the task of caring for the garden even before they sinned -- sin only increased the difficulty of their task. Mission organizations and relief agencies should be partnering with businesses to help create good jobs where poverty reigns.
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