David Collins has an impressive resume of Christian leadership. Most notably, he headed Abbotsford-based Canadian Food for the Hungry International (CFHI) from 1994 to 2005.

In January, Collins launched Paradigm Ministries, a platform from which he teaches how to bridge the gap between the call to evangelism and the call to mercy, justice and stewardship of the environment. He shared his perspective in the following interview.

BC Christian News: What shaped your passion for those less fortunate?

David Collins: I grew up as a missionary kid in Vietnam . . . and attended a boarding school there. It created a comfort zone for me in being in ‘disaster’ situations . . . When I returned to Canada, even at an early age, I learned that there was a disconnect between Canadian culture and global issues.

The other thing that struck me early on was a dichotomy between faith and practice, a separation between the secular and the sacred    . . . My teenage peers would say things like “you can’t do that – you’re a preacher’s kid!” All these things took on a great meaning and importance, especially later on as I read Francis Schaeffer.

BCCN: How did you get involved in Food for the Hungry?

DC: I went to work in a Vietnamese refugee camp in the Philippines. I was there with a clear mandate to do church planting, evangelism and discipleship – but in a  context where the people needed food, clothing, medical care, skills training, legal counsel and emotional and psychological counseling. There was nothing in my mandate to address these issues.

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Back then, many who held to the primacy of the scriptures were suspicious of ‘the social gospel,’ you have to understand.

BCCN: What did you do with the tension between evangelism and social needs?

DC: Well, it was there that I found my lack of theology for ‘compassion ministry’ . . . I took a three-week time to really study the scriptures, and found a huge biblical basis for caring for orphans, the hungry, the destitute – to speak out against injustice.

BCCN: Describe how you started with CFHI.

DC: Well, my first trip was a very tough start, as I went to Rwanda around the time of the genocide. I spent three weeks in a refugee camp, just over the border in the Congo. I arrived just after the majority of killings.

Eighty percent of Rwandans professed to be Christian, and yet these ‘Christians’ were killing each other. A  government leader told me: “There isn’t a family that has not had a family member killed . . . and there isn’t a family without a murderer in it.”

The whole country was both grieving, and everyone had shame. I was left with the huge question: “How can this happen?” [The answer is] in the area of discipleship and teaching. What does God say about economics, the environment, justice, work, social and political structures, the arts?

When we teach these things, it affects . . . core values. These things were not taught in Rwanda – and as a result, prejudice and hatred were allowed to fester.

                  – Peter Biggs

June 2008