One of the primary purposes for our recent visit to Lithuania was to work with business leaders and individuals on issues related to personal finance, leadership, and budgeting. This was our initial trip, but we were able to open doors and build trust with key people in the church and community for future interaction. Our end goal is Kingdom-building, but instead of a medical or construction project, which is typical for many mission trips, we went addressing the primary need of the Lithuanians at this time; the economy. Naturally we received lots of questions about the economy in the United States. There was keen awareness that our economy impacts their economy.
Lithuania was under the communist rule of the Soviet Union until the early 90’s, so capitalism is a fairly new concept for most of the people. The fast introduction to a free market has led to tremendous problems in the country. There were lots of “instant” millionaires and success stories and now they are experiencing a natural correction. Unfortunately, because their economy grew so fast it will also decline fast and that has caused panic within the country.
In one of our meetings a leading businessman seemed to capture the essence of the problem in a couple of words. He said, “It appears to me that the problems in our country started with greed and now they are being continued with fear.”
GREED and FEAR
My new friend may be onto something. In fact, I think he is. The problem in his country seems to mirror the problems in our country. It may have taken us longer to get to our place of struggle than in his country, but we face the same struggles. What got us into our economic condition was largely triggered by greed and what is keeping us from fully recovering is largely triggered out of fear.
I was also reminded that the church has answers to each of these struggles, greed and fear. Perhaps it could be said that we should have been addressing the first problem better all along and we may not have to be addressing the second problem as much, but either way, we have a role to play in the current state of the economy.
What do you think?
