There. I said it. I don't like OCC. For those of you (probably all 2 of you that actually read this thing) who don't know, OCC stands for Operation Christmas Child. That is something you have likely heard of.
This is how it works. Each year at this time people all over the country stand in front of their local church congregation and rally the troops to fill shoe boxes with "love" and send it over sees to "needy" children and thus proclaim that Jesus saved the world with his love. These boxes are filled with small toys and dolls as well as things that "needy children" would need like combs, socks, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, toilet paper, etc... The boxes are then shipped to giant regional headquarters in various cities across the country, checked through for security purposes, and then Samaritan's Purse adds a storybook type Bible that explains the gospel in the native tongue of the recipient child.
All of that sounds good. The gospel being spread throughout the nations. Hooray! I am totally in support of that.
Point #1.
I fear, however, in our westernized culture that we are missing the message that is truly being sent. In essence OCC preaches that Jesus is Santa Clause. Jesus love means getting candy, toys, and socks for Christmas. About $20 worth. There is no real understanding of the culture behind this message either. It is Americans saying, this is Jesus. I don't think it is a good representation of the real Jesus.
"But Joel," you say, "wouldn't Jesus want to see these kids smiling and happy for the first time maybe in their whole life. I mean, they are so needy. This is in the true spirit of giving!"
Let me ask you this. Say you wanted people to know who you are and the sacrifice that you made on their behalf like dying for them, would you want them to preach that message by walking around giving everyone a hug and spreading good cheer? Personally, it's not for me.
Point #2.
This is a very weak point. I understand that money is the resource we have and you actually take more action putting together a box than you do for a lot of things. You only have to do it once a year though.
OCC is honestly advertised as a great way for people to feel good about serving without it really costing them anything. Service always costs something. End of story. It is a very lazy way of giving. I have to make a disclaimer here, although I know this is true in my heart I have to confess that it is my personal favorite way to give. We support a world vision child named Entella and we donate to "Water for Christmas" with not much more than some money here and there. It is my favorite way. I still don't like it and think it is wrong IF that is the extent of it. Too often, it IS the extent of it. I want to make a point that this is less of an attack on OCC than it is the ideas we've formed of mission.
Point #3.
OCC spends about $7 per box to ship it to a foreign land. That means that since last year they spent about $7 million to send Santa Christ to the world. In a moment I am going to break down that number and show you how some other world mission ministries would have used that money. First I want to point out that this isn't sustainable. You are giving a child happiness for one day, maybe a few weeks or months depending. Really you are only giving them a nice feeling of happiness because the bar of soap you put in the box could really use some water to go with it and even if it happens to find some water to lather and rinse with it will still only last a few months. Okay. $7 million dollars.
Water for Christmas/charity: water = 1400 wells built providing 560,000 people with clean water for 20 years. Clean water in Africa means fewer rapes, education, industry, disease control and prevention, and modernization including technology. In other words, one well in a village completely revolutionizes a community.
World Vision = 19,444 children supported for a year through world vision. This is food. You know, the thing you eat to survive. At least the action figure of Mr. Incredible you sent in the box this year might save the child from being bored.
Heifer International = 14,000 cows. Cows? How is that sustainable. Please read the following.
When a family gets a cow, the cow gives milk. Kids get the milk and the nutrients from it preventing disease and nutrition in a malnourished community. It produces 4 gallons of milk a day leaving plenty to be sold which means there is money for doctors, teachers, etc... Each year that cow gives birth to a new cow which is sent on to another family. Over a few years the community is transformed much the same way as described with water. If you think about it. 14,000 turn into 28,000 and then 56,000 in just three years. THAT is sustainable ministry. Suddenly Jesus' love looks a lot like living water and bread of life. Not so much like Santa Clause.
Here is the kicker. I based these numbers off of the $7 million in postage. Don't give me the "that money is donated by the box donor" speech either. The fact is, we're spending $7 million on postage no matter who pays for it. That is POSTAGE. Each box has around $20 spent on it. That means that Americans are spending around $20 million dollars on this thing each year. Those numbers end up looking like this.
Water = 4000 wells and 1.6 million people with clean water for 20 years (all in a years worth of OCC) You see, we think that it would be so difficult to rid Africa of hunger and preventable disease. A couple years of this kind of money and war is gone, rape is almost nothing comparatively, education competes with the rest of the world, and preventable diseases are...well...prevented.
Vision = 55,556 kids fed for 1 year. Hmmmmmm.
Heifer = 40,000 cows year 1. 80,000 cows year two, and so on...
Things OCC does that you would never see charity: water do is run around doing marketing in a big giant fully painted semi providing drawings for i-pods and other cool things at big Christian gatherings such as the "catalyst" conference in Atlanta. I asked about the possibility of sending a member of our congregation to see the well built in Liberia. I got the following response, "It would be better to take the money for the airfare and build 25% of another well." 100% of donations go toward building wells. Crazy I know. The founder of charity: water is in Iowa right now. He is being carted around by a few friends to talk at fund raising events. No semi for him. I wonder why.
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