Peter Sara believes faith without action is useless.
My contributions to this column have usually been of the apologetics variety.
Apologetics is not saying ''sorry'', which some politicians say too often and others not at all.
Christian apologetics intends to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, in defence of the faith.
James, the brother of Jesus, presented a challenge in his contribution to the New Testament: ''Brothers and sisters, it doesn't make any sense to say you have faith and act in a way that denies that faith.
Mere talk never gets you very far, and a commitment to Jesus only in word will not save you.
It would be like seeing a brother or sister without clothes out in the cold and begging for food, and saying, 'Shalom, friend, you should go inside where it's warm and eat something,' but do nothing about their needs - leaving him cold and alone on the street. What good would words alone be? The same is true with faith. Without actions, faith is useless. By itself it's as good as dead.'' (James: 2:14-17)
About 40 years ago, a New Zealander named Ray Harrison introduced a radical innovation in the work of Christian missions.
In the course of his international travel for a Christian organisation, he met gifted nationals in their respective countries who were doing good work among their own people, but lacked funding and other resources.
He returned to New Zealand and presented the needs of these national workers to a group of Christians in Waimate.
They responded by providing funding to allow those national workers to carry out the work more effectively.
This radical paradigm shift was seen in the fact that national workers themselves became the key element at the point of need, rather than the expatriate missionaries.
''The Great White Hope'' was otherwise the prevailing model. From small beginnings, ''International Needs'' was born, and is now active in over 30 countries.
One example is ''Sano Diyo'' (Little Lighthouse), in northern India.
In 2000, with only three children, this work was founded by a married couple who were Bible School graduates.
This home for girls is on the Nepal-India border.
Some had actually been sold into sexual slavery, and others had a high risk of sharing that same fate.
The girls are loved and protected in a home environment and attend an English medium school.
The goal is that each child will benefit through education so that they can get good jobs and become women of influence.
In Ghana, International Needs has been emancipating fetish slaves since 1991. Fetish slavery in Ghana involves a religious shrine taking human beings, usually young virgin girls, in payment for services or in religious atonement for alleged misdeeds of a family member.
These shrine slaves serve the priests, elders and owners of a traditional religious shrine without remuneration and without their consent.
The idea is that the girl is serving the god or gods of the shrine and is married to them.
If the girl runs away or dies, she must be replaced by another girl from the family.
Sexual abuse appears to be part of the job description. Girls who escape or who are otherwise rejected by the shrine priests face a bleak future.
International Needs Ghana continues to campaign to change this practice while providing job-skills training and care for these girls.
My own church raised $45,000 to construct a mini library in the Balubad slum area in Manila in the Philippines.
This building was officially opened in March this year and serves as a free community resource.
Balubad is a squatter area and home for about 20,000 people.
The vision for this mini library is to provide a way to help people get educated as a pathway to escaping generational poverty.
Members of my church sponsor children who live in the slum area.
These examples are offered as proof that the faith which I am privileged to defend is indeed alive and well.
-Peter Sara is an elder at the Elim Christian Centre. He is also chairman of International Needs New Zealand.
