What do we mean by ‘inspired by Christ’?

In the Bible, Jesus tells a crowd the story of the ‘good Samaritan’. The parable talks of a man who was mugged by some robbers, beaten and left to die on the side of a road. Three people come across the man, but only one stops – the Samaritan. On such a dangerous road, all three had their reasons to keep going, but only the Samaritan pushed his reasons aside to help.

Opportunity International UK aims to be like the Samaritan. Moved with compassion, he pushes aside cross-cultural boundaries to show real and costly love to someone in desperate need. In the stories of Jesus’ life, we see the same character displayed. Jesus mixed with some of the most despised people of his time – prostitutes, tax collectors and other outcasts. He helps and believes in all people – religion, race and gender don’t come into it.

In our work with the poor, we come across a number of people who demonstrate ‘Christ-like’ behaviour every day. Some of these people are Christians, some are not. Some are the leaders and staff of our partner microfinance institutions who work in the most isolated, difficult areas imaginable; some are our staff who labour tirelessly to give a voice to the voiceless. Some are our clients who, despite their own circumstances, walk alongside others in their neighbourhoods to help them grow successful businesses, too. Together, we work to reach out to people in need – religion, race and gender don’t come into it.

Rather than focusing on evangelism, discipleship or church planting (roles that other organisations are fulfilling), we see our role as responding to one of Jesus’ main messages – to love our neighbour as ourselves. 1 John 3:16 says this: “This is how we know what love is – Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. So, we also ought to lay down our lives for others.” Opportunity International UK is trying to answer this call.