I’ve made a list of holistic mission organizations. For those of you who are interested in missions, I would consider to put these orgs on your prospect research list. Some mission organizations tend to do engage in evangelism over development and visa versa. These organizations do both, and in my opinion, DO IT WELL.

CRM (Church Resource Ministries) Empowering Leaders: I came across the book, Submerge and I am using it for one of my classes. It is written by director John B.Hayes. This group runs several different programs to accomplish the holistic mission. They empower people through business (Enterprise), work among the poor (Innerchange), develop leaders among nations (International), engage youth in community (NeiuCommunities), and develop leaders for a changing culture (UsMinistries).

Food for the Hungry: Using a model of comprehensive community development, Food for the Hungry works all over the globe. One of the most important aspects of their work — they’ve been successful in developing effective exit strategies so that indigenous leaders can take over the ministry.

International Justice Mission: IJM is a U.S. Christian non-profit human rights organization that operates in countries all over the world to rescue victims of individual human rights abuse. The President/CEO, Gary Haugen has written a wonderful book about their work titled Good News about Injustice.

Word Made Flesh: Although I might be biased about this organization (we have several Taylor University alum working here) Word Made Flesh’s model of incarnational relationship building codified in their nine lifestyle celebrations has proved to be a effective strategy in working with the world’s poor. The website also contact Word Made flesh podcasts. In addition, I would recommend digesting their journal, The Cry, which is also available on their website. Their executive director, Chris Heuertz is a dynamic speaker and is beginning to write about his experiences and vision.

Opportunity International: Opportunity International is a organization committed to alleviate poverty through microcredit and microenterprise development, financial training and counseling. Opportunity works in several countries and has over 960,000 microcredit clients. Their website include stories and videos which can give you a better understanding of their work.

Tear Fund: This United Kingdom-based relief and development organization, is well-known for it integral mission focuses on development people’s relationships with God as well as developing their communities.  Headed by C. Rene Padilla, TearFund looks to create social justice and empowerment by partnering with the local church.