Love Must Act hast its roots in the U.S.-based Episcopal Church and its relationships with Christian communities representing 80 million people around the world. Our focus is high-quality and sustainable education for all. We never exclude based on faith. We teach and support faith formation as appropriate to a context. We do not proselytize or disrespect those of other faiths or no faith. Indeed, our meetings begin with prayer addressed to the “giver of all knowledge and source of all wisdom by whatever name you are known and even if known by no name at all.” Still, our Christian identity and relationships matter to us for two reasons. They (1) inspire and ground us in our work and (2) they have a practical impact for our work by opening doors around the world.
Inspirationally, we are unabashedly a pro-poor organization. It is a cornerstone of our practice of the Christian faith that God dwells in and among those who are poor and that relationship with the poor is an integral part of human relationship with God. We understand God to have chosen to live on earth among the poor in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, in speaking of the poor, tells his followers: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Mt. 25: 40). The God who is Love intends for love to burn within us in such a way that draws us into relationship with the poor, not simply (or even primarily) for the sake of the poor but for the sake of our own spirits as well. Accordingly, Love Must Act draws continual inspiration for its work from the tradition of witness by such Christians as St. Laurence of Rome, an early martyr who saw in the poor “the treasures of the Church.”
Second, our Episcopal roots have the very practical consequence of a ready-made worldwide community that grounds its work in real people and existing communities. This brings a ready-made network of financial resources to our work and accountability to its implementation. It also helps us draw lessons from both successes and challenges from other places. Moreover, because our partner churches in poor countries have existed for generations, their credibility in carrying out social service and educational work is unmatched. Perhaps most importantly, by rooting our schools and programs in such relationships, our prospects for the non-dependent longevity of a project, are greater than more traditional charitable approaches. Each local setting is unique, which makes human relationships rather than just the flow of money the key to transformational change.