Related articles and links |  1 of 4

After serving more than a decade at World Vision, Robert Seiple is stepping down this month as president of the largest privately funded Christian relief-and-development organization in the world. During his tenure, Seiple doubled the funding for relief work and moved wv's headquarters from California to Federal Way, Washington (south of Seattle). His most lasting contribution, however, may prove to be his pushing the organization beyond the first two steps of relief and development into effective engagement of the deep-seated nationalistic conflicts that have erupted around the globe in recent years. World Vision, which was founded in 1950 when Seiple was eight years old, today operates in 100 countries worldwide. Before coming to World Vision, Seiple served as a United States Marine captain during the Vietnam War and was president of Eastern College and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

How has the landscape of relief and development changed since you came to World Vision in 1987?
I began during the last two years of the Cold War, which was followed by the chaotic, dysfunctional, transitional era we're still in. Without the balance caused by having two world superpowers, we've seen virulent identity wars break out that are difficult to stop and that continue to burn like fires in the back 40. Relief-and-development agencies need to bring a new emphasis to conflict analysis and reconciliation that relief agencies have never had.

For instance, you can go to the border of [the former] Zaire and Rwanda and feed refugees in the camp, but if you stay long enough, the refugees not only recover physically but begin to monetize the food they're getting so they can buy guns and go back over the border and continue the carnage. Bringing reconciliation in these circumstances requires a new level of geopolitical sophistication, for which we have precious few models.

Do faith-based organizations receive more respect now in the international community than when you began?
Absolutely. We are invited to sit at tables we have never sat at before. We are listened to in ways that we've never been listened to before. I don't know how long this window of opportunity will stay open for faith-based organizations, but the world realizes it doesn't have answers for the Bosnias and the Rwandas of our time.

How does the modifier "Christian" distinguish the work of Christian development agencies?
Where others see intractability, Christians see possibility because of the reality of a sovereign God. Our hope is not just an abstract theological concept, but a hope made tangible by the resurrection of Christ and the reality of his second coming. This gives us a sustainable hope, which is a very important commodity in development work. People die in this world not simply because they don't have food or water, but because they don't have hope.

Some have criticized World Vision for losing its original Christ-centered focus. What is driving this criticism?
Some of it has been a perception problem. This is an organization that was founded in the heart of an evangelist, Bob Pierce. Those who followed him didn't keep all his methodologies. Pierce went to the pastors, for instance. Stan Mooneyham, who came second, went to the folks in the pews. When you bypass the pastors and go to the folks in the pews, you create a dynamic that might raise some questions.

Also, in 1978 World Vision began the process of internationalization. This means simply that we began to give the ministry away to other entities around the world on an equal basis, a process that's still going on. I think we failed to properly explain to churches what was happening.

next page... |  1 of 4

June 15 1998, Vol. 42, No. 7