SENTINEL WATCH July 4, 2005 Issue

DEBT RELIEF ... GOD'S WAY

JOHN SCOTT

leaders of what are called the world's richest nations, the G8, are meeting July 6-8 to consider global issues such as debt relief. They are gathering not in a city, but in the seclusion of the Gleneagles conference center in Scotland, surrounded by vast stretches of moor and hill.

Delegates will have been encouraged by signs that people of compassion around the world are investing as never before in ideas that help toward self-sufficienty. For example, there are programs based on microlending, which enable a woman in, say, Bangladesh to buy a cellphone and then repay the debt after charging the local villagers to use her phone. The empowerment of women is in itself a significant part of enriching lives.

Yet, as I write this in Scotland, not so far from Gleneagles, I find myself asking, What difference can one person make in relieving debt? Isn't the challenge too great?—rather like the eagle soaring out of reach. Then I remind myself that things are not always what they seem. The very name Gleneagles has nothing to do with eagles. It derives from the Gaelic language, meaning "glen of the church." As I see it, prayer-based initiatives in churches anywhere can make a difference. They can lift the thought of nations to recognize their wealth in terms of giving rather than spending.