Effective altruism is about improving the world and improving ourselves. It is just as important to help others to practice EA as it is to do it yourself. If you are trying to maximize your impact and understand EA concepts, then you are in a position to promote it to others! The impact mindset and lifestyle is for everyone, however, we recommend that Christians first and foremost promote EA to other Christians. Effective altruism is a very Christian-like concept, but is a young social movement and has yet to make meaningful inroads into the Christian community. The more Christians participate in spreading the message of effective altruism (or including it in Gospel teaching), the better the world will be!

ADVANTAGES OF PROMOTING EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM IN CHRISTIANITY

Christians have a moral obligation to help others effectively. Practicing effective altruism makes someone a better Christian.

Memes are easier to spread among Christians because of our existing networks. We meet every week in church, many of us are involved in small Christian groups, and there is dedicated Christian media.

Promoting EA to Christians has particularly high potential to scale. Once a critical mass of Christian effective altruists develops, EA will quickly mainstream among Christians, because they will rightly view it as part of their faith.

TIPS FOR PROMOTING EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM

  • Educate yourself on effective altruism and practice it yourself, so you will be an example. People may not listen to you promote something that you don’t practice yourself.
  • Emphasize the potential solutions to social issues, and how awesome they would be. Social issues can be depressing: extreme poverty, illness, violence. As a result, people often avoid thinking about them, and thus avoid taking action. They may also feel powerless when thinking about the magnitude of the problems. However, if you take their attention away from the suffering of those affected to the happiness you can create by helping them, they may feel more enthusiastic and empowered to help. The greater the problem, the greater the opportunity to make a difference. People tend to be more motivated by positive emotions than negative ones.
  • Start a Christian effective altruism chapter.
  • Run Giving Games
  • Introduce effective altruism to your church.
  • Spread EA on social media.
  • Contact other churches and educate them on EA’s importance in Christianity.
  • Give an oral presentation to your class at school on EA.
  • Give out free copies of books on effective altruism such as The Most Good You Can Do or Doing Good Better.
  • When discussing EA with a fellow Christian, mention how integral it is the truest manifestation of Jesus’ teachings of loving your neighbor. Bear witness if you feel that EA has made you a better Christian or enriched your life.
  • For discussions with secular people, it may be useful to mention that many non-believers report that practicing EA has brought considerable meaning into their lives. You can also mention that you believe that EA is a Christian concept as no other faith stresses service and compassion like Christianity, and use EA as a lead-in to a wider conversation about Christ’s message.
  • Be likable and avoid sounding judgmental. When you discuss how people tend to help others based on feeling good about themselves rather than having an impact, it is easy to feel frustrated about the issue and come across as condescending. Avoid this by taking a positive approach and emphasize that most people really do want to help others but are hindered by cognitive biases and social conditioning.