We live in a fallen world. Whether speaking spiritually, politically, or economically, the sad truth is that families in many nations are impoverished, suffer poor health, lack quality education, have corrupt governments, survive in conditions of ecological and environmental difficulty, and die far too early. The same may be said of the growing majority of Latter-day Saints. Indeed, we’re becoming a Third-World Church in which many families are broken, jobless, and in numerous cases are unable to afford the price of a bus ride to Sunday meetings.

There are a variety of terms used to describe this condition: Developing Nations, Global South, Majority World, and Less Developed Countries. Currently almost half of the earth’s population tries to eke out an existence on less than $2.50 per day. More than 80 percent of humanity lives in nations where income disparity is increasing. Four-fifths of the world lives on under $10 per day, which requires them to spend many of their waking hours trying to survive and feed their children. Yet the richest one-fifth consumes over 76 percent of the world’s total private resources, a sharp contrast to the poorest fifth who collectively consume a mere 1.5 percent. In some Third-World countries, conditions have gone from bad to worse, creating a “Fourth World” made up of dysfu nctional societies like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. The differences between developed countries and the rest of the world—whether in children’s education, disease, literacy, or access to clean water—are both complicated and enormous.

Although trillions of dollars have been committed to foreign aid over several decades, traditional development models have been administered in a bureaucratic, top-down, and extremely paternalistic fashion in which experts act as custodians of the project, treating participants as second-class citizens or mere charity cases.  The result tended to be dependence, whether economic, industrial, or technical.

As Latter-day Saints and members of the BYU community, we ought to be on the forefront of new development approaches that are bottom-up, rather than top down.  Because we learn responsibility and initiative in the Church and at BYU, we should work so that Third World needs and problems are identified at the grassroots level and that participants become empowered and engaged in generating solutions themselves. In the emerging development paradigm of the future, Third-World citizens will operate in partnership with NGOs and outside experts—each having a voice, each involved in the process of clarifying issues and developing answers that fit within the cultural realities of their own society. Proactive students and faculty at BYU have already made a difference in working with Third-World citizens to improve their quality of life. At last count, more than 6.1 million of the world’s poor have been blessed by dozens of social enterprises, NGOs, and other international projects that have begun right here. Yet we are far short of our potential.

There is much to be done if we, as an LDS academic community, are to use our talents and BYU educations to improve society. Does our university education foster greater awareness and understanding of worldwide suffering? In what ways may we apply our theories—whether in nursing, economics, biological sciences, business, or anthropology—to better the world? What does it mean to be a people of stewardship? How does our commitment to consecration and service fit into the context of the world’s struggling poor?

Because of Church g rowth and our moral commitment to improve society, I hope the day comes when we regard our education and time at BYU as not merely an opportunity, but an obligation to help those in the Third World. It will take greater spiritual strength and focused effort. It will necessitate generating enough good will that many departments on campus marshal their faculty and students as agents of global change.

To do this, we need to continue to hire the best faculty and recruit superb students from the Third World who commit to return home and build up their countries. Many U.S. students would also become enlisted in such a great BYU cause. We would have a staff committed to raising millions of dollars in donations each year. We would support development plan competitions with the same degree of time and energy that we now put into sports competitions.

All this can be done while keeping missionary work in mind, just as the school does now with football and basketball. We can show people around the globe who we are as Latter-day Saints. In the case of development, BYU’s efforts would lead to genuine impacts—improving conditions in many Third-World nations, and increasing the quality of life for LDS families and their neighbors. There would be less government corruption. There would be many more educational opportunities for poor families so they could lift themselves out of poverty. Numerous alumni would become leaders of character and ethics in the public and private sectors, not just Church leaders in wards and stakes.

Perhaps this is just a pipe dream. Or could it actually occur at some point in the future when visionary leaders and innovative students work together to reduce human suffering? Our commitment to “go forth and serve” will be reflected in the efforts we make to use our time, talents, and education to bless the lives of our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate than we are.

Dr. Woodworth is a professor of Global Social Entrepreneurship in the Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy in the Marriott School of Management.