When Helping Hurts

Have you ever done anything to help the poor?

Have you ever done anything to hurt the poor?

Many of us can answer the first question quickly and relatively easily. We're pretty good at helping the poor, right? We donate food, clothing, buy MARTA tickets, give money to the guy on the street corner, and sign up for short term mission trips. But have we really ever done anything to hurt the poor?

The reality is that many of us, in our best efforts to help the poor have done considerable harm. We focus on the symptoms, rather than the underlying illness. By treating the symptoms or mis diagnosing the illness, we often inflict damage upon the very people we are trying to help.

Shocking, isn't it?

A couple days ago, I picked up a book by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert called When Helping Hurts. I highly recommend this book. It is guaranteed to make readers uncomfortable and even saddened to think how your understanding of the Gospel (in my case, a narrow understanding of the Gospel) impacted your ministry among the poor. Corbett and Finkertt combine theology, research, foundational principles and proven strategies to prepare readers for ministry amongst "the least of these." At the beginning and very heart of the text, the authors address why Christ came to earth. Many Christians (myself included) have a narrow and concise answer to this question explaining that "Christ came to earth to save sinners." Though this answer is true, Jesus' message is even more epic and sweeping than that. In Colossians, Paul describes the nature and work of Christ this way:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy. For God was pleased to have all fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Col. 1:15-20)

Jesus is the Creator, Master, Sustainer, and Reconciler of ALL THINGS. Yes, Jesus died for our souls, but He also died to reconcile all that He created - "far as the curse is found." The task of all Christians and of the Church is "to embody Christ by doing what He did and what He continues to do through us: declare - using both words and deeds - that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords who is bringing in a kingdom of righteousness, justice, and peace." We need to do it where Jesus did it, among the blind, the poor, the lame, the outcast, and the oppressed.

Also central to any poverty alleviation efforts is an understanding of poverty and its origins. The authors explain that poverty is the "result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious, or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings." Poverty is a result of the fall and is rooted in the brokenness of our relationships. That means every human being is suffering from a poverty of spiritual intimacy, poverty of being, a poverty of community, and a poverty of stewardship. The fall really happened and it is wreaking havoc in each of our lives, just in different ways. Until we embrace our own brokenness, our work among "the poor" will likely do more harm than good.

More to come. This book is awesome. It is hard not to post entire chapters.