When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor... and Yourself

This past fall, Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN did a sermon series entitled "Compassion by Command". Greg Boyd taught most weeks, but others contributed valuable insight throughout the process. It really got me thinking about poverty alleviation, and also made some significant connections with my dissertation. I would strongly encourage you to take the time to listen/watch to these sermons online at the link provided above.

One of the resources that kept being mentioned was this book, When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. I decided to pick it up, and after reading it, I believe it is an essential resource for any organization that works with the poor in any way, shape or form.

The basic thesis of the book is that poverty alleviation is "the ministry of reconciliation: moving people closer to God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation" (78) and that material poverty alleviation is "Working to reconcile the four foundational relationships (God, self, others, rest of creation) so that people can fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruit of that work." (78)

When poverty alleviation is defined in these terms, it is clear we are all in poverty, in need of poverty alleviation. We are all broken in our relationships. We need each other to help through this process. Recognizing our poverty is one of the keys to bringing about poverty alleviation for ourselves and for those around us. Poverty is more than a lack of resources, education, or money. It is a lack in your relationships, which undermines you and your self-confidence. This is a large part of why poverty alleviation is found in rebuilding relationships with other people and with God.

The authors say that there are three responses to any situation of involvement: relief, rehabilitation, and development. Most churches and organizations respond in the manner of relief in every situation, although only a handful of situations actually call for relief. Relief should be used in situations where there has been some kind of disaster and used to "stop the bleeding". Rehabilitation is trying to move from the post-disaster situation to a level similar to the pre-disaster situation, while development is moving people beyond their present or previous situations into a better place. Development is what is typically needed, but it is the most inconvenient one of the three. Development cannot happen by throwing money at a situation, or material goods, or even simple education. Those are more appropriate for relief than development.

Development requires building relationships with people. Development is not about telling people what to do, but helping them decide for themselves what to do and working with them as they work toward that goal. They strongly advocate for Asset-Based Community Development, where instead of going into a community and asking "What can we do to help?", you go into a community and ask "What are your gifts?" Asking this question not only informs you what the community is capable of doing, but shows them what they are capable of doing and being, empowering them to move in that direction. When the community takes initiative for themselves, that is when poverty is most likely to be alleviated. This process is often unappealing to churches and organizations because it is a slow process that often lacks any kind of immediate return, but the authors argue that working through development is where true poverty alleviation occurs.

The authors include many stories of failures and successes, addressing issues both domestically and overseas. There is an especially direct chapter about the damage that often occurs because of short term mission trips, while also giving suggestions for how to make short term missions trips successful for both those who go on the trip and those that are supposed to be helped on the trip.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I think that everyone who is at all involved in attempts at poverty alleviation needs to read this book. The book is set up in a way that is incredibly conducive to small groups going through this book together. This book (and the Compassion By Command sermon series) challenged me to reevaluate my belief about the way to approach poverty alleviation and affirmed the role that treating one another with human dignity must play in our relationships. Please, read this book. Of the books I have reviewed to this point, there has not been a book that I feel so strongly about the need for people to read it. If reading this book stops people, churches and other organizations from the destructive behavior in which they typically engage (with the best intentions) when it comes to poverty alleviation, it will help things out immensely. If it actually leads people to act in these difficult, but helpful ways, true poverty alleviation could start.