When Helping Hurts 4: Chapter 3: What's The Solution?

In my last blog post we defined the problem of poverty using the definition from "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. But if we were successful at defining the problem, the next step would be to define the solution. Chapter 3 gives us two definitions of poverty alleviation:

1) The ministry of reconciliation: moving people closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation.

2) Material Poverty Alleviation is working to reconcile the four foundational relationships so that people can fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruit of their work.

In terms of the relational nature of poverty, this is a great way to look at poverty alleviation. It's about restoring relationships, both personal and systemic, to the best of our broken ability within a broken world. And note how #2 is not about bringing people to a certain income level or trying to define what a non-poverty lifestyle looks like.

There's a lot more I can say about this chapter, but I want to camp out on a quote that comes within this section. Read this and think about it:

"The goal is not to make the materially poor all over the world into middle-to-upper-class North Americans, a group characterized by high rates of divorce, sexual addiction, substance abuse, and mental illness."

This was a tough quote for me, and more than likely is a hard quote for most of the people I know. I am not materially poor. I have a 2,400 sq ft. home, with two (albeit very used) cars, an income above the federal poverty level, health, life, and auto insurance for my family, and I can afford to eat healthy food every day. My picture of poverty alleviation looks like me. I'm not rich, but I'm not poor. Chances are, for most people like me, "success" looks like us.

But we have our own set of problems, don't we? Can we really say that middle-class America is what we want to transfer/export to the rest of the world? Is that what we want to transform our materially poor brothers and sisters into? One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received was from a guy named Ryan Fowler over at Memphis Urban Ministry. I was at my wits' end working with some families in my neighborhood who - I would say - live in a general state poverty. Looking for help, I fired off an email to Ryan asking for his help. I was way out of my league.

"What do I do?" "How do I help?" "I can't relate!"

He calmly told me to spend some time listening and learning from the people I was trying to help. That advice didn't make sense to me. I thought I was in the position of authority in the relationship. These people needed to learn from me, I didn't need to learn from them. But determined, I went back and decided to learn. It's hard to humble yourself and admit that you don't have all the answers (at least it's hard for me). What if they had more going for them than I thought? Could they know something I didn't? Could there be a part of their lives that was richer than mine?

We have to come to a point where we realize that God doesn't tell us to clone ourselves, instead we are to create disciples. We are to help each other come to a point where we glorify God in all we do, including our work and the support of our families. So the question leads us to the solution: How do we help each other grow to the point where we glorify God in all we do?

A last note: I don't want to leave this chapter without emphasizing something the authors do as well. Often the most important thing we middle-class church-going folk can do for those in poverty is open doors that we control. For business owners in your church, this means identifying and taking the risk to hire those who are poor, and paying them a wage that allows them to get ahead. It may be that the church itself hires poor people in order to train them in basic job skills and give them experience that will help them launch into a career. We (the church) certainly can help them see a vision of what it means to be whole, presenting a full gospel. For me, job programs like Memphis-based HopeWorks is a great effort by the church to coordinate all these efforts.

So how would you define the poverty alleviation? Have you ever thought about what you can learn from someone you would call "poor"? How is your church working toward a holistic approach to poverty alleviation?