Christians rightly have a burden to love and serve their neighbor. In particular many of us have opportunity to serve the poor around us. But how do we do this? What do we do?
I remember asking this question to my friend Mez McConnell, the founder and director of 20schemes, (a ministry to plant church in Scotland’s poorest communities). Mez spoke of the need to help without hurting people. He has a profoundly biblical and therefore a compassionate and responsible approach to this work. In our conversation he recommend the book Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton. Mez called it a must for considering this subject. So, I picked it up.
When you read the subtitle you can get the picture: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, And How to Reverse it. In this subtitle you can see that the book is going to be something of a critique to the popular approaches to mercy ministry. He spends time showing the typical western approach religious approach to the problem. We often gear up, save up, and pump up to go and do a week or two in an impoverished area. But how does this really help the people on the ground? He tells stories of short-term relief that did not work towards a solution for a long-term problem. He references church teams spending thousands of dollars and mobilizing dozens of people to come and paint a church building that was just painted a few months ago–by another well meaning group of missionaries.
But the book is more than simply a critique, it is path ahead. Lupton advocates a more sustained, intentional, indigenous approach. He promotes involving, training, and deploying those who you are aiming to impact rather than simply throwing money at them. Obviously this is hard(er). People can assuage their middle-class guilt complex by giving money or a week or two in a bad area, but does that really help? Lupton himself struggled with this and decided to move into a more urban, economically challenged community as a home base for his ministry.
The book’s strength is its thoughtful presentation of both sides of the helping. It applauds the desire to do something. At the same time, it shows the impact of what we do in the lives of the people and the community that we are trying to serve. What if instead of helping we were actually hurting? This is an important consideration for Christians seeking to serve in this way.
One omission from the book is how the local church fits into this discussion. In my reading it is assumed that the church collective is going to have a ministry to the poor. It is a matter of ecclesiological debate as to what the mission of the church is with respect to social justice. The assumption for many is that it is is. I think it would be helpful for churches, particularly church leaders, to work through this question and then consider how they might engage in this ministry. Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s book is very helpful on the subject.
If you are thinking about mercy ministry in impoverished communities then I echo Mez’s advice: pick up Toxic Charity it is eyeopening and illuminating. It will get the conversation going, provide examples to help you think further on this important subject.
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