Alleviating Poverty by Reconciling Relationships

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HOUSTON – Until Christians recognize their own weakness, their attempts to help the poor materially are more likely to hurt the poor than to help them, said economist Brian Fikkert.

The first step towards poverty reduction involves Christians repenting their sins of pride, their feelings of superiority over the poor, and their adherence to materialism, he said.

“Broken people create broken systems, and broken systems create broken people,” said Fikkert, co-author of When to help hurts.

Some churches that criticize the government for spending money to solve problems are doing the same when it comes to how they approach the poor, said Fikkert, founding president of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College, at the participants at the No Need Among You conference in Houston. . The Texas Christian Community Development Network sponsored the event from October 6-8.

Misdiagnose the problem

Too often Christians prescribe the mistreatment of poverty because they misdiagnosed the disease, he said.

They focus only on material poverty, rather than also looking at the poverty of spiritual intimacy, the poverty of being, the poverty of stewardship and the poverty of community, he said.

In essence, Christians base their view of humanity on the Western economic model which views a human being as “a physical creature, highly individualistic, self-centered and materialistic,” he said.

“The Christian Church has embraced the history of Western materialism but added a soul to it: bring the soul to heaven for eternity and live the American dream now. … We need a better story. We must rediscover the gospel, ”said Fikkert.

Contrary to the materialistic worldview, the biblical model presents human beings as “highly integrated body-soul relational creatures who are deeply wired for relationships,” he explained.


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“Poverty alleviation is about reconciling relationships,” he said.

Relief, rehabilitation and development

Churches are missing the mark when they treat people living in chronic poverty the same way they respond to those in need of emergency help, Fikkert said.

“Know the distinction between emergency aid, rehabilitation and development,” he said.

Rescue is an appropriate short-term response to victims of a natural disaster or unexpected crisis, comparable to applying first aid to stop bleeding, he explained.

Rehabilitation begins after the bleeding has stopped and seeks to work with disaster victims to restore the positive elements to their pre-crisis state.

Development, on the other hand, is a long-term, continuous process of “walking alongside” people to “bring them into righteous relationship with God, oneself, others and the rest of creation,” said Fikkert.

Rather than asking the poor what is wrong and what they need, ask them to identify their gifts, capacities and resources, he recommended.

“Don’t usually do things for people that they can do for themselves,” he said.

Rather than taking a paternalistic approach that gives the poor a role model to follow, help the materially poor find their own solutions, he suggested.

“Live in another story,” he said.


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