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

For over fifteen years Ive worked alongside other Christians in efforts to effectively address poverty at home and abroad. I can honestly report that When Helping Hurts is the single best book Ive seen on this topic. While accessible to beginners, it is rich with insight for veterans, too. With solid biblical exegesis, engaging stories from the front lines, and practical, no-nonsense advice, Corbett and Fikkert offer essential wisdom desperately needed in todays church. The book will make many readers uncomfortable: it reveals the unhealthy and frankly unbiblical ways congregations have undertaken to help the poor in their local communities and abroad through short-term missions. But it quickly offers hope in the form of understandable, feasible new strategies that better grasp the dignity and promise of the materially poor. This book deserves a #1 spot on the reading list of every Christian who wants to follow Jesus in genuine, mutually transforming love of neighbor.

AMY L. SHERMAN, PHD, Senior Fellow and Director, Sagamore Institute Center on Faith in Communities; author of Restorers of Hope

What an opportunity evangelicals have to make a difference in our world through the church as we move deeper into the third millennium! Corbett and Fikkert build on the growing momentum of holistic witness thats sweeping our country and globe. Given their work nationally and internationally both personally and through the Chalmers Center, Corbett and Fikkert are eminently qualified and positioned to take motivated kingdom citizens on a Christ-centered and comprehensive journey that will pay huge dividends for impoverished people and for Christians in our broken world. When Helping Hurts will help the hurtingand us as well.

DR. RONALD J. SIDER, President, Evangelicals for Social Action Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry, and Public Policy; Palmer Theological Seminary; author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger

From the early pages, where the authors promptly and humbly confess how they have messed up in their own efforts to alleviate poverty, to the last chapters where their vast experience and on-the-street wisdom show through so helpfully, this is a book that wonderfully combines heavy-duty thinking with practical tools. As a journalist, I appreciate the authors storytelling and descriptive abilities. As a churchman, I appreciate their zeal to root all strategies in the institution God has ordained to bring about His goals. No donor should invest another dollar in any kind of relief effort before digesting the last page of this important book.

JOEL BELZ, Founder and writer, World magazine

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert are zealous to make sure that we honor the gospel not only in word but also in deed by caring for the least of these as Christ instructed. But how can a local church make a difference, and how do individual Christians meaningfully reflect Christs grace, when the disparities of wealth and power in our world are so great? And how do we show material care without drifting into a social gospel devoid of spiritual priorities? When Helping Hurts explores biblical principles in terms of real-life situations to offer real help and grace-filled answers for such questions.

DR. BRYAN CHAPELL, President, Covenant Theological Seminary

Corbett and Fikkert fill some important gaps in our thinking and acting about poverty as Christians. Churches in North America will find this a helpful way to educate congregations and then motivate them to action, both globally and in their neighborhoods. A biblical framework for thinking about poverty is presented in an engaging way. More importantly, the authors shift the conversation away from the needs of the poor to a call to build on what the poor already havewilling hearts and minds that just need an opportunity. The book closes with a compelling call to support ministries of micro-enterprise development.

BRYANT L. MYERS, PHD, Professor of International Development School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary

Steve and Brian have rung the bella clarion call to rethink how we apply the gospel to a broken world. When Helping Hurts lays out the principles and practice for transforming our good intentions into genuine, lasting change. I couldnt recommend this book more highly.

STEPHAN J. BAUMAN, Senior Vice President of Programs, World Relief

We live at a time when it has become popular to be an activist for the poor. But before we all run over to Africa to do something, this book is a must-read! The impact of good but uninformed intentions leads to unintended consequences that can be damaging to everyone involved. This book will help all of uschurches, mission agencies, Christian relief and development organizations, and donorsto establish the right foundation for our ministry to the least of these and for the church to do this work as God intended.

DARYL HEALD, Senior Vice President, The Maclellan Foundation

Corbett and Fikkert have done a masterful job integrating insights from Scripture, social science research, and community development practice to give readers sound, practical, and effective strategies for equipping people to have more effective ministry to the poor. In this excellent book youll discover new ways of approaching short-term missions (that truly help the poor rather than hurt them) as well as new ways of providing long-term economic empowerment of poor people both in North America and across the world. When Helping Hurts should be required reading for all church leaders, academics, and church members.

DR. STEVEN L. CHILDERS, President and CEO, Global Church Advancement; Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary-Orlando

This is a book that every church leader should read. It takes the church beyond the common Band-Aid ministries to ministries that truly make a difference in the lives of the people they seek to serve. For too long the church in America has kept people in a relief mode by their well-intentioned attempts at assistance. By reading this book, church leaders can help their churches move past relief to recovery and development. I highly recommend this book!

DR. L. JEAN WHITE, Coordinator for Church and Community Ministries, Ministry Evangelism Team, North American Mission Board

When Helping Hurts offers a timely message to the North American church that being well-meaning and well-resourced and even amply generous does not mean all is well! As North American churches and individuals move more and more toward hands-on involvement with communities and churches in the developing world, there will be a natural tendency toward creating asymmetrical relationships where Global South counterparts are not viewed as equals and partners with invaluable talents, resources, and funds. As two men who have walked their talk over many years of holistic engagement with developing-world communities, Steve and Brian provide a credible and humbly toned corrective to this unhealthy and unbiblical dynamic. This book is a must-read for any Christian who hopes to be globally aware, biblically grounded, and thoughtfully engaged in international relief and development.

PAUL PARK, Executive Director, First Fruit, Inc.

When Helping Hurts is the most important book for the church to read as it seeks to serve the poor in ways that make a lasting difference. Corbett and Fikkert biblically define poverty, highlight why past initiatives havent always lived up to expectations, and provide practical ways for extending the kingdom of God in inner cities and to the ends of the earth.