Perspectives on Poverty
We are informed in our definition of poverty by a belief that poverty is not merely a lack of material things, but part of a spiritual and emotional condition that affects us all. Without a broader, and more Biblical understanding of true poverty, we risk doing more harm than good with our giving.....not just to the recipient, but to ourselves as well. The work of writers such as Bryant Myers, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert has given us an understanding that poverty is often best viewed as resulting from brokenness- brokenness in terms of relationships. We are poor when we suffer brokenness in our relationships with our self, with God, with o creation and with others. With this understanding we come to know that we are all poor, and that we are all broken and are all in need of healing and reconciliation.
Consistent with this expanded view of poverty, a materially poor person's poverty often manifest's itself not only in financial terms, but in terms of self perception. When a poor person is asked to describe what it means to be poor they talk about shame, feeling worthless, or that if they were to die, no-one would care. These feelings dominate their self identity, resulting in a brokenness that is often unaddressed by those seeking to help. Similarly, we believe that it is often just what makes Westerners materially rich that can make them spiritually poor. A materially rich Westerner clearly doesn't pray for their daily bread in the way that the Israelites did in the Exodus or the way that billions around the world do today. These people (including us, the staff of Concentric Development and so many of the givers we seek to serve), can often suffer from the afflictions that come from self-reliance and what might even be termed as a “God complex”. We have what you need, and we can solve your problems.
This reality means that a materially rich, but self reliant person giving to a materially poor person with feelings of inadequacy might actually do more harm than good both to the recipient and the giver, exacerbating (increasing) the feelings of dependency and worthlessness in the receiver as well as the feelings of superiority and self-sufficiency in the giver.
Material poverty is a complex condition that is often accompanied by physical weakness, social isolation, powerlessness and vulnerability where the poor are entangled in a complex web of mutually reinforcing destructive political, economic and social circumstances and systems from which it can be difficult to escape. Apart from immediate responses to disasters, solutions to material poverty that rely primarily on providing what is physically needed are often ineffective and can be harmful in the long run. Lasting solutions require attention to the many dimensions of this tangled web, including restoring broken and marred relationships to what God intended. That is why we feel the Church is a vital element of an effective response to poverty, and we have a preference for ministries that intentionally address both material and spiritual poverty. Ignoring the spiritual dimensions leads us to treat symptoms rather than root causes.
There is great value in this deeper understanding of poverty, enabling us to promote dignity rather than dependency as well as to better understand the challenges associated with foreign aid. This is a far greater topic than we can give proper coverage to here, and we ourselves are far from expert on it. We believe, though, that this broader understanding of poverty is important enough to introduce here, at least in summary terms and also to encourage those we seek to serve to read and pray more about this very important topic. For a more proper review we encourage you to read "When Helping Hurts" by Corbett and Fikkert as well as Myers’ “Walking with the Poor”. From a more secular perspective on the harm of aid on recipients, we encourage you to read "White Man's Burden" by Easterly and "Dead Aid" by Moyo.
Comments on these perspectives by Brian Fikkert, Co-Author of When Helping Hurts:
"Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good. . . . . What's the first step in poverty alleviation? Our own repentance is a good candidate"
Consistent with this expanded view of poverty, a materially poor person's poverty often manifest's itself not only in financial terms, but in terms of self perception. When a poor person is asked to describe what it means to be poor they talk about shame, feeling worthless, or that if they were to die, no-one would care. These feelings dominate their self identity, resulting in a brokenness that is often unaddressed by those seeking to help. Similarly, we believe that it is often just what makes Westerners materially rich that can make them spiritually poor. A materially rich Westerner clearly doesn't pray for their daily bread in the way that the Israelites did in the Exodus or the way that billions around the world do today. These people (including us, the staff of Concentric Development and so many of the givers we seek to serve), can often suffer from the afflictions that come from self-reliance and what might even be termed as a “God complex”. We have what you need, and we can solve your problems.
This reality means that a materially rich, but self reliant person giving to a materially poor person with feelings of inadequacy might actually do more harm than good both to the recipient and the giver, exacerbating (increasing) the feelings of dependency and worthlessness in the receiver as well as the feelings of superiority and self-sufficiency in the giver.
Material poverty is a complex condition that is often accompanied by physical weakness, social isolation, powerlessness and vulnerability where the poor are entangled in a complex web of mutually reinforcing destructive political, economic and social circumstances and systems from which it can be difficult to escape. Apart from immediate responses to disasters, solutions to material poverty that rely primarily on providing what is physically needed are often ineffective and can be harmful in the long run. Lasting solutions require attention to the many dimensions of this tangled web, including restoring broken and marred relationships to what God intended. That is why we feel the Church is a vital element of an effective response to poverty, and we have a preference for ministries that intentionally address both material and spiritual poverty. Ignoring the spiritual dimensions leads us to treat symptoms rather than root causes.
There is great value in this deeper understanding of poverty, enabling us to promote dignity rather than dependency as well as to better understand the challenges associated with foreign aid. This is a far greater topic than we can give proper coverage to here, and we ourselves are far from expert on it. We believe, though, that this broader understanding of poverty is important enough to introduce here, at least in summary terms and also to encourage those we seek to serve to read and pray more about this very important topic. For a more proper review we encourage you to read "When Helping Hurts" by Corbett and Fikkert as well as Myers’ “Walking with the Poor”. From a more secular perspective on the harm of aid on recipients, we encourage you to read "White Man's Burden" by Easterly and "Dead Aid" by Moyo.
Comments on these perspectives by Brian Fikkert, Co-Author of When Helping Hurts:
"Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good. . . . . What's the first step in poverty alleviation? Our own repentance is a good candidate"