When I consider the overseas trips I’ve taken during the past ten years I’m reminded of what it means to truly help those who are hurting whether they are Syrian refugees or homeless people around the corner.
Often times we see a need and want to help, but do we consider the ramifications of how we go about helping? How will it effect those we help now and in the future and how will it help or hurt me and the world I live in?
Recently I finished a most ‘helpful’ book called, “When Helping Hurts” (how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor…and yourself). Some of the information I’d heard before, but much was new and all was worth the read and very practical. It has implications for any relationship where a need arises and you or I can ‘help’. It makes it clear that some things that look like help wind up being just the opposite in the long run and maybe in the short run as well.
This book by authors Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert covers much more than urban poor in the US and even more than Majority World poor in far away places. It addresses more than ‘materially poor people’ and extends the definition of poor to include all of us even if we may have money in the bank. We are all poor, but not always in the same ways.
If we aren’t materially poor then it is imperative that we as believers wisely apply our ‘helping’ the poor. There are plenty of verses related to God’s heart for the poor. Here are just two, one Old Testament and one New:
Proverbs 21:13 “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” Telling us God cares for the poor and does not want them ignored.
And when the apostle Paul who went up to Jerusalem and spoke to Peter, James, & John about his preaching the gospel to the gentiles they said go with our blessing but what else did they add? Paul writes, “they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” Galatians 2:10.
In light of this mandate I highly recommend this book to all church leadership: elders, deacons, missions, and everyone else who represents Christ in this sin ravaged world.
In addition to guiding us in evaluating how to give help, there is a section on evaluating short term mission trips and discussing when they are helpful or not so.
If this strikes a chord with you and you want to get special training Global Hope Network International has specific training classes such as Disaster Relief Training.
In July of this year we will offer training here in Orlando.
If you just want an excellent overall picture on how to help yourself and others then do yourself a favor and pick up “When Helping Hurts”. You can even borrow it from the Winter Park library or loan it from GHNI, or get your own copy.
I hope you will.
