Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence: A Practical Guide to Walking with Low-Income People
When a low-income person asks your church for help, what do you do next?
God is extraordinarily generous, and our churches should be, too. Because poverty is complex, however, helping low-income people often requires going beyond meeting their material needs to holistically addressing the roots of their poverty.
But on a practical level, how do you move forward in walking with someone who approaches your church for financial help?
From the authors of When Helping Hurts comes Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence, a guidebook for church staff, deacons, or volunteers who work with low-income people.
Short and to the point, this tool provides foundational principles for poverty alleviation and then addresses practical matters, like:
- How to structure and focus your benevolence work
- How to respond to immediate needs while pursuing long-term solutions
- How to mobilize your church to walk with low-income people
With practical stories, forms, and tools for churches to use, Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence is an all-in-one guide for church leaders and laypeople who want to help the poor in ways that lead to lasting change.
From the Back Cover
GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NOT ENOUGH
Poverty is extremely complex. So is poverty alleviation. When low-income people seek help, they usually need more than just material goods; they need lasting change. This book helps you address both.
WHEN A LOW-INCOME PERSON ASKS YOUR CHURCH FOR HELP, WHAT DO YOU DO?
From the authors of When Helping Hurts, this practical toolkit contains principles for poverty alleviation in the local church context. With resources, tools, and scenarios to help you apply the book, it is an all-in-one guide to the critical parts of achieving lasting change:
- Seeing the individual, systemic, and spiritual roots of poverty
- Responding to immediate needs while pursuing long-term solutions
- Mobilizing your church to walk humbly with low-income people
Designed especially for groups directly engaged with people seeking financial assistance, Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence will help teams, individuals, and even parachurch ministries tangibly demonstrate the love of Christ.
Top Highlights
“One word of caution: do not visit the person’s home alone. Take at least one other person with you in order to avoid the appearance of a compromising situation, and reduce the exposure of the church member to any harm.” (source)
“If a person is in great need, we recommend a gift rather than a loan” (source)
“If the person is unwilling to return to meet with you to discuss the deeper factors contributing to their poverty—and if they do not need relief—you should typically decline their requests for immediate financial assistance.” (source)
“Do not give away money too early or too often, for doing so can undermine the longer-term process of change that is embodied in the action plan.” (source)
“for the sake of simplicity we use the term ‘North America’ to refer to the United States and Canada.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence: A Practical Guide to Walking with Low-Income People
- Authors:
- Corbett, Steve
- Fikkert, Brian
- Casselberry, Katie
- Publisher: Moody Publishers
- Publication Date: 2015
- ISBN: 9780802493446
DR. BRIAN FIKKERT (PhD, Yale University) is the Founder and President of the Chalmers Center at Covenant College, where he has also served as a Professor of Economics and Community Development since 1997. He has published numerous articles in academic and popular journals and is co-author of six books, including the best-selling When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself. Brian and his wife, Jill, have three adult children.