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When Helping Hurts
- 03/09/10
- 19
In 2006 Americans spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.6 billion on short-term missions. Some 2.2 million Americans were involved in one of these trips, up from just 120,000 two decades before. Such misson work has very nearly become a rite of passage for young American Christians. Many years ago I spoke to a missionary who was often asked if teams could come and visit his work in South America so they could help build a home or rebuild a church. He told me then that such trips often do more harm than good; that he actually dreads having yet another team show up, trying to help. I did not have time to ask him much more that day, but his words have long shaped my view of short-term missions. But now, having read Steve Corbett’s and Brian Fikkert’s When Helping Hurts I understand more. Too often our well-intentioned efforts to help actually hinder the work of alleviating poverty.
The title and subtitle of this book are deliberately provocative: When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. It is difficult for us to imagine how our efforts to help can actually harm both ourselves and the people to whom we extend a hand. And yet those who work with the poor can testify to a great deal of harm done to both.
The great strength of this book is a holistic understanding of poverty which teaches that being poor is much more than simply not having money. God created each of us to have four foundational relationships: relationship with God, with self, with others and with the rest of creation. When these various relationships are functioning properly, people are able to fulfill their God-given mandate to glorify Him through their labor. But when one or more of these is out-of-place, as they tend to be in the post-Fall world, a person is unable to fulfill that calling. Because humans are so multi-faceted, we need to have a multi-faceted view of poverty-alleviation. If we address only economic needs, handing money to those who have less than we do, we do nothing to alleviate the greater poverty of spirit. “Poverty is rooted in broken relationships, so the solution to poverty is rooted in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to put all things into right relationship again.”
Standing in the position of the wealthy, we often feel like we know all the answers; that if the poor were just a bit more like us, they would be much better off. But “one of the biggest problems in many poverty-alleviation efforts,” say the authors, “is that their design and implementation exacerbates the poverty of being of the economically rich—their god-complexes—and the poverty of being of the economically poor—their feelings of inferiority and shame.” Or else we are too quick to act without understanding the nature of the poverty before us, without understanding whether people need relief, rehabilitation or development. According to the authors, “One of the biggest mistakes that North American churches make—by far—is in applying relief to situations in which rehabilitation or development is the appropriate intervention.” There are times when giving money is the right thing to do and usually that is the easy thing to do. But far more often, we need to give time, attention and discipleship.
This book offers a much-needed dose of humility to missions, both long-term and short-term. America has the proud distinction of being the nation that gives more than any other for the alleviation of poverty. And yet Americans may have a sense of superiority, a kind of confidence, that causes them to do more harm than good, or as much harm as good, in many contexts. The authors warn their fellow Americans against the tendency to assume they’ve got all the answers and to assume that a quick fix is a good fix. The challenges facing those who are impoverished are nearly always far more than a few dollars, or a few thousand dollars, can easily fix. This book, with its holistic view of poverty and its eye on Jesus’ power to renew and restore what is broken, offers true hope.
If you are going to go on a short-term missions project you need to read this book; if your church is getting involved in working with the poor in your community, you need to read this book; if your church is looking for involvement with missions work overseas, you need to read this book. Corbett and Fikkert tells what we’ve been doing wrong and offer solid, practical, biblical advice on what we can do to get it right at last.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (19)
Thank you for your review. This is a book I might actually pick up. Over the past couple weeks and months, I’ve run through this topic a number of times… whether in the context of missionaries or relief work.
I’ve been a proponent of supporting groups who are native to the area instead of trying to send our selves, especially if they’re short term. However, over the past week, I’ve had a couple people bring up some difficult questions regarding this practice that bother me.
I’d love to get a more comprehensive picture of what’s going on from a local perspective. To my shame, it’s an topic I’ve not considered enough - I’ve been content to send money and promote certain causes when I can. But with the Internet quickly connecting the world even more, I’m starting to realize I have no excuse for not knowing what’s going on.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
This is really a sore subject with me. Each person who goes on these trips must raise thousands and thousands of dollars for what, seven days of “ministry.” Really?
Our church sends a choir to the Soviet bloc every couple of years to put on concerts…in English. Really? It must cost $100,000 or more. Instead, wouldnt our money be better spent just giving to the local missionary on the ground instead of Contiental airlines?
We do these things so we ‘feel good” , but we should really make sure we are doing the gospel good, and not just our hearts.
David, Red Letter Believers, “Salt and Light”www.redletterbelievers.com
This is a great post on a book I’m planning to read. I don’t know what the authors outline specifically, but the subject matter is an entirely relevant one for us to consider. Having been on short-term trips before and going again this summer, these are questions I consider at length.
I just scanned some elements of the post, so I might have missed if this point was made: sometimes the best good that comes of a short-term mission experience is the change seen in the one who went. The rebuttal to such a point would, of course, be to say ‘can’t we expose people to other cultures and conditions without actually going and trying to do something that’s not sustainable?’ BTW, I think ‘sustainability’ is key and is the major reason why my sending agencies work with a ‘train the trainer’ philosophy regarding development projects and goals.
I understand David’s (RLB) perspective above and can share (albeit secondhand) a nearly identical mission trip and expense outlay that had significant, long-lasting, tangible results. The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma has a ~225 member men’s choir called ‘The Singing Churchmen’ who occasionally go on overseas trips. Their most recent trip was to a West Asian country where the ‘orthodox, state-run’ church dominated ‘religious life’ in the country. While ‘in country’ they encountered some resistance and some canceled concert venues, but in the end, their visit was the major stimulus in opening up a dialog with the evangelical church and the state church. That is a profound shift that probably would not come from within or from a few full-time missionaries on the ground. Their total expense was probably somewhere north of $300,000.00 and I think it was money well-spent.
I read this book last year, and highly recommend it.
The Wall Street Journal ran an article on the same subject last week:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000142405274870342930457509542371950015…
I am an American living in one of the poorest countries in Europe where my husband is working as an international church planter among the poorest people group in Europe. I am so glad that you reviewed this book as we have really struggled since being here as to how to best serve the people. Our visas are humanitarian but every project we have participated in where something has been given out has only set us back further in the real work. I have personally struggled with coping emotionally with the poverty, the conditions that the people live , the hopelessness for the children who will most likely raise their children in the same poverty their families have been in for generations…etcI look forward to reading this book as soon as I can get it sent here and gleaning from the authors’ wisdom.
They also have a series of go to webinaars which are helpful and thought provoking
This book seems to make some excellent points. From my view, this is how I see it:
1. short-term missions: these are almost sold like all-inclusive vacations when you take a look at them. They appeal to a sense of excitement, all while doing good works. It is more geared to the pleasures of those going than it is to really, deeply benefit the people “being helped”.
I remember talking to one friend who went to South America where he experienced what he described as a “Jesus Complex” (kids running around you, just wanting to touch you). He told me he was able to live off the fumes of the experience for about 3 months, then went back to his old habits of self-indulgence.
2. Giving: I used to live, as a missionary in a tiny little village in Kenya right on the equator. Every so often a group from World Vision would come by (pre-planned with the village chief) with a group of “missionary tourists” to see the plight of the people, who were desperately poor. The “tourists” would hand out goods (food and clothes), interact and hear a few sad cases. Then they’d all hop back in the truck and leave.
When they left, all the goods would be sold. The men would ditch the 40 kg bag of beans or maize in favour of a local brew called “pomba”.
I am hard-pressed to see what value can be garnered from a 1-3 week adventure. It just doesn’t add up. Though people come away with great stories, little else is accomplished.
I’ve had some of the same concerns/questions as David and Paul above. Seems the church in America has developed a phenomenon that could be called “Evango-tourism” - geared more toward the American consumer than toward those being “served” on the mission field.
A heard a pastor say once, “You can be poor, or uneducated, or sick, or physically or mentally handicapped, (etc.) and still go to heaven. The one thing you cannot be is…lacking the Gospel of Christ.” That is the beauty of the Gospel - it unites us to people of every color, class, cultural background. I have something in common with even the poorest, something which makes us equally rich in eternity. My service should never be an act of condescension - even serving the poorest, I am dealing with sons and daughters of the King.
Thanks for the review - adding this to my list!
Appreciated the recommendation. Mentioned it on my own blog in the context of social justice and recent denials of this Christian mandate.
This is a topic I have recently been pondering on. When you look at the Apostles in their ministry, they never gave or raised any money. All they did was preach the Gospel. I haven’t read the book yet (though I will add to summer list), but I think one of the dangers to raising money to building houses, wells, etc. is the people you are helping could get a distorted view of the Gospel. They could think that Jesus solves all their economic problems.
I see this with what has happened to Haiti. Christians are only concerned with raising money to send over there—though K-Love’s “Love for the Little Ones” is definitely a step in the right direction in my view. Haiti needs the Gospel; everyone who isn’t saved needs the Gospel. Money is not going to solve the problem. Stuff won’t solve the problem. Their real problem is not an economic one, it is a spiritual one.
Very timely, as I’m getting ready to go on a short-term mission trip next month. I think I’ll agree with the thoughts of this author and yours, and look forward to reading the book and hopefully passing it along. Thanks Tim.
Yes! This book should be read by anyone who plans on ever giving anything to anyone. I also highly recommend it.
That sounds really interesting. I spent a year in Southeast Asia, in Cambodia, so I definitely get what you mean by a “holistic understanding of poverty.”
Thanks, I needed that! Perfect book addition for my next order at Amazon - need that free shipping anyway ;-)This topic has also caused me to pause and think many times. I need to read it before June when I hope to be going to Honduras with a friend who grew up there, with the hope of going back every year or so for a longer time with my husband, to work amongst the people in the area, along with my friend and her parents. Frankly, I go with the realization that they have much to teach me, and not with the “here I am you lucky people” attitude that might have (shamefully) been mine had I gone a couple or three decades ago. We need to be searching for more and more ways to be good stewards of what God has given us if we are going to continue to impact the world for Christ in increasingly tough economic, political and spiritual climates in the years to come.
I also see this topic somewhat tied with the “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger” and “Living More Simply” titles of a few years back. Missions begin at home with how we spend, what we choose, and where our hearts are.
Thanks for the review and the headsup.
What would rather have these teens do - go on a Caribbean all-inclusive vacation for a week?
The focus of this book is not short-term missions trips…it is certainly an application area, and there is one chapter on it near the end of the book. But the power in the book is the discussion of the relational foundations of poverty, and the relief…rehabilitation…development spectrum. For a deeper dive, I highly recommend “Walking with the Poor” by Bryant Myers.
My wife and I went to Ethiopia this past fall and other then the time our 17 year old son went into cardiac arrest and was 40 minutes w/o his own pulse- this has been the hardest-best time we have ever had.We went only with the intention to help in whatever way we were able and God really blessed and changed us because of this time.
We then went back and shared our experience with our youth ministry- through slides- and there are now people, young and not so young, who are excited about African missions and adoption.
I called it our Is. 58 “vacation” and with the right heart I think that everyone should do something like this- not to change the world but to change your own heart and to better understand the stewardship responsibility that we- who have so much- should take in our own lives. This paradigm shift would not have teken place w/o being on the ground with the kids and listening to their hearts.
If God enables us to take a group of teens or adults to Africa we will do it with much prayer that He would change our own hearts and help us to understand where He wants us to serve Him in the future. God uses pots that are willing to be used.
It is hard to go to any third world country as a Christian, but my 17 year old Son wants to go to Haiti and I just don’t know what to do. Is there a way to say no?
The book was great, and americans can understand poverty a little better by reading it.