Articles for tag: When Helping Hurts

November 6, 2018

Christian Standard

Rethinking Short-Term Missions

3 Practices to Help (and Not Hurt) the People We Seek to Serve   By Josh Rouse Scenario 1: A short-term team paints three buildings on a nongovernmental organization’s campus and hosts a VBS for more than 200 so-called “street kids.” They go home proud of what they were able to achieve. The problem (aside from “street kids” being a derogatory term)? They don’t realize those same buildings had already been painted by other short-term teams twice that summer, and those same kids had attended more than a dozen similar VBS programs in the last two months. Either the host

April 6, 2017

Christian Standard

Changing the Solution for the Needy in Champaign

By Jennifer Johnson Like many organizations committed to helping people in need, Salt & Light Ministries in Champaign, IL, began by giving away food, clothing, and other items. Unlike many of those organizations, however, Salt & Light eventually changed its structure and its systems to empower people to meet their own needs””and the ministry is thriving. “For years we did the “˜free stuff” model,” says Lisa Sheltra, associate director. “In fact, we were the largest emergency food pantry in Champaign County, feeding hundreds of households each week. But we still ran out of food and had to turn people away,

November 2, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Missions Ministry Toolbox

Interview by Mark A. Taylor We spoke with four local church missions ministers about best practices for missions ministry. Their answers were as inspiring as they were practical. Here are approaches to the local church”s global outreach that build up the church and nourish the workers on foreign fields.  We think every congregation will appreciate the insights and ideas these four shared: PAT CREECH, global outreach pastor for Crossroads Christian Church, Newburgh, Indiana; DREW DEPLER, global outreach pastor at LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado; TYLER HARI, pastor of outreach, Eastview Christian Church, Normal, Illinois; and DAVID THORESEN, director of local and international outreach,

December 18, 2014

Christian Standard

Breaking the Link from Poverty to Prison

By T.R. Robertson Prison life is easier than life on the street for many in our country”s poor population. By understanding and taking effective measures to address poverty, we are helping to solve the crime problem as well. Here are some basic understandings and ideas. Until she went to prison, Janie said, she had never in her young life been sure she would get to eat three meals in any one day and have a bed to sleep on at night. Born into the make-do culture of generational poverty, the only “meals” she”d ever known consisted of whatever food could

December 14, 2014

Christian Standard

For Anyone Concerned about Poverty

By LeRoy Lawson   Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa Dambisa Moyo New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009 Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help Robert D. Lupton New York: HarperCollins, 2011 When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009 Grace at the Garbage Dump: Making Sense of Mission in the Twenty-First Century Jesse A. Zink Eugene: Cascade Books, 2012   I”m writing this month about poverty. Maybe you are on your

November 9, 2013

Christian Standard

Are We Being Paternalistic When We Talk about ‘Missions’?

By Michael Sweeney There are problems with the word, and many are beginning to talk about them. We do well to understand what some hear when we say “missions.” But that doesn”t mean we should curtail cross-cultural evangelism. “That”s not “˜PC”!” Have you ever had to deal with that “politically correct” criticism after saying or writing something that inadvertently offended someone because of a set of connotations you did not share? My reaction, when this has happened, has ranged anywhere from frustration to despair to paralysis. How does one even begin to keep up? As a missionary and teacher of

November 18, 2012

Christian Standard

Urban Ministry in Lansing

By Kendi Howells Douglas Lansing, Michigan, is a city of about 115,000 with a median income of $35,000. The population is 61.2 percent white, 23.7 percent black, 12.5 percent Hispanic, and 3.7 percent Asian1. The car industry town has seen economic hardships the past few years, with increasing unemployment, crime, domestic violence, single-parent homes, school closings, and many health care and education issues, among others. As in most towns, there are areas that seemingly are ignored, forgotten, or plain invisible. Delta Community Christian Church decided to go to one of those forgotten neighborhoods. Delta is a house church of about

December 13, 2011

Christian Standard

Four Books About Microfinance

By LeRoy Lawson   When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Chicago: Moody Press, 2009 Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty Muhammad Yunus with Alan Jolis New York: Public Affairs, 2003 The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World Jacqueline Novogratz New York: Rodale, 2009 A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty Phil Smith and Eric Thurman, Forward by Muhammad Yunus New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007 First, hear the story: “Elephant and Mouse

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