Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, When Helping Hurts, Moody Publishers, 2009

 

Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, When Helping Hurts, Moody Publishers, 2009

 

When a sick person goes to the doctor, the doctor could make two crucial mistakes: (1) Treating symptoms instead of the underlying illness; (2) Misdiagnosing the underlying illness and prescribing the wrong medicine. Either one of these mistakes will result in the patient not getting better and possibly getting worse. (54)

 

...those symptoms are not always very apparent and can differ from person to person. A trial and error process may be necessary before a proper diagnosis can be reached... And even after a sound diagnosis is made, it may take years to help people to overcome their problems. There will likely be lots of ups and downs in the relationship. It all sounds very time-consuming, and it is. (56)

 

We root our understanding of poverty and its alleviation in the Bible's grand narrative: creation, the fall, and redemption. (56)

 

relation with God, with self, with others, with rest of creation.

 

The four key relationships highlight the fact that human beings are multifaceted, implying that poverty-alleviation efforts should be multi-faceted as well... our poverty-alleviation efforts will be more holistic in their design and execution. (60)

 

We are not bringing Christ to poor communities. He has been active in these communities since the creation of the world, sustaining them by his powerful word (Heb 1:3) (60)

 

The fall really happened... the effects of the fall are manifested in the economic, social, religious, and political systems that humans have created throughout history. (61)

 

Myers, "Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings." (62)

 

While the good creation is deeply distorted, it retains some of its inherent goodness. Flowers are pretty. A baby's smile bring joy to all who see it. People are often kind to one another. Governments build roads that enable us to get around better. Companies often pay their workders decent wages. And both poor individuals and communities continue to exhibit God-given gifts and assets. (62)

 

Who are the poor? ... The fall really happened, and it is wreaking havoc in all of our lives. We are all broken, just in different ways. (64)

 

... until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good. (64)

 

Few of us are conscious of having a god-complex... why do you want to help the poor? ... What truly motivates you? (65)

 

Our efforts to help the poor can hurt both them and ourselves... ...requires a revised understanding of the nature of poverty. (67-68)

 

Repenting of the Health and Wealth Gospel (68)

 

(1) relief, (2) rehabilitation, (3) development (104)

 

"Relief" can be defined as the urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering from a natual or man-made crisis. (104)

 

"Rehabilitation" begins as soon as the bleeding stops; it seeks to resotre people and their communities to the positive elements of their precrisis conditions... as they participate in their own recovery,... (104)

 

"Development" is a process of ongoing change that moves all the people involved-both the "helpers" and the "helped" - closer to being in right relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of creation... Development is not done to people or for people but with people. The bey dynamic in development is promoting an empowering process in which all the people involved- both the "helpers" and the "helped" (104-105)

 

We must be careful lest we impose our own cultural assumptions into contexts that we do not understand very well. (108)

 

In order to provide timely relief, it is important to engage in disaster preparedness... relief is also temporary, provided only during the time that people are unable to help themselves. (109)

 

Ensure participation of the affected population in the assessment, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the assistance program... The local people will typically have a better understanding of the best way to get the job done. "If they need help, give it; but if they do not, your giving may do harm." (111)

 

Aid workers must possess appropriate qualifications, attitudes, and experience to plan and effectively implement appropriate assistance programs. (113)

 

Bad relief undermines worship... caution should be taken so that the relief efforts are not prolonged to the point in which they undermine local people's stewardship of their own lives and communities. (114)

 

The root issue in all of these considerations is that God, who is a worker, ordained work so that humans could worship Him through their work. Relief efforts applied inappropriately often cause the beneficiaries to abstain from work, thereby limiting their relationship with God through distorted worship or through no worship at all. (115)

 

Avoid Paternalism. Do not do things for people that they can do for themselves... Resource Paternalism, Spiritual Paternalism, Knowledge Paternalism, Labor Paternalism, Managerial Paternalism, (115)

 

Finding your niche....

 

 When Helping Hurts.hwp