After two weeks of pondering the wisdom within When Helping Hurts, I'm refueled, re-envisioned and, well, feeling like I've got a weird 300-pound backpack on these old shoulders.
Cascading challenges, African stories, troubling insights, and biblical links all left me with one thought: The intersection of poverty and "short term missions" is confusing, complex.
Some tips for success from the concerned, thoughtFULL and very experienced authors:
- Design the trip to be about "being" and "learning" as much as about "doing." Stay in community members' homes and create time to talk and interact with them. Ask local believers to share their insights with team members about who God is and how He works in their lives; have team members share the weaknesses in their own lives and churches and have local believers pray for them.
- Ensure that the "doing" portion of the trip avoids paternalism. The goal is for the work to be done primarily by the community members with the team in a helping role.
- "Stay away from the 'go-help-and-save them' message and use a 'go as a learner' message... change the name from 'Short Term Mission Trip' to something like 'Vision Trip' or 'Go, Learn, Return, Respond.
Wisdom along the way:
- "We are not bringing Christ to poor communities. He has been active in these communities since the creation of the world,... [A] significant part of working in poor communities involves discovering and appreciating what God has been doing there for a long time!"
- "Due to the comprehensive nature of the fall, every human being is poor in the sense of not having experience in these four relationships the way God intended. Every human being is suffering from a 1) poverty of spiritual journey, 2) poverty of being, 3) poverty of community, and a 4) poverty of stewardship."
- "Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good."
- "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."
- "Our efforts to help the poor can hurt both them and ourselves."
- "Changing [the god-complexes] in this equation requires North American Christians to understand our brokenness and to embrace the message of the cross in deep and profound ways, saying to ourselves...'I am not OK; and you're not OK; but Jesus can fix us both.'"
- On changing the inferiority part of the equation: "By showing low income people through our words, our actions, and most importantly our ears, we can be part of helping them to recover their sense of dignity, even as we recover from our sense of pride."
- "Poverty is rooted in broken relationships...."
- "Avoid paternalism. Do not do things for people that they can do for themselves. Memorize this, recite it under your breath all day long, and wear it like a garland around your neck...keep this at the forefront of your mind."
- "Remember, the goal is not to produce houses or other material goods but to pursue a process of walking with the materially poor so that they are better stewards of their lives and communities, including their own material needs."
To view a 9-minute interview of authors Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert go here. For insights about their missions base camp, go to Chalmers Center for Economic Development, here.
- written by Randy
