Generosity isn’t always charitable. Compassion isn’t always kind. Intentions don’t determine effectiveness. We shouldn’t feel good about some of our “good” deeds.
Poverty alleviation is tricky. There are no shortcuts. If poverty and prosperity were simply about lacking or having resources, then giving the “poor” more of what we have would solve the problem. Yet the fundamental issue isn’t simply about wealth and the ultimate goal isn’t the American Dream.
Misunderstanding the root causes of poverty leads to responses that perpetuate it. The poverty rate in 1973 and 2023 (50 years later) was exactly the same – 11.1%.
Because poverty is primarily relational, not material, real solutions must be personal and are necessarily time-consuming. A lack of social and relational capital is what keeps families trapped in cycles of generational poverty. Offering the proverbial “hand up” is about connecting and empowering. “Handouts” culminate in dependence and paternalism. According to Toxic Charity and True Charity, each time a person, charity, church, or government agency gives someone something they could have obtained or done for themselves, human nature dictates the following sequence:
- 1st time – Receiver feels appreciation. Giver feels exhilaration
- 2nd time – Receiver feels anticipation. Giver feels purposeful.
- 3rd time – Receiver feels expectation. Giver feels necessary.
- 4th time – Receiver feels entitlement. Giver feels essential.
- 5th time – Receiver feels dependence. Giver feels paternalism.
The only viable alternative – the place where generosity and charity, compassion and kindness, intentions and outcomes intersect – requires greater risk, energy, and time than most Americans are willing to invest (in those they’d prefer not to know as well as they would need to) to be truly helpful.
Continuum of Care
We can plot relative effectiveness of poverty alleviation efforts by individuals and organizations on axes measuring personalization and time-consumption. The matrix pictured above shows the spectrum from low commitment, low impact activities (e.g. meal packing events and church service days) to high commitment, high impact interventions (e.g. foster parenting and prison ministry). Green boxes indicate solutions that meet an individual’s unique needs and address the whole person (mind, affections, will, and body). Red denotes one-time or infrequent events that standardize offerings due to self-imposed time constraints and barriers erected to keep givers and receivers at arm’s length.
To provide context for those placements on the matrix, let’s contrast today’s trends, benchmarks, and practices with historical methods of assisting those experiencing poverty:
What Did Jesus Do?
No one in such high demand spent as much time serving those more disenfranchised. While being rushed through crowds to heal one person, Jesus stopped to cure another. While journeying home to see those closest to Him, He went out of His way to rescue those who His family saw as furthest from Him – a woman deemed an outcast even by those the Jews hated most. He intensively discipled and humbly served those He knew would soon betray Him.
What Do Churches Do?
Throughout most of America’s history, churches were the food bank and homeless shelter, the first place the destitute went for help. In fact, across much of the world for over 1900 years, churches followed Jesus’ model of demonstrating the Father’s love before telling people who He is (i.e. the Gospel). Today the average church invests less than 1% of what comes from the community back into it. Event-centric, consumer-driven strategies have spilled over into seasonal, marketing “outreach”. With their busy schedules, churchgoers oblige – “checking the box” at the holidays.
What Does Government Do?
Standardized, giveaway programs treat recipients as commodities, presumably all needing the same material items to deal with material poverty. Definitions determine solutions. But those in poverty define poverty differently – as shame, devaluation, and isolation. Not recognizing the whole person as God’s image bearers, government assistance assumes a lack of stuff requires only more stuff. Benefit cliffs disincent personal responsibility, independence, and work by withdrawing dollars when dollars are earned. Dignity gives way to dependence. Earnings are replaced by entitlement.
What do Charities do?
Hunger relief tends to be transactional and impersonal (e.g. holiday turkey distribution) but some ministries build intentional relationships and disciple those they serve. Homeless outreach can range from corporate volunteer outings at a shelter to walking alongside them as they plot their course out of poverty. Foster care can be as easy as providing respite care or as intensive as becoming a licensed foster parent.
Paths out of Poverty
To #ReimagineCompassion and move the needle on America’s poverty rate, churches, government, and charities must transition from Red to Green in the matrix. To avoid perpetuating poverty, each of us must treat those we “help” with dignity – as equals.
Open Table and Link2Hope
Technology doesn’t determine strategies or processes – it follows and enables them. Internally-focused churches demand member and event management systems. Charities struggling to survive require that volunteer management platforms include donor management capabilities to quickly convert volunteers to donors. Case management tools designed to strengthen relationships were repurposed to facilitate referral and activity monitoring.
The Open Table is based on best practice principles for building social and relational capital, leveraging Link2Hope’s AI engine to solidify and extend those connections indefinitely. An example of the power of the partnership is our work with youth aging out of foster care, engaging employers and establishing Tables to overcome the enormous hurdles those aging out face that inhibit job productivity and upward mobility.
Unity and Collaboration
Community transformation requires cooperation between churches, charities and government agencies. Since the challenges of those experiencing poverty are relational, spiritual, and material, all service lanes of society have important roles to play. Making a dent in a critical cause like hunger, homelessness, or child neglect requires alignment – all hands on deck working toward shared objectives. Also, Scripture’s clarion calls are for unity and serving the poor – and there’s no more critical issue around which a city should unite.
Yet regardless of the level of city-wide engagement and collaboration, solely focusing on immediate Relief without ongoing Rehabilitation and Development won’t lead the hopeless toward a brighter future in this life (or maybe the next). Short-term, band aid fixes are often necessary, but real answers are personalized and time-consuming.
Measures and Milestones
Authentic connections are the key to flourishing for those experiencing and remaining in poverty due to broken relationships with God, others, self, and creation. Yet most churches, governments, and charities track transactional statistics like the number of dollars given, meals served, nights housed, or other needs met. The quantity of inputs and outputs may look good on paper and increase donations, but doesn’t correlate to “success” and could indicate inherent problems if they grow over time. What matters are outcomes and behavioral changes observed as social capital prevents issues and provides opportunities:
- not dependent on “handouts” to survive
- faithfully practicing spiritual disciplines
- no longer “using” and in recovery for addiction
- reunited with children and relatives
- managing finances more responsibly
- employed, but not underemployed
- availability of healthy, nutritious food
- access to mental and physical health services
- receiving education and training needed
- found housing or transitioned to safer neighborhood
- positive outlook and hope for tomorrow
- recognizes capabilities and value in God’s eyes
- a sense of renewed purpose and meaning
- paying kindness forward to others less fortunate
When churches do holiday “outreach”, Christians “check the box”, the body of Christ “divides and conquers”, or we measure “outputs, not outcomes”, we likely understand it’s not making a difference for those experiencing poverty – but in most cases, it wasn’t about them in the first place. What we do with others helps far more than what we do for them – or for ourselves. It’s not in their best interest if we know there’s a better alternative and choose a path that’s easier (but makes us feel good).
It’s Your Turn…
Where do you and your church sit along the Continuum of Care? How much time do you spend investing in personal relationships that breed dignity, not dependence, among those in poverty?
The post There are No Shortcuts in Poverty Alleviation appeared first on Meet The Need Blog.
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