When Helping Hurts:

Julia and I have spent the past two years working with the poor in Ghana. We have had to think through several ways to effectively minister to the poor. Below is an excerpt from "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Finkkert which has helped us think through ministry to the poor. These principles are applicable both at home and abroad. I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to work with the least of these either at home or abroad.

A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the situation calls for relief, rehabilitation, or development. In fact, the failure to distinguish among these situations is one of the most common reasons that poverty-alleviation efforts often do harm.

1. Relief: can be defined as the urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering from a natural or man-made crisis.
2. Rehabilitation: begins as soon as the bleeding stops; it seeks to restore people and their communities to the positive elements of their precrisis conditions. Rehabilitation requires working with the people as they participate in their own recovery. 
3. Development: is a process of ongoing change that moves all the people involved-both the "helper" 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.

One of the biggest mistakes North American missionaries/churches make-by far-is in applying relief in situation in which rehabilitation or development is the appropriate intervention.

Many of the people who came to Julia and I's house or who come to your church for help will state that they are in a crisis, needing emergency financial help for utility bills, rent, food, or transportation. In other words, they will state they are at point 1. Is relief the appropriate intervention for such a person? Maybe, but maybe not. There are several things to consider.

First, is there really a crisis at hand? If you fail to provide immediate help, will there really be serious, negative consequences? If not, then relief is not the appropriate intervention, for there is time for the person to take actions on his own behalf.

Second, to what degree was the individual personally responsible for the crisis? Of course, compassion and understanding are in order here, especially when one remembers the systemic factors that can play a role in poverty. But it is still important to consider the person's own culpability in the situation, as allowing people to feel some of the pain resulting from any irresponsible behavior on their part can be part of the "tough love" needed to facilitate the reconciliation of poverty alleviation. The point is not to punish the person for any mistakes or sins he has committed but to ensure that the appropriate lessons are being learned in the situation.

Third, can the person help himself? If so, then a pure handout is almost never appropriate, as it undermines the person's capacity to be a steward of his own resources and abilities.

Fourth, to what extent has this person already been receiving relief from you or others in the past? How likely is he to be receiving such help in the future? As special as your church or you are, it might not be the first stop on the train! This person may be obtaining "emergency" assistance from one church or organization after another, so that your "just-this-one-time gift" might be the tenth such gift the person has recently received.

In conclusion, who is #1? It is unlikely that you know many people in this category, for the reality is that only a small percentage of the poor in your community or around the world require relief. These would include the severely disabled; some of the elderly; very young, orphaned children; the mentally ill homeless population; and victims of natural disaster. People in these categories are often unable to do anything to help themselves and need the handouts of relief. However, for most people, the bleeding has stopped, and they are not destitute. Acting as though they are destitute does more harm than good, both to them and to ourselves. This does not mean that we should do nothing to help them. It just means that rehabilitation and development- not relief- is the appropriate way of helping such people. This help could very well include providing them with financial assistance, but such assistance would be conditional upon and supportive of their being productive.

"When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Finkkert