Image Source: http://goo.gl/qb3RIK

More than 50 years ago President Lyndon Baynes Johnson declared War on Poverty.  However now more than half a century later and trillions spent to “alleviate poverty” in America suffice to say that sadly little has changed. So what’s the answer?  Poverty is a complex issue with no easy answers. 

But there are better answers.  

Journey with me as we begin our quest towards discovering those better answers.   

Because whether we are rich–or whether we are poor– we are ALL broken.  And we ALL need to WORK TOGETHER to help each other reach The Goal:   

“To restore people to a full expression of humanness, to being what God created us all to Be, people who Glorify God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others and with the rest of creation.” [i] 

That’s from the book “When Helping Hurts:  How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting The Poor—And Yourself“ by Steven Corbett and Brian Fikkert who have dedicated their lives to answering that question about how best to alleviate Poverty based on Biblical principles. 

Caution:  We are NOT talking Prosperity Gospel here!  Far from it!  We are talking about helping other achieve lasting change through Relationships!

 Isa 58:10 NASU

And if you give yourself to the hungry

And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

Then your light will rise in darkness

And your gloom will become like midday.

Q:  Do you see ANY mention of money in that verse?  A:  NO!

 Well what DO you see?  A:  “Give Yourself”!  Hmmm—just like Christ!  

After World War II the World Bank’s efforts to rebuild war-torn Europe were remarkably successful—yet in the 1990s doing the same for India did little to alleviate the problem of Poverty.  So they tried something different—asking “the true poverty experts—the poor themselves.” [ii]  The result was a 3-volume series entitled Voices of the Poor where in their own words people answered the question “What Is Poverty?” What they found was that poverty was described in largely psychological terms—NOT financial!

Why is that important?  Because the diagnosis determines the “cure”–and if we misdiagnose the problem we will arrive at the WRONG conclusions!

So let’s apply that to the issue of Poverty—because though we may be materially rich or poor we ALL have what is defined as a “Poverty of Being”—i. e. as a shared brokenness due to our fallen nature:

• For The Poor—as we’ve seen their Poverty of Being is expressed in a hopelessness rather than a lack of material resources. 
• But For The Rich—their Poverty of Being is rooted in what’s called the “god-complex”— 

“a subtle and unconscious sense of superiority in which they believe that they have achieved their wealth through their own efforts and that they have been anointed to decide what is best for low-income people whom they view as inferior to themselves.” [iii]

The Central Point Is This: 

“one of the biggest problems in many poverty-alleviation efforts is that their design and implementation exacerbates the Poverty of Being of the economically rich—their god-complexes—and the Poverty of Being of the economically poor—their feelings of inferiority and shame.” [iv]

WOW!  THAT IS POWERFUL!  This realization brings me great Hope!  But it also brings me great shame—in that my attempts to materially bless people may be the very thing that is preventing them from becoming ALL that our Awesome Lord has created them to be.

OK so how DO we do that?  Nothing short of a total shift from Poverty Alleviation to a new paradigm of Transformation Investment!  So stay tuned…’cause here’s The Deal:

Because my tagline for Mission Accessible is:  Transforming Disability Ministry Worldwide

The ONLY way to accomplish that lofty goal is to first Transform PEOPLE! 

I am feeling that crazy kinda hope when I think about the Opportunity we have before us—to truly help each other Transform the lives of people & families affected by disability!

 “Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

 See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert

and streams in the wasteland.

–Isa 43:18-19 NIV                                                                                                      

In His Accessible Grace,

Linda

[i][i] Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts:  How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting The Poor—And Yourself (Chicago, IL:  Moody Publishers, 2009), Kindle edition:  Location page 74.

[ii] Ibid, p. 49.

[iii] Ibid., p. 61

[iv] Ibid, p. 62