Giving can be really easy to do.

Just last night I gave a woman holding a sign some loose change. I did. I never do stuff like that, but she got to me. I have worked at Rescue Missions and I always give to them because they know the real story, they meet the Spiritual and physical need, and they move people towards self-sufficiency. I broke my own rule last night. I couldn’t help myself. Have you ever felt this way? It was a compassion-driven impulse (or perhaps the Holy Spirit).

As I was thinking about Lupton’s words in the third chapter of Toxic Charity, I am captivated by this thought: “if giving is going to be redemptive, it is not simple.” It’s so true. I gave a woman some change on my way from the theater, but I never asked her name, I didn’t hear her story, I didn’t engage her. Because, to be honest, I was in a hurry. Stopping to talk was just too inconvenient. Kind of embarrassing—it’s been haunting me.

My actions last night reinforce Lupton’s point that mercy ministry alone is really insufficient. “Mercy is a force that compels us to acts of compassion. But in time mercy will collide with an ominous opposing force. Injustice. Against this dark and overpowering force, acts of mercy can seem meager.”

We’re familiar with the passage in Micah (6:8) that reads “O people, the Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right (act justly), to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Acting justly speaks to fairness and reasonableness in decision making and loving mercy speaks to acting in forgiveness, compassion and kindness—especially to our subordinates.

The marriage of mercy and justice is powerful. It leads to:

• Immediate care with a future plan
• Emergency relief and responsible development
• Short-term intervention and long-term involvement
• Heart responses and engaged minds

My prayer is that God would continue to challenge me to live a Micah 6:8 lifestyle. Will you join me?

Posted in Community Development, Families & Individuals Serving, Missions & Outreach
Tags: Toxic Charity
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My motives when I serve are noble. I want to do good things: help the poor, care for the sick, share God’s word. It’s all good. But, sometimes I get burned.

I get burned not by those I’m helping—they are generally appreciative and kind. I get burned because serving doesn’t always produce the results I hoped for. Often we put our needs and the needs of our Church ahead of the needs of those we are helping.

The Church wants a three-hour Saturday morning mission experience in the inner city. The Church wants a 7-day trip to Africa to build a well. I want to scoop mashed potatoes onto a plate and peer into the eyes of a hungry child and feel good about it. Face it. It’s true.

What the inner city mission really needs is tutors on Thursday nights, and the village in Africa needs a micro loan program to build sustainable business so they can build their own well, and maybe that hungry child needs a parent with a living wage. I’m not sure—but, I never took the time to find out. I just did what I thought was best.

I’m a “religious tourist.” I’m a “social worker,” not a neighbor. I like to “do things for” other people rather than “do things with” other people. I want a short-term feel-good experience and am not always interested in a long-term investment opportunity.

I have a hunch I’m not alone.

Are you with me? What are we going to do about it?

-These are reflections from Robert Lupton’s recent book Toxic Charity. Christianity Today recently shared this article about the topic.

Posted in Community Development, Families & Individuals Serving, Missions & Outreach, Uncategorized
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Thoughts from Robert Lupton’s recent book Toxic Charity:

So many of us have good intentions. America is in the midst of a ‘compassion boom’ and serving others is pretty popular today. We give and give and give (feeling pretty fulfilled along the way) and often don’t examine the outcomes. Are we creating dependency? Are we destroying any personal initiative or responsibility to provide? Are we disempowering communities or people groups?

Immediate relief is not bad, but Lupton shares in his book Toxic Charity that “when relief does not transition into development in a timely way, compassion becomes toxic.” I’m not really interested in being a part of toxic charity. However, giving a hungry child a hot meal is a lot easier than helping his single mother figure out how to keep a job (with a living wage), have adequate transportation, and not shack up with another abuser. It’s hard. And, really complicated. Oh, and often pretty personal. It involves investing emotion, prayer and long-term commitment. I mean, it’s so much easier to be ‘toxic!’

Bottom line, are we investing in communities and individuals in such a way that we are moving them towards health and self-sufficiency? Or, are we perpetuating the cycle of poverty by providing physical needs without ever addressing the root issues that have led to their cry for help?

Doctors abide by the Hippocratic Oath. Lupton suggests those of us in ministry abide by the Oath for Compassionate Service. Give this some thought today:

(1)    Never do for the poor what they have (or could have) the capacity to do for themselves.

(2)    Limit one-way giving to emergency situations.

(3)    Strive to empower the poor through employment, lending and investing, using grants sparingly to reinforce achievements.

(4)    Subordinate self-interests to the needs of those being served.

(5)    Listen closely to those you seek to help, especially to what is not being said—unspoken feelings may contain essential clues to effective service.

(6)    Above all, do no harm.

Posted in Community Development, Families & Individuals Serving, Missions & Outreach
Tags: Toxic Charity
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After college I began my career in the field of education, and within a year was convinced I had made a mistake. AmeriCorp was calling my name, and I relocated from Boston to Pascagoula, Mississippi to serve as a VISTA Volunteer. I served with a Civic Action Agency to provide adult education / GED resources to Head Start parents. After my VISTA stint was done I decided to hang around for a while. I had fallen in love with the South. I think everyone should live in the Deep South for a few years. It changes you as a person. I learned: worshiping God is okay, relationships can go deep and last long, it’s hot outside so slow down, I have spiritual gifts and I should use them, racism is real, poverty is real, sweet tea is really sweet, and you CAN pray in a public school.

Within 5 years God moved me to Ohio (another story for another day) where I experienced the tremendous joy of living and working in the inner-city. I spent over a decade in Cleveland—half of which was living and working in the midst of extreme poverty and urban decay. During this time I grew to understand God’s heart for the poor like never before. And, the real needs and experiences of city dwellers. I was part of a local church staff team for several years while in graduate school, and then went full-tilt into fundraising for The City Mission. Cleveland taught me: churches don’t need buildings to impact their community, millionaires can drive used Fords, racism and poverty are still real, God is able to provide for all of my needs according to His riches and glory, recovery starts with Jesus, lake effect snow is a force to be reckoned with, and there is a man on the planet crazy enough to ask me to marry him.

Marriage has brought me to Florida and I am excited to continue the journey. Work with Metropolitan Ministries continued to sharpen my passion and skill in the area of rescue ministry and resource development. And, now, Meet The Need is providing an opportunity to mobilize the local church for national impact.

I look forward to journeying together through Robert Lupton’s most recent book Toxic Charity in the coming weeks. It’s a great read—and has challenged me again to focus on true community impact which prioritizes long-term investment and relationships over quick ‘feel good’ outreach events.

Posted in Community Development, Families & Individuals Serving, Missions & Outreach
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Everyone has a story. Here’s mine. I grew up in a college town in Pennsylvania and attended a fairly homogenous elementary school. Two parents (who will celebrate 45 years of marriage next month) and one younger sister made for a traditional suburban existence. In high school my father’s job took us to Massachusetts where I attended a small high school in a blue-collar factory town. God had uprooted me and was up to something—I just didn’t know Him yet. I went to church every Sunday, and asked Him into my heart in the 5^th grade…but I still didn’t really know Him.

I attended one of the most liberal colleges on the East Coast, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In close proximity to Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire Colleges the environment was ‘politically correct,’ ‘inclusive,’ and ‘liberal.’ I found Jesus there. I completed a Campus Crusade for Christ survey at the dining hall after marching band practice. Okay, now God could really get started—I was surrendered!

The Law Street Journal shared this image. A woman watches her neighborhood change before her very eyes.

The summer before my senior year I felt led to participate in one of Crusade’s summer mission trips. I was studying education, and wanted to do something to impact the lives of children, children living in poverty to be specific. Here’s Life Inner City offered several opportunities and being the adventurous type, I decided that Los Angeles would be the most outrageous choice. I signed up and started raising support. In late April the Riots happened and the nation watched a city in distress. In May I got on a plane and landed at LAX to live in South Central for two months. (Note: this should give you an indication that I am not averse to risk-taking). That summer changed my life.

The principles I learned from John Perkins, Wayne Dawson and Robert Lupton (and most recently Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert) still challenge me to live a life surrendered to God’s heart for the urban core and those who live in it. Next week I’ll share a bit about what that meant for me and my faith journey—and then we’ll start digging into some of the principles I have found most impactful from Lupton’s most recent book Toxic Charity. I’m looking forward to your comments and input as we talk about the role of local churches and ministries in the lives of the poor.

Posted in Community Development
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The holiday season should be a time of joy – a time to be thankful

for God’s blessings and to share those blessings with others. Yet

for many of those in ministry, the holidays are a hectic time of

year. There is so much need and we are so busy trying to rally

people and resources to meet those needs, that we can find it

difficult to slow down enough to enjoy the season.

A significant joy and time “sapper” for churches and ministries

during the holidays is the challenge of recruiting and managing

volunteers. Traditional methods of communicating needs, taking

sign-ups, handling cancellations, and determining who-did-what

are far too labor intensive. But there is now a way to do all of

those with much less effort, while also getting much better

results.

Let’s examine the traditional methods for the 5 Steps of Volunteer

Recruiting and Management and compare to the brand new

methods that are now (finally!) available for each of those 5 Steps

through Meet The Need.  Read More . . .

Posted in Community Development, Missions & Outreach
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