Poverty

Spokespeople for free markets and limited government are often good with numbers, but they are rightly critiqued for their lack of emotional appeal. We know all the facts, we have all the charts, and we can fill our books with hundreds of pages of endnotes and citations.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit next to a Philadelphia Eagles player on a plane from Indianapolis to Philly. The linebacker apologized that I had to sit next to his nearly 300-pound frame (I'm a small lady, so it was fine).

Have you ever delivered turkeys to low-income households before Thanksgiving? I have. Did you know that such acts usually do more harm than good? I didn’t, until now. On March 9, 2013, Dr. Brian Fikkert, professor at Covenant College and executive director of The Chalmers Center, spoke to more than 500 people in Washington about his book "When Helping Hurts."

There are a lot of irresponsible charities out there. Some create dependency, and others hurt local businesses by dumping free supplies. Too often, charities do more harm than good when all is said and done. But as a critic of the bad economic models adopted by many faith-based charities, I've found it easy to forget the good that some charities, like soup kitchens, can do for the soul.

Sitcoms rarely address the effectiveness of charity and international aid. However, Michael Scott and Andy Bernard exposited these deep issues on a recent episode of "The Office." Aiming to impress their friends and colleagues, the winsome duo joined a busload of aspiring youngsters bound for Mexico on a three month mission trip.

"Moonshine or the Kids?" Nicholas Kristof, writer for the New York Times, stimulated much uneasiness with this question in his recent column on global poverty. He said: "There's an ugly secret of global poverty, one rarely acknowledged by aid groups or U.N. reports..."

Repeatedly offering charity to the poor can create dependency, rather than breaking the cycle of spiritual and physical poverty, writes Peter Greer, president and CEO of HOPE International. Read below for his thoughts on a recent talk by Bob Lupton, author of "Toxic Charity."

Christianity Today recently ran this article: "Cost-Effective Compassion: The 10 Most Popular Strategies for Helping the Poor," citing the opinions of 16 economists who specialize in analyzing development programs. The economists, who responded separately to a survey provided by Christianity Today, largely agreed on their rankings of poverty alleviation strategies, yielding a top ten list.

Generosity is a virtue that cannot be ignored in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Proverbs 29:7 says, “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” God very clearly commands us to love the poor in the Bible, yet how to properly care for the poor is one of the most controversial topics among politically involved Christian circles.

Christians are called to take care of the poor, hungry and oppressed people of their communities. There are plenty of verses in both the First (Old) and New Testaments, but a simple link will suffice for you to see for yourself. But what are some good ways to do this?

Last night, I attended a panel debate titled “Another Day in Paradise?: Humanity, Charity and the Urban Poor” at the American Enterprise Institute. Prominent thought leaders debated the moral and economic issues surrounding the problem of poverty at a Values and Capitalism event.

If you walk into a college Christian ministry meeting today, there is a good chance you’ll see several pairs of TOMS shoes and students drinking fair trade coffee.

I must admit that growing up in the evangelical Christian world I, like many, assumed that free market capitalism was at least somewhat incongruent with the worldview of a faithful believer.

Last week on this blog, Chris Horst gave us his take of the TOMS Shoes and Whole Foods strategies for do-goodism.

The Gospels are clear about the centrality of sacrifice in the Christian pursuit.