Next week I will be posting a review of "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without hurting the Poor and Yourself," which I believe to be one of the most significant books on poverty and social justice written in the past decade. It is a true gem for the church and I wholeheartedly recommend it for Church mission leaders, deacons and deaconesses, pastor and elders, non-profit leaders, and the lay person who desire to redemptively help the poor and see chronic poverty broken.Here is an 8 minute interview with the authors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzUKZajloJY
5 comments:
Joel,
When are you going to post your review? I was looking forward to seeing it.
Ben Edwards
Ben,
Sorry.....I wasn't able to finish writing my review yet due to burning the candles at both ends here in Grand Rapids. Thanks for keeping me accountable, Ben. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is really reading these posts, especially when I am continually deleting comments from advertising trolls, rather than doing what this blog originally was meant for....To discuss issues that are important for urban ministry........
I will try to get it out next week.....Thanks again Ben for the encouragement!
It seems like there is always a tough balance between the gospel that saves peoples' souls and the gospel that saves their bodies. We need both, but JC came primarily to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
-Sol
Sol,
I am reminded of something that Amy Carmichael, Victorian-Era missionary to Dohnavur, India, said to those who criticized her rescue work among the child temple prostitutes and her orphanage that addressed needs of the entire person (spiritual, educational, emotional and physical) by exclaiming, “…One cannot save and then pitchfork souls into heaven…Souls are more or less securely fastened to bodies…and as you cannot get the souls out and deal with them separately, you have to take them both together."
There's definitely tension that Christians have when it comes to "saving souls" (evangelism) and "saving bodies" (social responsibility). I actually wrote my masters thesis on this subject!
As a minister that has served the poor for some 20 years as a homeless shelter director, urban youth missionary, and now an executive director of an urban ministry to high-risk teens and young adults, I have never had to choose between doing evangelism and social action. Because of God's grace I am motivated to do both. Unfortunately, many Christians seem to abandon one for the other.....
I have heard of this book, looking forward to hearing some more information about it.
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