Beyond Thanksgiving turkeys: another look at church-sponsored handouts
With October comes planning for the holidays, and churches are anticipating generosity initiatives for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many already have in place projects for gift baskets, food drives, and programs for presents to children “who may not have a Christmas without our help.”
All of this comes from pure hearts among believers eager to show love to “the least of these” and to respond to the Scripture’s promise: “Blessed is he who is generous to the poor” (Proverbs 14:21).
May the generosity continue! Meanwhile, some may want to consider what those in poverty need beyond and before occasional handouts.
When helping hurts
We’ve been hearing about this since 2009, when Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert wrote a book that has led Christians to rethink how they should respond to those with material needs. The title states the challenge: When Helping Hurts, How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. It offers a provocative promise: “Learn how to walk with the materially poor in humble relationships instead of just providing them temporary handouts.”
I’m guessing that blurb was carefully written because almost every word deserves scrutiny. Notice the last phrase first: “instead of just providing . . . temporary handouts.” The authors are not condemning Thanksgiving turkeys for the poor or church-sponsored food pantries. But they are saying such efforts are not enough.
Instead, we must find ways to “walk” with those in poverty, and that walk should develop “humble relationships.”
“Walk” implies a long-term commitment. “Humble relationships” come from acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers for a person’s situation and likely haven’t listened long enough to understand how life looks from their perspective. This takes time and requires that we approach the person in poverty with respect, as an equal.
When helping helps
The person living in poverty is likely ashamed, afraid, unhappy, hopeless. Or at least resigned to the conclusion that life can never be any different. We may inadvertently strengthen that flawed perspective by continuing to give without leading this person to the self-respect and satisfaction that comes from discovering how to improve his own situation.
I thought of those Thanksgiving baskets (bear with me here) when I read a quote from a speech delivered by Senator Susan Collins (R. Maine) to the Senate September 26. “The federal government’s obligation is not fulfilled by simply sending a check, washing its hands of any responsibility to actually help people achieve self-sufficiency,” she said. “We will not build a more prosperous, just, and equitable society characterized by opportunity, dignity, and meaning just by issuing government checks.”
It strikes me that many Christian friends who campaign for “less government” will nevertheless gladly write checks for holiday giving projects without asking how we’re helping recipients achieve self-sufficiency. Granted, the amounts are a tiny fraction of the billions invested in so many huge entitlement programs, but the process can be just as inadequate. We may criticize government “handouts” without evaluating carefully our own.
Perhaps we can ask how to help instead of hurt with the aid we provide. Can we “walk” with someone who’s in poverty? Can we build a “humble relationship” with someone trapped in dangerous neighborhoods, failing schools, and little opportunity?
What some are doing
I think of two local churches in Nashville, one in the city and another in the suburbs, that partnered to pair unemployed single mothers with successful couples. They met every week for nine months to eat together and learn together in classes on money management and other aspects of self-sufficiency. Each woman who completed the program was given money to use for college or an apartment down payment, along with a donated outfit she could wear to job interviews. Some of these women maintained friendships with their mentor couples long after their course had finished.
I think of a friend who developed a curriculum to help inner city mothers relate to their children and develop basic life skills. (This included lessons for these women who had never been taught how to cook. “You wouldn’t believe how many of those Thanksgiving turkeys get thrown away,” my friend told me.) Those who enrolled participated for a whole school year. And now graduates of those first few cohorts are leading many more for a growing number who are learning the joy of self-sufficiency.
I volunteer a couple of hours most weeks at a ministry committed to building community and promoting growth among the under-resourced folks who come for help. There’s a food pantry and a clothes closet, but guests must meet individually with a trained volunteer in order to continue receiving help. This counselor not only points guests to other resources in the area, but also encourages enrollment in courses the ministry offers on financial management and self-sufficiency as well as job coaching, computer training, and more.
All of these programs cost money. But none of them hands out checks without the counseling, community, or companionship most need to help them find a way out of poverty.
What we can consider
“Believing that money or material things can solve your problems will instead cause poverty to be elevated instead of being alleviated,” one reviewer of When Helping Hurts concluded. “A first step to alleviating poverty is changing the mindset of those who want to help and those who need help. Material things aren’t everything. This is a step that every organization, spiritually based or not, needs to take if they are to aid the poor.”
The casual reader may react, “Come on, give me a break. They asked for Christmas donations, so I gave something. That’s all I have time for.” While welcoming such gifts, let us search for ways to do more. Let us challenge each other to invest time and care into those who live in poverty. In the name of Christ, we can lead them to the whole and healthy lives they’ll seek long after the holidays are over.
Photos by Nico Smit and by Nina Strehl on Unsplash
To receive daily posts delivered directly to your inbox, complete the form at the bottom of our home page.
To download a printable version of today’s post, click here.