Search results for: When Helping Hurts

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When Helping Hurts: Closing Thoughts

In seminary I had a professor that compared our course work to that of drinking from a fire hydrant. You catch what you can and let the rest flow by. To some degree, that is how When Helping Hurts, was for me the first time I read it. Filled with insightful thoughts and challenges, it gave me much to consider and pray through. As I have continued to try to love the vulnerable in my city I have continually gone back to this book for encouragement and guidance. Not because it has all the answers, but because it steers me towards a biblical reminder of the brokenness that we all face. Sometimes a reminder of how difficult and deep poverty is helps to reset my [...]

By |2015-08-06T05:30:11-05:00August 6th, 2015|Categories: Learn and Apply|Tags: |

Why “When Helping Hurts”?

Every once in a while there will be a movie that comes out and totally shapes the cinematic experience. Sometimes it’s on the cutting edge of technology (“Matrix”), has an epic storyline (“Titanic”), deals with tough real life situations (“Philadelphia”) or connects to our adventurous spirit (“Indiana Jones”). Whatever it might be, movies have a way of inspiring and shaping our emotions, feelings and perspectives, and some of these classics always come to mind. Much like a movie some books have also shaped the way we think, act and see life. In the realm of Christian missions books “When Helping Hurts” is one of those mind shapers. With over 300,000 copies sold [1] this book has played an instrumental role in shaping the way Christians [...]

By |2015-06-01T05:30:36-05:00June 1st, 2015|Categories: Learn and Apply|Tags: |

Why We Need to Stop Helping the Poor

In their best selling book, When Helping Hurts, Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett reminded us that sometimes our best intentions to help don’t quite achieve the results we desire. In fact, sometimes our efforts to help can actually hurt. For some it caused a pause—what do we do? The Bible doesn’t allow us the option of doing nothing. Isaiah 58, the story of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46), and James 1:26-27 make it extremely clear—we are to help. So, we are left in limbo. Commanded to help, yet not wanting to hurt. It’s not a simple problem, and to even propose a solution in a brief blog post isn’t sane. So throwing caution to the wind, I’m going to make a suggestion anyway. [...]

By |2017-09-05T20:21:07-05:00February 28th, 2014|Categories: From the Directors|

5 Tips for Wise Giving

Last week, I confessed my own tendency to throw money at anything that pulls at my heartstrings. (If you missed it, give it a read). Generosity without wisdom can, at minimum, do little good. Often, it can do real damage to those we meant to help (Sidenote: if you haven’t read When Helping Hurts you’re missing out). The remedy, though, is not to stop giving, but to give more wisely. I Googled “How to give wisely” and found lots of sound advice from a financial, organizational accountability, and return-on-investment viewpoint. That’s good. But for those of us who are followers of Christ, it’s not quite enough. So I’m going to try, in the next 600 words or so, to add another filter for Christian giving: [...]

By |2018-05-03T14:40:39-05:00May 14th, 2018|Categories: Learn and Apply|Tags: |

Savings Groups as Transformational Development

In When Helping Hurts, Brian Fikkert writes, “Development is not done to people or for people, but with people.” He talks a lot about savings groups as an example of good “with” type development. Our friends John and Kate Marsden at Mustard Seeds Shared established one of our favorite savings group programs in the known universe 🙂  So we asked John to share from their experiences doing development with people in Bangladesh. •••••••••• My legs were growing stiff from sitting cross legged on a mat in the shade of a mango tree. Sweat trickled down my back from the sticky heat of a South Asian summer. I was sitting in a circle with fifteen Bangladeshi village women who had been conducting their weekly savings group [...]

By |2017-09-13T11:16:40-05:00June 20th, 2017|Categories: Stories, Mobilizing Local Resources|Tags: |

USA Schedule Round-up

Fall is always an exciting and busy time of year for Reconciled World. We turn three in just under a month, and we have several Asia-based staff visiting the US in the next couple of months. They will be travelling across the country visiting supporters and speaking about our work. Check out the itineraries below. If they will be in your area and you want to connect, let Tessa know. They’d love to get together with you! September 27 – October 27 The director of In His Image visits the US every couple of years. It is an opportunity for her to reconnect with friends and supporters of In His Image. This year she will be spending a month in the US beginning on September 27th in [...]

By |2017-09-05T20:12:42-05:00September 5th, 2016|Categories: Ending Gendercide, Programs, In His Image|Tags: , , , |
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