Confession time: I am a bleeding heart. As hard as I have worked my entire adult life to understand the root causes of poverty and the best, most biblical ways to relate with vulnerable people, I still want to empty my pockets every time a child in rags asks me for a few rupees or a TV commercial tells me I could feed a child for the price of a cup of coffee. My husband doesn’t want me to answer the door anymore because of how many receipts for random donations I have stacked on our counter.

Mostly, I check myself, begging the Holy Spirit for wisdom. Because I know donations don’t solve every problem. Worse, unwise giving can easily reinforce one of the most devastating lies that hold vulnerable people in poverty:

“We have nothing, so we can do nothing; we need someone to come help us.”

Most people trapped in poverty truly believe they have no way to address their own needs or solve the problems in their communities. I recently returned from interviewing rural pastors in an impoverished area, where I heard time and again some version of, “We were waiting for someone to come fix this.” Communities often wait for years for someone to come help them or solve a particular problem—to drill a well, build a school, or make a road. They have no belief that they can get started themselves, so they are left to wait.  

But why does this “we can do nothing” lie flourish? Where does this helplessness come from? Honestly, if I’m not careful, it comes from me. When I look at a vulnerable person or community and think, “They don’t have the basics they need. I must give them stuff. Providing resources solves their problem,” I’m falling for the same lie and reinforcing it for them as well.

The truth is, poverty is not only about lack of material things. It is also a spiritual issue rooted in fatalism, hopelessness, and helplessness. It is a social issue perpetuated by injustice, manmade disasters, and oppression. Generational poverty, especially, cannot be overcome by transferring resources from those who have plenty to those who lack. What people experiencing poverty so often need is the ability to see the resources God has already given them—like relationships, creativity, skills, and the creation around them—and the belief that they can and should put those to use. But when I give out of my own belief in the “you have nothing” lie, I prevent people from seeing what they have and using it.

If you are anything like me, your brain might be nodding “yes” while your heart is crying, “No!” In moments of clarity, my brain and I make good giving decisions. But when I’m looking into the eyes of a hungry child, my heart doesn’t care what’s true. I just want to feel better about that situation. Right now. But should I give to make myself feel better, or to honor God and seek the good of others?

Here’s what happens when the lie is broken:

In northern Uganda, a community that had been waiting years for an aid organization to build them a church realized they could make their own bricks using the clay-rich soil under their feet. A few weeks later, they had built their own church building.

In communities where, for generations, people had been walking long distances to get sketchy water, the church members got out their shovels and hand-dug a well. In a few days, they struck water.

And those pastors I interviewed, who had been waiting for someone to come fix things….One of their churches built a water tank to solve their community’s water scarcity problem. The pastor told me, “When outsiders come and do the things for us in the community, the credit goes to the outsiders. And the whole community will tell us that, ‘Some organization, some person came and did this thing.’ But if the church does these things, then the credit goes to the church and God will be glorified.”

Another pastor I interviewed talked about learning the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). He said, “I started realizing that God has given me a good talent, and…I have to bring glory to God by using these talents to the betterment of the community….I’m also encouraging my church to use their talents for the betterment of the community.”

Despite the fact that the people in these churches don’t have many of the material things that I’m used to, as I sat and talked with them, I could clearly see that they were not poor. Not anymore. That is the power of breaking the lie, “We have nothing and can do nothing.” Better than more stuff, they have confidence, dignity, plans for the future, and they are rich in faith.

Friends, all of this is not to discourage you from giving. Actually, GIVE MORE. The parable of the talents reminds us that the more we have, the more God expects us to invest in His kingdom. So give generously. But let’s also commit the time and effort required to educate ourselves, so we can give wisely to organizations and projects that help those experiencing poverty to see all that God has given them. And let’s give prayerfully, asking the Holy Spirit for discernment as well as compassion.

Pray with us…

  • That all Christ-followers—wealthy and poor, from the West and Majority World—would know the truth that God has not abandoned the poor, but given them many resources. Pray that God would break the power of the lie that “the poor have nothing and can do nothing.”
  • Pray for givers and practitioners to have wisdom and spiritual discernment in how we seek to address poverty and relate with the poor.
  • Pray for the thousands of Majority World Christians who are learning about stewarding the resources God has given. Pray that they would have courage to step out in faith and obedience, to try things they’ve never done, and to love their neighbors using their own resources.