Torch, Fall/Winter 2010

6 TORCH | Fall–Winter 2010 ROBERTO SCHMIDT | GETTY IMAGES every first-year medical student learns as the primary rule of medicine: “First, do no harm.” Experienced professionals, both in medicine and ministry, know the devastating impact of unintended consequences, which result from actions made by sincere but uninformed people. Consider a short-term missions team that traveled overseas to do construction in an impoverished country. While the volunteers were motivated with hearts to serve, more people might have been helped had the team donated their travel funds for the on-site ministry to hire poor, local workers desperately in need of daily wages. And with the best of intentions, Christians in the name of Jesus have sometimes reinforced irresponsible or self- destructive behavior by handing out money (or other things that can be quickly turned into money) to those panhandling on the street. In our eagerness to help, we sometimes fail to accurately assess how our activities actually affect the contexts and people on the receiving end. Rather than sincerely yet blindly attacking symptoms of poverty, we must engage wisely and redemptively. Understanding the three levels of social need will help form our responses as we reach out to the poor. Relief First, hurting people in crisis need emergency relief. Whether it is a local house fire that destroys a family home, a hurricane that sweeps across New Orleans, or an earthquake that devastates Haiti, the willingness of Christians to give immediately and sacrificially to those in desperate need has a positive and redemptive impact for Jesus. The Church excels in this kind of circumstance. Such open-handed, sacrificial giving is helpful, though, only when it is relatively short-term. When continued too long, the very relief intended for good can foster long-term dependency and rob people of dignity as they become accustomed to being identified and treated as charity cases. It is possible to be sincere but sincerely wrong in one’s actions. We must evaluate the differences between needs that result from crisis and those that are chronic. Chronic challenges demand a different kind of response. Development The Church must adjust its response to people who are trapped in cycles of poverty by empowering them to change their circum- stances. Supporting people this way is by nature more difficult and more time-consuming than simply dispensing relief because we are helping people develop themselves and building relationships with them. Nevertheless, this is the kind of ministry that helps people escape the cycle of poverty; it prompts them to transition from perpetual dependence to self- sufficiency. This type of development might include, for example, providing education or skill training to enable people to conquer their own chronic problems and preserve their dignity. The Church can be a powerful force to minister in the name of Jesus and help people conquer chronic poverty. Developmental assistance can take many forms including: • parenting classes • student mentorship programs • after-school tutoring • adult education • computer skills training • job interview coaching • English as a Second Language training • high school completion classes • basic finance management training • home ownership classes • entrepreneurial development • job transportation Churches can begin the pursuit of development ministry by determining how God has positioned and equipped them by assessing their strengths and limitations, finding out what the real needs of the community are, building relationships with people in the community, discovering other ministry models, and evaluating what they do.