Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty isn't the American Dream

by Brian Fikkert, Kelly M. Kapic

Western Civilization is wealthier, but it isn’t happier.



We are the richest people ever to walk the face of the earth, but according to research, we aren’t becoming happier. Families and communities are increasingly fragmented, loneliness is skyrocketing, and physical and mental health are on the decline. Our unprecedented wealth doesn’t seem to be doing us much good.



Yet, when we try to help poor people at home or abroad, our implicit assumption is that the goal is to help them to become like us. "If they would just do things our way, they’d be fine!"



But even when they seem to pursue our path, they too find that the American Dream doesn’t work for them. What if we have the wrong idea altogether? What if the molds we are using to help poor people don’t actually fit any of us? What if the goal isn’t to turn other countries into the United States or to turn America’s impoverished communities into its affluent suburbs?



In Becoming Whole (building on the best-selling When Helping Hurts), Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic look at the true sources of brokenness and poverty and uncover the surprising pathways to human flourishing, for poor and non-poor alike. Exposing the misconceptions of both Western Civilization and the Western church about the nature of God, human beings, and the world, they redefine success and offer new ways of achieving that success. Through biblical insights, scientific research, and practical experience, they show you how the good news of the kingdom of God reshapes our lives and our poverty alleviation ministries, moving everybody involved towards wholeness.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Theology, Social Justice, Faith, Christian Living, Social Issues

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 5, 2019

About the author

Brian Fikkert is an Professor of Economics at Covenant College and the Founder and Executive Director of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College. Brian received a Ph.D. in Economics with highest honors from Yale University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from Dordt College. Specializing in Third World Development and International Economics, Brian has been a consultant to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United States Agency for International Development. He has published articles in both leading academic and popular journals and has been a contributor to several books. Prior to coming to Covenant College, he was a professor at the University of Maryland and a research fellow at the Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector.

Reviews

[Matt Sones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worldview book written with an eye toward poverty alleviation. Recommended for every Christian, no matter what impact you are seeking to have in the world

[Mary Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this after hearing Brian Fikkert present it in person at Schaeffer House. His presentation was great and this book was excellent. I have not given enough thought (and, Lord knows, enough action) to poverty alleviation ministry, but the gospel approach to poverty alleviation outlined here equips Christians to live and help others live into a new story of change. Essentially, material poverty is only one aspect of poverty, and God’s redemptive work in which we participate as priest-kings is redemption for the whole person (and the whole creation). Thus to do poverty alleviation ministry is to do kingdom building in our current embodied world: building communities and systems which bring materially, spiritual, and emotional restoration to the poor. Worth the read

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty close to a must-read not just for Christians in the vocation of non-profits or social entrepreneurship, but for any Christian to understand some themes that I've learned from others (particularly N.T. Wright) that influence how we treat people today. Stepping out of the worldview that we're on a doomed planet that we're waiting to escape, and instead understanding how to join into new creation with God today to begin to bring the kingdom has real ramifications for how we treat the poor. This book lays out that framework really well.

I will admit that my margins are full of notes of frustration, but I think that's more at the content that gets to the conclusion rather than the bigger points the book is making. Examples include -- yet one more author wallpapering millennials as "the generation that does ______" and glossing over big, big ideas with simplistic points (e.g., describing naturalism as pure greed and selfishness). I know several people who are throughout "humanists" and the charts that describe their worldview according to the author would probably be pretty offensive to them.

Lastly, the layout of the book -- is this a new thing? I noticed it with Andy Crouch's recent book too. Different sections colored differently, callouts like tweets boxed among paragraphs. By the time I re-read something the third or fourth time, I thought, hasn't he used these exact words before (he has) and is just repeating it? I guess that's just what it takes to reach a millennial.

All in all, this book and When Helping Hurts are so critical and have been important to my journey, and I'm thankful for them.

[Holly Buxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Becoming Whole is a book I have will continue to recommend to people who want to grow in their understanding of how to best help and give to materially poor people.

The author threads sound theology into practical application giving the reader clear action steps. Fikkert’s uses terms like “Western Naturalism” and “Christian Gnosticism” to address the accepted way that we as American Christians have historically helped the poor. Using bait and switch tactics to “save” people, we then pat ourselves on the back and send them back to their hell on earth (with a prize or a toy or another American Dream bait item) with no intention of walking with them through their hell on earth.

Fikkert’s approach in Becoming Whole is a starting point for us all to repent and do better at showing people that the riches of heaven can be found here on earth and it has nothing to do with the American Dream or a thousand dollar worship experience.

[Christian Neufeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I‘ve read this year!
It is hard to confine all the things I have taken from this book into a few lines.
It encourages wholistic spirituality and a criticism of the gnostic evangelicalism of our day that divides the sacred and the secular as well as the body and soul. Our focus should be much more wholistic in helping people and not trying to get away from this earth into heaven.
The authors do a great job showing what the bible teaches about the kingdom of heaven and how everything we do is related the the new earth. Our aim is not rapture from this earth but restoring all things back into right relationship with God.

[Emily | emilyisoverbooked · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️?

Extremely dry and probably good content for Christians who don’t understand why we want to help people tangibly or at a systems level. Check out the Global Lift Collective to see this work at play.

[samuel bragg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would highly recommend. Address systemic and wholistic flourishing under a gospel centered comprehensive idea. Fikkert was early to associating the mental and physical being combined in human flourishing.

[Jono Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

See review of “When Helping Hurts”. Can’t say enough about how great and necessary these books are. I’m eternally grateful for the Chalmers center and the like. Wish there was more of a helpful premise in constructing activism for those who aren’t working in social entrepreneurship and such full-time. That could be remedied with a simple Q&A, so it makes sense that Brian Fikkert is a teacher! If a Q&A is required, you must be doing something right ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. On a more subjective, nit-picky note, the writing just kind of got to me. Felt as though the book could have easily been reduced to half as long. There seemed to have been a circular argument throughout - a constant self-referencing of homo economicus, evangelical Gnosticism, etc. Maybe I just need a break from non-fiction lol. I’ll probably still end up reading Practicing the King’s Economy.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be a very good read. A challenging way to think of our redemptive work not just as a spiritual escape nor material wealth. Instead he calls us to see Jesus Resurrection as the springboard for our redemptive work in the world that includes making all things new again. This "becoming whole" means that our poverty alleviation efforts are born out a desire to help the whole person not just a soul, and not just a body, but a united person. I did find the final exercise review in the book a bit confusing as I didn't feel like his answers well reflected the main points of the book, but that withstanding I would gladly recommend this book to anyone.

[Brooke Phelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big idea: poverty alleviation work is not the act of making the American Dream global.

“The expansion of the kingdom does not mean wholesale destruction of all elements of the surrounding culture, for many of those elements are good. Rather the expansion should act more like salt that preserves and enhances the good, and like yeast that permeates and brings life… more about transforming than completely discarding… “

“the very foundation of poverty alleviation is restoration to deep communion with God Almighty.”

The authors use a lot of scripture references, quotes from theologians, philosophers, and missiologists, surveys, stories of change and diagrams to illustrate their purposes. Fell a bit short for me in that the first half of the book was pretty technical.

[Danita · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5! Written ten years after When Helping Hurts, this book serves as a sort of prequel. It delves deeply into the underlying theology, anthropology, and principles undergirding the practical applications in WHH. What we believe about human flourishing and God's story of change impacts our poverty alleviation efforts, for better or worse. I commend this book for its thoughtful, compassionate, biblical treatment of the topic.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the insistence that the Kingdom of God really IS at hand...I devoured Dallas Willard's teachings on the same subject. If we believe the Kingdom of God really is here and now we will seek to produce disciples rather than mere converts. To clarify, the Kingdom of God is "here and now, but also not yet." The goal of our ministries should be human flourishing through 4 redeemed relationships - with God, with ourselves, with others and with the earth. Helping the poor materially is a by-product but not the focus.

[Gabe Meiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important message about the nature of man, what it means to be in Christ, the Christian's role in His story, and how this impacts poverty alleviation ministry. It's not necessarily a bash on America, though that could be taken from the subtitle. It does challenge certain worldviews often held in Western civilization and contrasts them to a biblical worldview.

[Jane Burkett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic explanation of Christian anthropology and the Gospel, and how they should inform poverty alleviation efforts.

[Joy Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than When Helping Hurts. I would recommend anyone start with this book when trying to understand poverty culture and healthy ways of interacting with individuals on the margins.

[Crystal Letkeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Looking at poverty and how we in the “rich” west can see it from a different perspective. Make different decisions in light of being able to see our own poverty. A must read for anyone wanting to see past our typical bandaid solutions to a newer and better way of addressing poverty of all types.

[Cara Rushing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for a honest view of today’s cultural christian society! Was disappointed by lack of practical “how to’s” but alas I think that comes in the companion book.

[Ricky Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this gives a great picture of what posture we should take as believers when it comes to the materially poor. Recognizing that all of us are broken and have broken relationships and Jesus came to redeem it all.

I’m interested in the field guide for some practical steps

[charissa palmer-agan · Rating 5 out of 5]

crazy. feels like everything in here should be so obvious but it isn’t because of how steeped we are in American consumerist culture. will be revisiting this often i predict.

[Andrew Wolgemuth · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you would expect from Brian Fikkert and the Chalmers Center, Becoming Whole is packed with wisdom for ministries, churches, and individuals who work on and think about poverty alleviation. Less expected, however, is it's deep wisdom on the nature of the Kingdom of God and the Christian life—wisdom that's needed whatever your association (or lack thereof) with poverty alleviation.

As the book's subtitle states, "the opposite of poverty isn't the American dream"...so what is it? What is at the root of poverty, and what can the church and Christians to about it? From the book's backcover:

Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic look at the true sources of brokenness and poverty and uncover the surprising pathways to human flourishing, for poor and non-poor alike. Exposing the misconceptions of both Western Civilization and the Western church about the nature of God, human beings, and the world, they redefine success and offer new ways of achieving that success. Through biblical insights, scientific research, and practical experience, they show you how the good news of the kingdom of God reshapes our lives and our poverty alleviation ministries, moving everybody involved towards wholeness.

Indeed. Fikkert and Kapic deliver just that.

(full disclosure: the literary agency I work for represents this book)

[Ginger Hudock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had previously read When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert at the recommendation of an acquaintance who is a long-time missionary. Becoming Whole is a great followup to that book and gives more details about what poverty alleviation programs can do to either help or hurt the people that they serve. I highly recommend this book for church leaders, including Missions Committee members as well as leaders and board members of ministry organizations that serve the poor. This book will help churches and other organizations evaluate their services to the poor and determine whether changes may be needed. It will also be a great help for individual Christians seeking to maximize the effectiveness of their charitable donations.

The theme of this book may be exemplified by a quote from its conclusion. "We are called and empowered to join with ...[the poor] in living into this new world--preaching the Word and digging wells, starting schools and administering the sacraments, offering prayers and dispensing penicillin, fellowshipping with Christ's body and financing micro enterprises. Because the goal isn't to live the American Dream now and get our souls to heaven later. The goal is to become whole."

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about effective poverty alleviation programs.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.

[Brian Heckber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disapp

I was expecting more from this follow-up book to When Helping Hurts. This is a book on the theology and philosophy of man overlayed with poverty alleviation. It all started to run together after awhile. I was looking for more practical help....guess that comes in the guidebook to this book.

[Hannah Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what you'd expect, in the best sense. Shockingly, world-turning-upside-downingly Gospel centered... This is where it's at, y'all!

[James Calvin]

Full disclosure: my mother taught Brian Fikkert to play piano. What's more, I remember his mom as being a terrific teacher, his father as a beloved pastor with deadpan humor he loved to wield. What’s more, the writer himself was once a student of mine—in one class, a writing class. He's a graduate of the institution I was a part of for more than forty years.

And one of its stars, one of our stars, I should add. When he got into Yale to do graduate work, no one was surprised, so decidedly had he shown his gifts throughout his undergrad years. All of that needs to be said before I tell you that I really did love reading his book.

He’s become something of a presence within the evangelical world, in part because he has taken on the church work-group industry. I just happened to read in this month’s congregational magazine how our youth group is fund-raising for this summer’s work-group project in London, Ontario, Canada, a place where there are plenty of our own denomination’s churches already. What's more, in the last couple years I've been with Ontario youth groups working right here. Make sense? Most people see work-group forays as tran-sactional—we give our love away, and in return we get a buzz while we’re out there.

And there’s this. If our kids spend a week painting cracked walls on the Rosebud Reservation, they at least get to a place they certainly wouldn’t have seen otherwise. We send kids near and far, in large part, for our buzz, not so much for what treasures of love they leave behind. Brian Fikkert has opened up some soft spots in such hallowed missional endeavors, done it gently but well, using his own expertise as an economist.

In Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream, Fikkert uses the effective tools that graduate education gave him to locate and define the myriad, difficult sources of poverty, and then proceeds to do the work he and his co-writer, Kelly Kapic, promised in the sub-title, illustrating exactly why, for followers of Jesus, “the American Dream” is not life with the Lord, something most of us know but need to fight hard not to forget.

He’s strong and convincing in those parts of the book, establishing that effective poverty fighting can’t be done out of what he and Kapic call “western naturalism,” a worldview that never really approaches “the spiritual,” but chooses instead to measure growth in bucks, in purely economic terms.

But they also deconstruct what they see and call as “evangelical gnosticism,” a worldview that clearly separates “the spiritual” from the affairs of this world, investing totally instead in an all-encompassing dedication to the great beyond, the joys of heaven, a view my own profs, years ago called “world flight.”

But Fikkert and Kapic tread hesitantly over the land mines set in the polarized battlefields all around, especially by way of our politics. They’re not in the least un-American, but they regard flag-waving nationalism as idolatry. They’re conscious of the fact that many of their readers are evangelicals who likely hold strong views over such things. Especially in those arguments in which offense could be taken, they wear kid gloves, which is nice, thoughtful.

The real answer to all our problems is offered in the final section of the study, when the argument they forward is quite traditional—if you want to fight poverty, they say, get people into church. What they say and how they say it is, thankfully, greatly more nuanced, but that’s the direction of things taken in this fine read.

It’s the conventional answer, of course. Even 19th century missionaries who knew nothing about the culture they found themselves in would have said the same thing—starving people need the church.

Whether or not that’s always true is a question that’s beget whole libraries of arguments, and how it is accomplished is just as weighty and difficult to determine. The problem with giving the traditional answer is not that it’s wrong, but that it’s traditional. I must admit my attention flagged through the final section, if for no other reason than it’s increasingly difficult to make that argument when “the church” is as divided as it finds itself these days. Arguing that it’s where humankind needs to be is a tough demand when the church itself is a battleground.

Bottom line: this is a wonderful book for Christians who sit in pews (or chairs) on both sides of the aisle. It establishes clearly and convincingly that dealing with the effects of poverty is not an easy task. That’s a tough truth to communicate these nationalistic days.

What Mom’s old piano student is doing is exemplary. She’d be very proud, even though she might have considered some of the analysis just a bit left field.

Becoming Whole should be required reading for every work group heading out this summer—and then some, and most certainly their leaders.

[Michael Philliber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Friday morning I dedicate about two hours of my time picking up nearly-expired produce, breads and meats from grocery stores to take to a local Christian food bank. Our church is invested with this service organization doing various drives through the year (collecting toiletries, toilet paper, etc.) and lending a hand at the facility on occasion. What draws us to sink our time and resources into this ministry's work is that they have a bigger aim than just feeding the bellies of their low-income "clients". They set up arrangements for medical care, teach folk how to budget, maintain a network of other resources to aid them, have a kitchen where they will begin conducting classes on cooking soon, and more. But the volunteers and staff also talk with the patrons-in-need about the Bible, their lives and loves, as well as provide biblical material and offer to pray with those they serve. "Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty isn't the American Dream" penned by Brian Fikkert, Founder and President of the Chalmers Center at Covenant College, where he has also served as a Professor of Economics and Community Development since 1997, and Kelly M. Kapic, professor of theological studies at Covenant College since 2001, is a 304 page paperback manual that takes a similar approach in poverty alleviation. This volume kindly challenges and carefully changes perspectives in an easy-to-read fashion.

Fikkert and Kapic point out that at "the heart of poverty alleviation is change" (17). And that, in a nutshell, is what the book is all about; "helping us to change the story of our lives in general and of our poverty alleviation efforts in particular" (35). The authors show how there are competing narratives clamoring for our veneration, such as the American Dream, and the Christian readers need to be reclaimed by the truer tale of who God is, who humankind is, and how we are made to flourish through properly order and restored relationships: with God, ourselves, one another and creation Humans "are necessarily relational creatures; love must be expressed toward someone or something. As creatures who reflect the triune God, human beings are hardwired for relationship. We are made to be lovers" (46). The book as a whole revolves around this theme, showing how we have failed at times by listening to different stories - to the wrong stories, like Evangelical Gnosticism, etc. - and how we can succeed.

Further, Fikkert and Kapic point out with great and necessary regularity, "Human beings are transformed into the image of whatever god they worship, so that the core of effective poverty alleviation is worship of the one true God" (191). Therefore, the way people can come to encounter genuine flourishing is "when they serve as priest-kings, using their mind, affections, will, and body to enjoy loving relationships with God, self, others, and the rest of creation" (247). I found myself thrilled at the authors' anti-Gnostic approach to poverty alleviation. I was also deeply challenged about the approach I have taken to this subject in the past.

"Becoming Whole" is an essential book for deciphering better ways to help those in need without furthering their self-harm and idolatry. This is not a "how-to" manual but more of a "way-to" resource. It is a encouraging, informative guide for improvisation in messy situations. Church deacons and elders should make this book a must, and work through the chapters and discussion questions together. Pastors and ministry leaders ought to have a copy and plow through it with pen and highlighter in hand. I highly recommend the book.

My thanks to the authors and Moody Publishers for kindly supplying, at my request, a copy of this book used for this review. They asked nothing more of me than that I give a written evaluation. Therefore, all remarks made in this assessment are freely made and freely given.

[Jenna Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does it mean to be human? Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapic view the question to be central in informing poverty alleviation ministries. As successful economists, experienced philanthropists, and wise Christians, Fikkert and Kapic delve into the spiritual and practical questions of why majority world countries still experience poverty despite humanitarian aid.

Though the book goes in many different spiritual, economic, and anthropological directions, the general thesis is that the central problem of humanitarian aid is that it aims to help poor societies become more like affluent western societies. This strategy has failed to deliver its promise on two accounts: it’s culturally naive, and westerners aren’t doing well. The American Dream that we’ve built our lives upon is crumbling. People are rich, isolated, and depressed.

After describing social and psychological effects of unprecedented riches, the authors argue that westerners are just as lost and lacking as the financially underprivileged. Therefore, the answer to the problem of poverty is not to make majority world countries more like western ones; instead, both rich and poor need a deeper understanding of God’s design for humanity.

Detailing what is sometimes described as the holistic gospel, Fikkert and Kapic remember the early chapters of Genesis. The fall, they argue, can be understood as a fracturing of man’s relationships with God, self, others, work, and creation. And so, in order to become whole once again, all of those relationships must be restored. A majority world country will never be lifted out of poverty if they aren’t restored in their understanding of any one of these facets. The authors stress the interconnectedness of the facets by imagining them as spokes on a wheel; if one spoke is broken, the whole wheel will suffer.

In addition to the holistic aspects of gospel redemption, the authors also describe how cultural knowledge is imperative to successfully helping a society. Stories of change, systems, formative practices, and individual personhoods are aspects of cultures that can be similarly affected by brokenness and in need of redemption.

I love this book for many reasons. I think it gives a true and neglected testament to the gospel being more than a spiritual change or a prayer to accept Christ. The authors paint a picture of the holistic redemption accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and they understand the complex needs of humans and systems. They tell inspiring stories of miraculous changes they’ve seen across the world. They challenge evangelical Gnosticism and they beckon readers to a more beautiful vision for the Christian life. They describe the home we long for, the Eden to which we will return when at last we experience resurrection.

My main criticism of the book is that it’s generally incohesive and could probably be described as somewhat confusing. Writing this review has been challenging— there is so much information going in so many different directions that I’d have to reread the book to encapsulate all of it. I actually do want to read it again. It’s filled with so much solid spiritual and practical wisdom that it’s impossible to absorb it all in one go. Interestingly and contrastingly, it’s also quite redundant. The redundancy is partly annoying (very obvious copy and pasting from one page to another) and partly helpful because the reader (this reader, anyway) needs a lot of repetition of the ideas presented in the book to digest it all.

I’ll be honest, this is a terrible review lol. I’m not even scratching the surface of the contents of the book but I’d honestly just have to reread it to try to better detail its contents. I would label it as an absolute must read; it’s an incredibly helpful tool in understanding the gospel, culture, and the general practice of helping others. I’d give it a 4.7 if Goodreads allowed me to do so.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is an important book, one that sets out to readjust the mindset (or worldview) of most Westerners and American Evangelical Christians in particular. Why do we need such a wake up call? Because it is rare for people to take a step back and observe how their culture and the philosophies of the day effect our judgement, decision making, and our interactions with others.

As a Christ follower and believer in the authority of scripture, it is very important to me to receive help in seeing how Traditional Religions, Western Naturalism, and Evangelical Gnosticism defer significantly from Historic Christianity. Depending on which of these "stories of change" drives my thinking, I will have different views about God, Self, Others, and the Rest of Creation.

So I understand why Fikkert tends to repeat, repeat, repeat ideas and observations in this book. He is attempting to counteract the worldviews the readers are immersed in and need to reexamine. Because we have unconsciously been influenced, we need to have the transformative story of change presented in a variety of ways over and over again. However, that does result in a book that seems at times repetitious and fatiguing.

Yet I come away with renewed excitement about Jesus as King, that his kingdom has been inaugurated and is progressing the present age, that I am a priest-king under Jesus, and that God is reaching out to all creation in love to restore all things! I have been reoriented toward resurrection and the coming New Creation, and not limited by the meager idea of being a disembodied spirit in heaven. Also I'm excited about sharing that truth with everyone I encounter, knowing that this knowledge is what leads to transformation and the elimination of poverty by the power of Jesus.

I will be checking out the Field Guide version of this book for more help with the practical application of these ideas, since this book is heavy on concepts and light on examples.

[Meredith Wicktom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book for my macro and community models and theories class. This is a very honest book that I think any Christian, especially missionaries and church staff, needs to read. Fikkert is very straightforward in calling out the church as well as charities from Western countries for the harm they unintentionally cause with the methods by which they serve people in poverty. The bottom line is, the answer to poverty is not economic wealth. Poverty is not just about needing money, and economic wealth does not make a person whole. Poverty is multi-faceted and requires multi-faceted responses to help a person become the whole of who they are and who they were created to be, not to become successful based on the majority group’s standards. Western missionaries and charities unintentionally disempower and cause more harm than good by making poverty alleviation solely about money. Fikkert boldly challenges his readers to examine where they believe the cause of poverty lies - within a person or within broken systems practices?

This book is incredibly eye opening and I would recommend anyone and everyone to read this book because it truly changes the lens through which we ought to view poverty. Read this book with a critical eye and really examine how the content sits with you. With every book like this, don’t take it at face value because there are always exceptions to the rule, but also we must question why content like this makes us uncomfortable.

One of my critiques is he really gets into the weeds of some theological concepts, so, because i was listening to the audiobook, i got lost/confused kind of easily. I hope to be able to re-read this and continue to learn from Fikkert. As a social worker, I think this book is a fantastic read, but we also must consider how to implement this with clients and communities without crossing ethical lines of trying to change a community’s religious and spiritual beliefs.

[Clairette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this, so I think I got the big picture but missed a lot of details/nuance that I would have captured if I had read it. And I didn't answer the questions along the way.

I liked much of the terminology in this book, in many ways these foster a paradigm shift: calling the developing world "majority world," defining the specific kind of charity work as "poverty alleviation", calling poor people "materially poor," identifying that many richer people are "relationally poor," defining humans as whole beings rather than souls that have a body and mind (which I think many Christians get wrong).

Since it can be so helpful to begin with the end in mind, it was valuable that the author clearly makes a case that poverty alleviation efforts around the world should not be about making over the world into some Western world ideal (which is generally relationally-poor and materialistic).

Other than the terminology and the discussion about the goal of poverty alleviation efforts, the book is VERY religious, and very CHRISTIAN specifically, but that was expected. The author used the phrase "God's Story of Change" a lot, and I must have lost focus when he defined it because I didn't really get it. (Maybe because this is a fundamental part of the Christian religion that I generally don't get... I am one of those who has trouble with almost every line of the creed, but cannot stay away because Christianity "works" in a visceral way for me, and no, not because my prayers get answered.) One point he did make is that we cannot help people become whole through non-religious programs, that religion/the spiritual is an essential part. He's certainly not suggesting colonial-type mission work, he's talking about helping people shed some truly harmful religious beliefs that hurt humans and are contrary to The Way. Overall, worth my time and I am curious to know more.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this book is key for any (believing) development professional/Westerner: economic growth & wealth is not the key to life—and definitely not the full, abundant life that Jesus promises in John 10:10. As a confessing capitalist & believer in economic empowerment, I have to continually challenge my own belief in this premise and question why the incredible wealth in the U.S. has not led to increased happiness or true contentment.

This book, written by well-known Christian development thinkers, offers an enlightening breakdown of why the stories of change of traditional religion, Western naturalism, and evangelical Gnosticism get it wrong, especially when it comes to ending poverty. I dove deep into these topics while working for a Christian NGO, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, many of these themes felt repetitive of older books in this space (like Why Helping Hurts)—though it’s never bad to be pointed back to the Gospel. While this book offered good theological/ideological analysis, I thought it fell short in offering practical solutions that integrate reconciliation of the four broken relationships that lead to poverty.

Nonetheless, a grounding read for anyone interested in learning how a faith-based approach to poverty alleviation is different than what the world preaches.