When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself

by Steve Corbett

individuals and churches that have been blessed with financial resources like Parkview should dramatically increase their financial giving to churches and ministries that pursue gospel-focused, asset-based, participatory development. The churches and ministries that are engaged in development work have a very difficult time raising the funds needed to pay for this highly relational, timeintensive approach, an approach in which there are not always clear measures of success or of the “return on the investment.” Development ministries desperately need financial supporters who understand what poverty alleviation is really about—reconciling the four, key relationships—and who are willing to fund the long and winding process that must be used to get there. In short, Parkview needs to give more—much more—money to alleviate poverty, but it must do so more wisely.