“Instead of helping poor people with charity that will eventually run out, it is more effective to lift people out of poverty through microfinance, says a Christian poverty expert.”
Most of us already realize the truth in the adage, “Teach a person to fish and you feed him/her for a lifetime.” The first sentence of this post is quoted from Christianity Today, in an article entitled, “Poverty expert: Give the poor a hand up, not hand out“.
It goes on to say, “The most compassionate way of helping someone isn’t to give them a handout long-term,” Greer contended. “The most compassionate thing you can do is to help them use their God-given abilities to work and to take care of their own needs.”
We always need balance in our mission work and giving. We want to help spiritually, and physically; yet, we do not want to “cripple” anybody. When possible, teaching people to use their skills responsibly can be much more effective than giving them a meal. Again, we need balance.
This may look like providing training AND feeding for a short time; then, tapering off the “feeding” and helping a person apply the training for growing their own crop, or earning their own income.
Don’t always think “overseas”, either. This concept can definitely be applied in your own western culture.
Give what is “needed”, only while it is needed.
-Gary Skrobot
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