When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert (with Fikkert being the primary writer) presents thought-provoking information and ideas aimed at helping the church truly help those in poverty.

I enjoyed the theological groundings and challenging ideas, but I felt frustrated by unanswered questions. Overall, I would recommend it to most Christians.

Theology

"Theology matters, and the church needs to rediscover a Christ-centered, fully orbed perspective of the kingdom" page 45.

Compared to The Hole in Our Gospel, the theology was significantly more sound. A few things made me cringe, but it seemed to be more a matter of emphasis and scope than bad theology.

Fikkert traces the problem of poverty to Genesis 3. He identifies poverty by brokenness in relationships as a result of the fall: relationships with God, self, others, and creation. All men suffer from brokenness in these relationships, which Fikkert points out to demonstrate that the materially wealthy are not "better" than the materially poor, and the attitude otherwise seems to be at the root of what Fikkert sees as the harm done in some attempts to help.

This theologically rooted view of poverty determines the solution. "Poverty is rooted in broken relationships, so the solution to poverty is rooted in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to put all things into right relationship again" (page 77).

Challenging Ideas

Various principles are presented for helping without hurting, such as letting the work be done as locally as possible- don’t do for someone what they can do for themselves, and if they can’t do it, let the local community do it, etc.

I was also challenged in ways I did not expect. I have long held that the church, not the government, should be doing more about poverty in the United States and that conservatives in particular need to realize that "social justice" is not the same as the "social gospel," but I had no idea that government didn’t step in until evangelicals backed off because of associating humanitarian efforts with theological liberalism (discussed on page 45).

One of the features I appreciated about the book, I didn’t have time to take advantage of. The chapters come with questions, both at the beginning and the end. I think the beginning questions have great potential to make people think about the chapters and realize their own ideas more clearly. Unfortunately, I had to read in a bit of a hurry to return it to the library and couldn’t spend as much time as I wanted pondering the questions. I think the questions could help facilitate group discussion around the book (which would be a good thing).

Unanswered Questions

I felt frustrated by questions that I didn’t see addressed. For example, how does this work with Jesus’ teachings to give to all who beg and lend without expecting repayment in Luke 6?

I would also have liked a little more thoughts on specifics. What about things like child sponsorships and international adoptions? What about charities that give livestock?

Conclusion

I’m sorry about the quality of this review; I feel like I haven’t done a great job, but I hope I provided some information that might help you decide whether or not you would want to read it. Like I said, I recommend this book for most Christians, particularly those headed out on missions trips (especially short term) or who have a heart for the poor in their communities.

You might be interested in the review by Tim Challies, the official website, or the three part review by Kevin DeYoung.