A FEW YEARS AGO, my friend Dan called me and asked if we could meet over coffee. He was leaving his comfortable pastoral position at a beach community in Southern California to work at the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, which is in the heart of Skid Row.
Why would he voluntarily leave such a comfortable, safe, and stress-free environment to work in one of the poorest and most broken places in America? Most people want to make more money and avoid difficulty. Yet Dan was going to make less money and have a more stressful life! Why?
The simple answer is that God changed his heart. There’s certainly nothing wrong with working as a pastor in a beautiful beach community. People in wealthy communities, as all people, need pastors to care for them. But when Dan studied the scriptural command to care for the poor, he became increasingly uncomfortable with his comfortable life.
The Bible and the Poor
The Bible has a lot to say about the subject of poverty. In both the Old and New Testaments, wealthy people are judged harshly for disregarding the needs of the poor. In the Old Testament, the prophet Amos condemns wealthy women “who oppress the poor, who crush the needy” (Amos 4:1). When the Israelites reaped the harvest of their fields, they were commanded not to strip their vineyards bare or to gather fallen grapes. The reason was simple: “You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner” (Leviticus 19:10). Although we relate to God differently now that Jesus has come, this passage reveals God’s heart for the poor.
In the New Testament, James, the brother of Jesus, scolded believers who dishonored the poor by treating them worse than the rich (see James 2:1-7). The Bible has a ton to say about how we are supposed to treat the poor.
To further the point, consider nine biblical principles:
Quite obviously, God values the poor! He was furious with Israel when they failed to care for the poor and oppressed. As followers of Jesus, it is part of our job description to defend, love, and provide for the poor (see Matthew 25:31-46).
Not long ago, I brought a group of high school students to work with Dan at the Union Rescue Mission for a few days. The students served meals in the kitchen, played Bingo with mission residents, cleaned, played with children, served cold water to people living on the streets, shared meals with strangers, and slept on the roof of the mission. The trip was transformative for both the students and me, and we hope it was for some of the people we encountered.
During our visit, and in my study since, it has become clear that Christians tend to have some huge misconceptions about poverty.
Misconception #1: Poverty Is about a Lack of Money
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that poverty is primarily about a lack of having things. In their book When Helping Hurts, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert observe, “North American Christians need to overcome the materialism of Western culture and see poverty in more relational terms.”[1]
Think about it: When you hear of people in poverty, do you tend to focus on physical things they lack, such as food, clothes, running water, housing, and medicine? Or do you think in terms of shame, powerlessness, depression, and hopelessness, which are what low-income people often feel? Chances are you think in material terms. But is lacking material goods at the heart of poverty?
What if poverty is more complex than merely lacking things? For instance, African American scholar Cornel West believes the basic issue behind ghetto poverty is a “profound sense of psychological depression, personal worthlessness, and social despair” in Black America today.[2] While there is an economic dimension to poverty in the ghettos, according to West, the feelings of despair and hopelessness are core factors as well.
Ultimately, poverty stems not just from a lack of things but from broken relationships with God, others, and the self. Thus, if we want to address poverty, we have to be willing to help people cultivate a proper understanding of their own worth and develop healthy relationships with God and others. When people have healthy relationships, they are in a better position to experience the dignity that comes from working and supporting themselves and their families.
Can you see why effective help for the poor must involve more than simply meeting their material needs? The Union Rescue Mission offers people food, shelter, clothes, and safety. But they also offer people life skills and opportunities to build relationships with others so they can develop as whole people.
Misconception #2: Good Intentions Are Enough
There is another huge misconception about poverty: good intentions are enough. People often have the right motives to help the poor, but their methods end up bringing harm. The right desire to help the poor is, for example, what motivates many people to embrace socialism, the form of government in which society as a whole owns the means of production. Like the legend of Robin Hood, socialist politicians promise to redistribute wealth to the needy.
As appealing as socialism may sound, such systems have consistently failed to actually help the poor and, in many cases, have harmed them. Paul Copan observes, “The only cases where the world’s masses have escaped grinding poverty—most accurately measured by increased income per person—is through the twin conditions of free markets and the enforcement of the rule of law.”[3] Even though capitalism has flaws, it is the best system for helping masses of people escape poverty. Socialism consistently fails in this regard.
The misconception about good intentions also applies on a personal level. Should you give to a person asking for money? Personally, I often do two things when I see someone asking for money. First, I stop and talk to the person. I want them to know I see them and care. Second, while I rarely give money, I often offer to buy the person a drink or a meal. And if I have time and they are open to it, I might sit down and enjoy the meal with them.
What Can You Do?
Consider three ways you can help those in poverty.
Three people put money in his jar during our ten-minute conversation. Many people in expensive suits simply walked by as if he weren’t even there. But the people who gave were others who were struggling as well. In other words, the people who helped him the most were the people who seemingly had the least. One man even handed him seven cents and said, “I hope it helps at least some. It’s all I have.”
I was reminded of the story Jesus told about the widow who put two small copper coins in the Temple offering box after the rich people put in large sums of money. Jesus praised her for giving out of her poverty, whereas the rich people gave out of their abundance (see Mark 12:43-44). After our conversation, Dan bought the man groceries and delivered them to him personally. That’s how you make a difference.
[1] Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself (Chicago, IL: Moody, 2012), 64.
[2] Cornel West, Race Matters, 25th Anniversary edition with new introduction (Boston: Beacon Press, 2017), 12.
[3] Robertson McQuilkin and Paul Copan, An Introduction to Biblical Ethics: Walking in the Way of Wisdom, 3rd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 466.