Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term MIssions

This brief video presents a concise summary of the attitude and approach in terms of applying the "Helping Without Hurting" philosophy to short-term missions. This particular excerpt was made in Haiti, but certainly the concepts apply to any missions or serving a person may perform: 

"It's not about what we do, it's about 

the relationships that we build."

 

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Interview with Dr. Brian Fikkert

This fall, the Northridge Serves team is collectively reading When Helping Hurts in order to have an understanding of Northridge Church's outreach strategy. Below is a link to an interview with Dr. Brian Fikkert, author of When Helping Hurts, giving an overview of the book and Dr. Fikkert's ministry through the Chalmers Center at Covenant College.

Helping Without Hurting: Christian Generosity and Material Poverty by Andy Jones

"Everything around me is wired to remove pain and to give me great comfort and assurance. There is a sense in which I don’t see a need for God in the everyday. I do intellectually, of course. But in the way I experience my Christian life and the way I live it out, there is a sense where I do not reach out to God as desperately as people who are in need do. I really do need him for every moment, but I do believe that Western Civilization has inoculated me a bit." - Dr. Brian Fikkert

When Dealing With Those in Need

Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center briefly discusses how, when dealing with the poor, "the church is to create a foreshadowing of the Kingdom.....and give a sneak preview of the coming attractions."

How can the church (you and I) "demonstrate the reality and the authenticity of God" to those in need?

Poverty and Humanness

Brian Fikkert, the founder and President of the Chalmers Center and co-author of When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself, provides a brief but insightful view on how poverty is much more than the obvious symptoms we typically observe.  The roots of poverty are actually common to both those who are lacking in a material sense and those who aren't, and we are all wired to "experience humanness in the way that God intended."  Does his viewpoint resonate with you?

How We Define Poverty from The Chalmers Center on Vimeo.