Understanding Poverty – education & motivation (sessions 1 & 2)

1. Understanding Poverty – education & motivation (sessions 1 & 2) • P2P in Jamaica– tips & planned projects(session 3 )

2. Understanding Poverty – to better serve like Jesus Part 1 of 2 The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor, The wicked does not understand such concern.(Prov 29:7, NASB)

3. Our objectives: • Better understand the Biblical explanation of poverty • Distinguish between the various responses to poverty • Identify ways we are already responding • Consider future responses. • Introduce the Jamaica possibilities

4. How did we get here? Our Story 10 years of Short Term (ST) missions: • Sponsoring & hosting a young Jamaican sister • raising funds … • Presenting community workshops • Building relationships … • Assisting other ST mission workers • Lay counseling … • Informal Bible study … When Helping Hurts? 10 years of ST missions: • Married, living in Cleveland area, PT nurse, 1 child, attends our meeting • House that was built now occupied by child, mother no longer lives there • Relationships remain with most • Many ST workers have ‘moved on’ from Jamaica • Counseling & Bible studies continue, ecclesial growth … numbers up, so are problems? Experience = Expertise

5. Source: When Helping Hurts How to alleviate poverty … without hurting the poor … and yourself. www.whenhelpinghurts.org Slides selected from Bro. Kyle Tucker’s presentation, April 24, 2010, and from the authors of this book

6. Source: Walking with the Poor • More in-depth • Thorough theoretical analysis • A foundation work for • When Helping Hurts www. Chalmers.org Examination = Expertise /

7. Source: Understanding Poverty • A Framework for… • Poverty is relative, occurs in all races and in all countries • Statistics, scenarios and • research notes www.lecturemanagement.com/speakers/ruby-payne.htm You need to be educated

8. Group exerciseTHINK:Pair:Share What is poverty? What causes it? Interactive Group Exercise

9. Examining our Beliefs:What we believe shapes what we do and how we do it. What does the Bible teach meabout poverty? • Who are the poor? • What should I do about poverty? • What does it mean to ‘witness’ to the poor? • Why would I want to work with the poor?

10. Changes in Poverty 1820 • Difference between average income of richest and poorest countries – 4X Today • Average American lives on $90 per day • One billion people live on less than $1 per day • 2.6 billion people live on less than $2 per day (40% of the world’s population)

11. Commanded to show compassionMt 25:31-46; I John 3:17 • … as a career, or as a volunteer? • How much poverty alleviation is appropriate …, and what form should it take? What percentage of a church’s collective resources …? • How does a small congregation go about it? • Which poor do we seek to assist? • Should we impoverish ourselves to alleviate poverty in others? • Is it wrong to choose preservation of our own standard of living …over alleviating the poverty of 40% of the world’s population? • Is material assistance all we need to consider?

12. It’s uncomfortable: • We don’t understand it • We fear it • We can’t fix it

13. Voices of Poverty • For a poor person everything is terrible-illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of – Moldova • …a feeling of powerlessness and an inability to make themselves heard – Cameroon

14. Voices of Poverty Mísehmí hungry míwah something fí eat, white scwaldeh pan mí lip all ova mí teeth. Mísehmíongrymíwah something fínyam, worm ah play karachíinnamí belly battam. Look how mí long an’ mawga like tread One night without food mímighta drop down dead. No líkklewatatí ease oli pressure no líkklewatawíd a cornmeal bulla. Up an down mísehmíínna de street Cah fine nothing fínyamcah fine nothing fí eat. Matta full up mí eye, yellow full mí teeth Mí a tell you someting-- ongry, it no sweet. MISMATCH ! Voice of a young Jamaican – ErdleyBremmer Easter Youth Camp 2010, Montego

15. Defining the CauseDetermines the Solutions Broken relationships

16. Relationships God 1 Economic System Primary – Deut 6:5 4 2 PoliticalSystem SocialSystem 3 Rest of Creation Self Others 2. Called to reflect God’s being – Eph 4:24 3. Family, village, neighborhood, tribe – Eph 4:32 4. Husbandman, stewardship – Gen 1:28-30 ReligiousSystem

17. Systems God 1 Economic System 2 4 PoliticalSystem SocialSystem Rest of Creation Self Others 3 ReligiousSystem

18. Breakdown God Poverty of Spiritual Intimacy Economic System “Poverty is a result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable.”Bryant Myers in Walking with the Poor, p. 86. PoliticalSystem SocialSystem Rest of Creation Self Others Poverty of Stewardship Poverty of Being Poverty of Community ReligiousSystem

19. Alleviation God Address Spiritual Needs - primary Economic System “The four key relationships highlight the fact that human beings are multifaceted, implying that poverty-alleviation efforts should be multifaceted as well.”When Helping Hurts, p. 60. PoliticalSystem SocialSystem Rest of Creation Self Others Psychological Needs Physical Needs Social Needs ReligiousSystem

20. Foundational Relationships 1 1 4 2 2 4 3 3 Building blocks of all the rest of life How we interpret and apply affects our entire world view

21. Relationships are brokendue to: • Individual Sin • Sinful hearts • Often includes a faulty worldview concerning God, self, others, and the rest of creation • Broken Systems • Local, national, and international levels • The poor typically have little control over these

22. “Poor” & “Rich” alike suffer from the POVERTY OF: Our third session will focus on Two projects inviting P2P involvement in JA: What is the Church’s Task? What is your task?

23. Compassion Fatigue (burnout) Material Definition of Poverty God Complexes of Material Non-Poor Feelings of Inferiority of Material Poor Harm to Both Materially Poor & Non-Poor + + = Failure to look systemically Not partners in the solution Quick, easy solution feels good This perpetuates the deepest, worst forms of poverty: poverty of being, poverty of spiritual intimacy, poverty of community, and poverty of stewardship.

24. Solution to this equation Help Material Definition of Poverty God Complexes of Material Non-Poor Feelings of Inferiority of Material Poor Harm to Both Materially Poor & Non-Poor Revise + + = Repent Recover Revised understanding of the nature of poverty; see in more relational terms Requires ongoing repentance; need to understand our own brokenness Help them recover their sense of dignity; recover from our wrong sense of pride Jesus can fix us. We can grow past these false definitions & destructive attitudes.

25. Poverty Alleviation (Multifaceted) Poverty alleviation is a ministry of reconciliation:moving people — including ourselves — closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of creation.

26. For most …, ministry with the poor lacks intimate relationships because of their disregard for the intrinsic dignity of people who are poor. … As Christians, we need to move away from the place where our attempts at compassionate ministries degrade poor people by turning them into beneficiaries, and we must embrace poor persons in relationships that affirm their identity and dignity. The poor must not continue to be the objects and recipients of our good works and good deeds; they must instead be included in our lives as active participants who receive our respect and honor. Reducing Poverty, Not the Poor: Reclaiming Community with the Victims of Oppression, Christopher L. Heuertz

27. Scripture is clear. Our righteousness is qualified and validated in our relationships with the poor (Proverbs 19:17, 21:13, 22:9, 29:7; Isaiah 28:17; Jeremiah 22:16; 1 John 3:16-18) as the Lord uses the poor as a standard for judgment (Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus must remain at the center of our community. As he identifies himself with the poor, we must place the poor at the center of our communities, allowing them to be in influential positions that speak into the identity and direction of our churches and ministries.

28. I am invariably struck by scripture alluding to the conclusion that the integrity of our Christian virtue is defined in relationships with the poor. Even the basis of our intimacy with the Lord is cradled in how our intimacy with the poor is expressed in our social lives: “‘He defended the cause of the poor and needy so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 22:16).

29. When we allow scripture and Christ’s example to penetrate our hearts and minds, we can do no less than commit to relationships. We realize that people rather than programs must be central to all that we do, and the poor are human persons like ourselves, with names, stories to tell and lives to share.