Toxic Charity, How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help PDF
Preview Toxic Charity, How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help
ON TOXIC CHARITY “Lupton says hard things that need to be said.... If we accept rather than resist his critique, the poor and non-poor will both be better off.” — Christianity Today TOXIC CHARITY TOXIC CHARITY How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It) ROBERT D. LUPTON © HarperOne An Imprint of HarpcrCollinsPxWisieri HarperOne toxic charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It). Copyright © 2011 by Robert D. Lupton. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007. HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information please e-mail the Special Markets Department at [email protected]. HarperCollins website: http://www.harpercollins.com HarperCollins®,mS®, and HarperOne™ are trademarks of Harper Collins Publishers. FIRST HARPERCOLLINS PAPERBACK EDITION PUBLISHED IN 2012 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request. isbn 978-0-06-207621-2 15 16 rrd(c) 20 19 18 17 16 Contents Chapter One : The Scandal 1 Chapter Two : The Problem with Good Intentions 11 Chapter Thr ee: The Anatomy of Giving 31 Chapter Fou r: Needs vs. Relationships 51 Chapter Fiv e: Beyond Us-Based Giving 65 Chapter Six : No Quick Fixes 85 Chapter Sev en: Wise Giving 103 Chapter Eig ht: Take the Oath 127 Chapter Nin e: Service with Dignity 147 Chapter Ten: Getting Started 165 TOXIC CHARITY Chapter One The Scandal In the United States, there’s a growing scandal that we both refuse to see and actively perpetuate. What Ameri cans avoid facing is that while we are very generous in chari table giving, much of that money is either wasted or actually harms the people it is targeted to help. I don’t say this casually or cavalierly. I have spent over four decades working in inner-city Atlanta and beyond, trying to develop models of urban renewal that are effective and truly serve the poor. There is nothing that brings me more joy than seeing people transitioned out of poverty, or neighborhoods change from being described as “dangerous” and “blighted” to being called “thriving” and even “successful.” I have worked with churches, government agencies, entrepreneurs, and armies of volunteers and know from firsthand experience the 1
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