The U.S. has the second highest poverty rate (18 percent) of any developed nation in the world. And another 29 percent of the population struggle just above the poverty line. Christians see and hear much about the poor in countries around the world, so let’s take a look closer to home. Do American Christians have a responsibility to alleviate poverty for their poor neighbors?
Data from the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the U.S. Census Bureau paint a grim picture of the poverty crisis in the United States. Not included in this data, however, are the 40 million American families just above the official poverty line who fall into the category that social service organizations call ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed).
Whether you live in a major U.S. city, affluent suburb, or rural town, there are many people in your community living near or below the official poverty line. “As Christians, we do not have the option to opt out of trying to make a difference in the lives and hearts of those in poverty,” says Dr. Alvin Sanders, president and CEO of World Impact, and author of Redemptive Poverty Work. “It’s all over Scripture.”
In Leviticus 23:22, God tells us to leave part of our harvest – God’s blessing – for the poor. Jesus said proclaiming good news to the poor was foundational to his ministry (Luke 4:18). John the apostle writes that anyone with means who overlooks the needs of the poor cannot have the love of God in him (1 John 3:17). Jesus tells us we will always have the poor with us (Matthew 26:11), and he was right. He said that whatever we do for those in need, we do for him (Matthew 25:40-45).
That last one is key. As Christians, our call to serve the poor goes deeper than simple charity. We are compelled to respond to the image of God intrinsic in every human.
“A lot of us who are involved in serving the poor – which should be every disciple of Jesus Christ – may think of the poor as vehicles of our charity rather than agents of their own destiny,” says Father Robert Sirico, co-founder and president emeritus of the Acton Institute. “We’re encountering Jesus here in a broken condition.”
Breaking the cycle of generational poverty
We misunderstand the cause of poverty, and therefore we miss the cure. Poverty runs deeper than a simple lack of material resources. The cause of poverty is most often generational. “What’s the number-one way someone enters poverty?” Sanders asks. “They’re born into it.” It’s a vicious cycle that erodes human dignity and takes intentionality to break.
So, while food banks and homeless shelters are good for providing immediate needs, the true cure for poverty is found in relationships. And the way to break the cycle is through building communities that better reflect the heart and teachings of Jesus.
Dr. Brian Fikkert, founder of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development, believes both economic and spiritual leaders take insufficient approaches to poverty alleviation. Economists view humans as purely material creatures. So, they propose alleviating poverty by aiding people in consuming more material things, either through handouts or helping them earn more money.
“One of the problems with that story is that America has all kinds of material things,” Fikkert says. “Our incomes are going up and up and up, and we are consuming more and more; but if you look at happiness in America, it’s declining.”
On the other hand, Fikkert says, the church often reduces people who are poor to purely spiritual beings, and act like if the poor could just repent of their sins, all would be well. It’s true that we all need to repent of our sins. But it’s wrong to assume that people who are poor are necessarily less spiritual or that becoming a Christian would lead to financial gain.
We need a different understanding of the nature of human beings than either of the simple economic or spiritual stories.
“The Bible teaches that we’re not just bodies, and we’re not just bodies that contain souls,” Fikkert says. “We are highly integrated bodies and souls, deeply wired for relationship with God, with others, and with creation. We are body-soul-relational creatures.”
Addressing the immediate, physical needs of those living in poverty is important, but eliminating poverty requires an investment of time. It requires restoring right relationship with God, self, others, and creation. It requires that we restore a person’s dignity and capacity to work and that we steward our resources and our influence in service of our neighbors.
“People rise out of poverty, not because people give them things,” Father Sirico says, “but because they have opportunities to provide for themselves. That’s human dignity.”
Building relationships, restoring dignity
The key to alleviating poverty, to breaking generations-long cycles, lies in relationships. “In the garden of Eden, deep communion with God and others laid the foundation for work,” Fikkert says. “Try to replicate the conditions of Eden: Deep community. We’re with you. Come to our house for supper. We’re with you. We see gifts in you. We’re with you. Then, building on that solid foundation, help people find good work that pays a living wage.”
Deep community is more difficult to provide than a meal or a shelter. And, if we’re honest, most of us don’t want to commit our time to walking with the poor. But if we are going to build communities that better reflect the heart of Jesus, we must remember Jesus came to live among and minister to the poor.
How can your giving reflect this foundational mission of Jesus? Here are five ways to help restore community, dignity, and some of the conditions of Eden in the lives of those living in poverty:
- Walk across the street
Chances are, you walk or drive past neighborhoods in need of restoration every day. Don’t be afraid to engage and build relationships with people whose living circumstances are different from yours. Regularly attend a church, library story time, or community event in a lower-income neighborhood. Get to know one person or one family, and invest in a genuine friendship with someone in need. - Learn about community engagement organizations
Reach out to schools, social workers, or churches in your area to learn what local community engagement organizations are already doing and how you can help fund them. Meet with them, and spend time listening. Who is getting to know the poor and helping connect them with the skills and resources they need? Find out how you can help join or support them. - Look/listen for an opportunity from God
Think about the people already in your sphere of influence. Are you a business owner, teacher, or landlord? Do you feel a nudge from God every time you pass a certain area or hear about a particular need? Is God calling you to do something? Have your friends, employees, or co-workers expressed feeling called to do something? Take the time to learn about the gifts of those you already know and the needs of those you live in proximity with, and gather some friends to help you create a supportive community. - Provide scholarships or funding to schools in low-income neighborhoods
Education is one of the best ways to restore a person’s dignity and empower them to work and pour back into their own communities. Connect with a school serving low-income students, and offer to meet some of their material or financial needs. Or establish a scholarship at a university to help students overcome the financial barrier to higher education. - Connect with your local church
Ask what your church is doing to get to know the poor in your community. Then, use your Giving Fund to support those efforts. If they are doing little or nothing, find a local church with community outreach programs in place like after-school care, tutoring, or job-skill training, and support their efforts.
The way to solve poverty is dignity-restoring relationship
Years ago, when Fikkert worked as an economist, he went into a rehabilitated community in one of the poorest sections of Baltimore. The homes had been restored. A jobs program had been established, an after-school program, a health clinic, and a music ministry, too. When he asked the leaders of the community for their blueprints and financial model, so he could see how they rebuilt it, they simply shook their heads.
The way they had rehabilitated the community wasn’t by models. It was by moving into the neighborhood – for three years, playing stickball in the street with kids, flying kites in the park, attending parent-teacher association meetings, getting to know the community.
But this is highly uncommon in the U.S. We’re just too individualistic.
People were made for relationship, Fikkert says like a mantra. “I would much rather be a poor person in Togo than in America, because in Togo, there will be a community that will surround [a poor] individual and encourage him. In America, those of us who have the stuff are not in relationship with people who don’t.”
To alleviate poverty in the United States, it’s going to take more than meeting immediate, physical needs. “You are not off the hook for helping the poor just because you give money to them,” Sanders says. “It’s going to take an investment of more time, more relationships, and more funding.” How we choose to live our lives and who we choose to live among are critical factors in alleviating poverty.
“The poverty that people exist within isn’t just a material poverty,” Father Sirico says. “It’s a spiritual poverty. Sometimes it’s emotional poverty. It’s a disconnection from other people. If we can build a camaraderie among people, a community among people where they are the agents of their own amelioration, they better themselves by the respect that they have for themselves.”
Whether it’s reaching out to those already in your life or walking across the street to spark new relationships with neighbors living in poverty, you can become part of the solution to breaking the cycle and alleviating poverty in America. Jesus says when we love the poor and help those in need, we are actually loving him. How will you choose to show this Christlike love near your home?
