Chapters Five
& Six
1. Lupton introduces
this chapter with a deeper examination of organizational charity. Citing several examples of programs run
amuck, he asks, “But isn’t it time we admit to ourselves that mission trips are
essentially for our benefit? Would it
not be more forthright to call our junkets ‘insight trips’ or ‘exchange
programs?’ Religious tourism would have
much more integrity if we simply admitted that we’re off to explore God’s
amazing work in the world.”
What is your response
here? Agree or disagree?
2. Lupton moves on to
cite his organization, Focused Community Strategies, as an example of
effectiveness. “By narrowing the focus
of missions, by concentrating the collective efforts of the church on specific
places and issues, we dramatically increase the chances of effecting
significant, measurable, and lasting change.”
Why is this so
difficult for churches to accomplish over a sustained period?
3. Lupton illustrates
another failure…this time brought on by the 1.5 billion dollar donation to the
Salvation Army by the Kroc family.
Why did this
ultimately lead to failure?
4. “Top-down charity
seldom works,” Lupton says, noting that “all charity begins at home.” He offers the example of The Atlanta Project
(TAP), launched by President Jimmy Carter in 1990. His assessment? “Had the President’s council
of strategists included an experienced community developer, the decision to
target twenty multi-neighborhood school catchment districts would have been
immediately challenged.”
“What lessons can we
learn from President Carter’s disappointing mission?”
5. Lupton discusses
“dead aid,” as coined by Zambian-born economist Dambisa Moyo. This represents the one trillion dollars in
charitable aid that has flowed into Africa over the past fifty years. “Aid has been, and continues to be, an
unmitigated political, economic, and humanitarian disaster for most parts of
the developing world.”
“So why is
humanitarian aid still so popular? Why
does it continue to be a moral imperative among the affluent cultures to impose
charity on the less fortunate…all buy(ing) into the belief that giving to the
poor is a good thing?”
6. Finally, Lupton
shares the story of a Christian entrepreneur who set out to make Kansas City
the first hunger-free zone in the country.
Lupton gives this man a lot of credit, but reflects, “The hard part is
rethinking the entrenched giveaway mentality and restructuring an established
one-way charity system. A hunger-free zone may be possible, but
developing the dependency-free zone
is the real challenge.”
Great! What happens next?
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