Buy This Book!

When Helping Hurts, written by Chalmers staff Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett with a forward by John Perkins, is set to be released next week. Chalmers Center staff got a sneak peek at the book, and I can tell you it's amazing!

byFaith Magazine recently ran an article about the book:

“If you are a North American Christian, the reality of our society’s vast wealth presents you with an enormous responsibility, for throughout the Scriptures God’s people are commanded to show compassion to the poor. In fact, doing so is simply part of our job description as followers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:31–46).”

So opens the second paragraph of When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor, a new book by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College.

With this book, Fikkert and Corbett hope to reshape mercy ministry. They want to alter church practices and—more than that—revise our thinking and theology. Rich and poor alike, the authors tell us, suffer from the effects of the Fall, and both require the gospel of grace to bring Christ's reconciliation. Until the wealthy embrace their own brokenness, Fikkert and Corbett claim, they are likely to do harm, to the poor and to themselves."

Check out the entire article here.

Who should read this book?
-Anyone interested in mercy ministry
-Anyone who has been on a short-term missions trip
-Anyone who has supported or prayed for a long-term or short-term missionary
-Anyone who wants to know how to best help the poor
-Anyone who has ever asked "Why are people poor? How can we stop putting band-aids over the problem of poverty and get to the root of the problem? How can we help the poor to help themselves?"
-Anyone who looked at my pictures of the Kibera slums below, and like me had their heart broken by the poverty and injustice seen in the pictures.

The book is available for pre-order on Amazon. Get it here. I promise you'll be thankful you did.