Toxic Charity

Doing good in this world is something that comes naturally to us, well most of us. There is some force within us that compels us to want to help someone who is in pain. In general, doing good, well, feels good. Knowing that you did something for someone and helped out gives us a sense of accomplishment.

A few weeks ago I conducted a small social (media) experiment on the Facebooks. I told everyone that if I got 200 likes that my friend would play a special benefit concert in Egypt to help bring more talented musicians to America. For anyone who is my friend, they knew it was a joke. But nonetheless within 48 hours the status had 220 likes. I'm sure there were various reasons why people "liked" the status. Some thought it was funny and support my comedic genius. Some, maybe didn't see the satire in it and thought I was being completely serious. And some wanted to simply help out. This is an observation, but it seems like adding some sort of goal to the task gave people an incentive to be involved. After liking the status they could clearly see their contribution and although it probably wasn't life changing, it probably felt a tad bit good.

How does this social experiment relate to homelessness and community development? Well, through many years of trial and error, community development practitioners have been able to empirically see that there are some methods of "helping" that work and some that just aren't effective and long lasting. The "liking a status" sort of help falls under that category of ineffective methods, and I will explain what that looks like in our case of homelessness in a bit.

I want to take you back 2 years. A younger and less informed Rafik was pushed by his mentor and good friend, Jeff Liou, to attend the Christian Community Development Association yearly conference with our church's community outreach director, Mayra Nolan. I didn't really know what to expect but I went and luckily got to snag one of my best friends Eliza Haney (Esq. in training) along with me. It only took 3 days for my concept of community development to be shattered and reformed into something beautiful and tangible.

When you hear someone like John Perkins speak about what it looks like to be a christian in the community development setting, and then shake hands with him and have him bless the work you are involved in in your home city, your life is forever changed.

But while I was over there I met someone that shook the foundations of my community development philosophy in a way that I was not anticipating. His name is Robert Lupton. Mr. Lupton wrote a book called Toxic Charity. During the conference he had a sit down meeting with whoever wished to join in as he explained the book. The basic premise of the book is this: Doing something for someone that they can do on their own is damaging and dis-empowers them, destroying their dignity. Lupton goes on to explain how so many forms of charity, particularly those in America, cause more damage to the target then it does good. But here's where he brings out the most dangerous part to this kind of charity, it almost ALWAYS feels good for the giver.

While walking on the street, you see a man with a long beard, rotting teeth, a sad look on his face, rugged clothes and a sign that says: please help, homeless. Your first instinct is to help by giving some change, or a couple of bucks, or shoot you're feeling REALLY generous (it's probably not generosity, just a greater amount of pity) and drop a Jackson. What have you really done though? Let's forget that the person you gave the money to might potentially be experiencing a drug addiction and that that money might get spent to support that addiction. Let's even assume that that man will use that 5 bucks you gave him to get dinner. Let's break this down and see what we've accomplished.

A potentially lonely man with little to no human interaction, sells you his dignity for 5 bucks, you take it, feel good about doing a "good" deed. Will that 5 bucks last more than 10 mins? Do you know his name? Did you provide him with something he couldn't do on his own? Did you actually just do more harm than good? I think yes you did. I won't go into to great detail as to the alternatives to what you can do that are way more beneficial for the man on the street, that will be another blog, but what I want you to see is how toxic, "giving" and "charities" can be when not done right.

The ideas that Robert Lupton uses to maintain people's dignity is quite simple, yet brilliant. In Atlanta, Georgia where he spent a lot of his time, one of the main issues that the community faced were dietary issues. Food services were not being provided in certain areas, and if they were they were simple handouts. Instead Lupton organized with his church a buy-in for the community. For 5-10$, you could get a weeks worth of groceries. I hope you don't see this as a cheap manipulative scheme. Sure it was a great deal, but the people who were opting in for this deal were essential. If they didn't provide the money, they didn't get the groceries. They became a VALUED partner in this "business" transaction. In another blog I will give more examples of this methodology and what it looks like.


Going back to our social media experiment, it was easy for us to click "like" and get a desired outcome. We felt like we helped and did something for someone, and it was easy. Just like rolling down your window and tossing some change to a homeless man on the street is pretty darn easy. But what if.. dream with me here, what if helping someone else has nothing to do with us, and the feeling we get from it should NOT be the priority?! I know it's crazy. Spending $3,000 to go hang out with some African kids and babies that you will never see again feels really good! (unless you plan on returning and committing to that community, that's a different story) But I wonder what that $3,000 could look like invested in the people of that community that are there long term?

As we continue with this blog and look at ways that I personally hope to incorporate into my dreams, and ways in which any person can serve along side those experiencing homelessness and poverty, my hope is that we will do it being aware of this idea of Toxic Charity. I think what it causes us to do is not just settle for doing good because it feels good for us, but to really examine what we are doing, and how effective it is for the receiver. As weird as it sounds, doing good doesn't just have a spectrum of effectiveness, but can also dip into a level of negative effectiveness, and harm the person receiving this "good" act. It will require more time and thought and that might outweigh the good feeling, but we don't love the neighbor because the Lord said it will feel good and be easy, but because we are called to live a self sacrificial life that represents and magnifies Christ.

Oath of compassionate service by Robert Lupton:

1. Never do for the poor what they have or could have the capacity to do for themselves.
2. Limit one way giving to emergency situations.
3. Strive to empower the poor through employment, lending, and investing, using grants sparingly to reinforce achievements.
4. Listen closely to those you seek to help, especially to what is not being said--unspoken feelings may contain essential clues to effective service.
5. Subordinate self-interests to the needs of those being served.
6. Above all, do no harm.

A Community Development Philosophy According to Jesus Christ

Today I want to take you back 2000 years ago and learn from a man who truly understood what effective community development looked like. He knew that unless it was long lasting, and well, eternal, that there was no point. His name was and is Jesus. Even if you don't believe He is the son of God (I really hope you do), it can be seen that his methods were ones that preserved dignity, empowered people, and were long lasting. So let's lay out a community development philosophy according to Jesus Christ. My goal is to answer the when, who, where and how questions of community developement, and particularly with regards to those experiencing homelessness.

When: Our first passage is found in most of the Gospels (I'll be reading from Matthew 12:9-14) and it is the story about the man with the withered hand. It was Jewish law that on the Sabbath one would rest and not do any work. So here we find Jesus strolling around on Sabbath and he encounters a man with a withered hand. The pharisees, who were teachers of the law were essentially out on the Sabbath trying to troll Jesus hard. They were trying to find ways to get him in trouble so that they could get rid of him. Anyways, as Jesus approaches the man with the withered hand the pharisees ask (troll) Jesus  "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" His response is this: "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,  will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Or in other translations: "What did the five fingers say to the face? SLAP." So when do you partake in interacting with this community? All the time silly! Jesus is essentially saying this: Use your common sense. If there is chance for you to do good, do it! I'm not going to get into a philosophical debate about ends and means here, I think this passage is supposed to be quite simple. So like, I don't know if it's Sunday morning and you're all dressed up ready to go into church and sing "How Great Thou Art" and there is someone on the street YEARNING for a conversation or maybe a shared meal, you could use your common sense and be a bit late to church or skip out on Sunday brunch with your friends and do good.

Where and Who: I'm going to answer this one in the first sentance. IN YOUR COMMUNITIES. You might think: I live in Arcadia CA, it's a really nice and wealthy neighborhood, there aren't any homeless here. WRONG. Is this what Jesus did? Yup. There isn't just one passage where we see this but many. Jesus walks around his neighborhood/community and INTERACTS with the people of it. All kinds of people. Tax collectors (Luke 19:1-10), lepers (Luke 17:11-19), prostitutes (Luke 7:36-50), adulteresses (John 8:1-11) and whole a lot of other demographics (Matthew 25). These people exist in our culture today, some in the same exact way and some have taken other forms. But nonetheless, they are here and we are called to love them. If I were to extrapolate a little bit and survey how Jesus spent his time, based on what the scriptures say, I would say he spent more time with the sick and unbelieving then he did with the believing and healthy. (Mark 2:17). And that should be no different for us.

I actually believe this requires us to simply spend more time walking around our communities. I don't think Jesus got out of his bed and said: Totes gonna heal a man with leprosy today, maybe hang out with some tax collectors, or forgive the sins of an adulteress. No, he simply spent time in his community and was available so that when the need was present, so was he. I was shocked to find that when I practiced this in Pasadena, opportunities began to pop up. Instead of taking the short route to the awesome taco shop across the street from my church, I took the long route and met a young man about my age named Chris, who was currently living on the streets. I asked him if he wanted some lunch and we went and got some tacos and had a great conversation about how the church views people like him.

This isn't the sort of thing where you say, it's not my calling, I don't feel like the Lord has told me to interact with these people. No, this is a given, a constant, something you are expected to do as a follower and imitator of Christ. But I agree with what you might be thinking. It's not easy! Approaching a man that hasn't showered in maybe a few years, wearing the same clothes, just finished getting high, and could potentially be mentally ill is not the most comfortable of situations. But we aren't called to live in comfort now are we? Jesus certainly didn't live a comfortable life, at least in worldly terms.

How: Here is were it gets a little bit technical and requires some reading into the scriptures, but I also believe it speaks out for itself. Throughout Jesus's life we see him perform many mircales and interact with many sick folk, but one thing that we see each time Jesus makes one of these radical displays of love, is that he does not just heal the person and walk away. He does not merely point out a flaw in the woman at the well, rather he tells her how she can acquire living water, that will never leave her thirsty, he tells the no longer crippled man to, "get up and walk." All of these displays of power point to something: Jesus was not just interested in fixing these people mechanically, but empowering them, lifting them up, and helping them in a holistic sense, so that they could rise and proclaim the Good news. 

This last point will lead us directly into what our next blog will focus on, a continuation of the "how". How can we do things to help people, that are effective, but also long lasting? The key is empowerment. We empower by not destroying their dignity, by only doing for them what they can't do on their own. This is what Jesus has taught me and countless others community development pioneers.