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.
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.
This is a great blog. Keep it up, I'll be reading.
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