Toxic Charity

At 73, I still work full time as a tax & financial professional but also travel extensively doing mission work. This includes wheelchair distributions in Vietnam, Mexico, Israel, Jamaica and other countries. But my main passion is working with my daughters and granddaughters in an amputee village in the remote eastern region of Sierra Leone, West Africa. We built a school and church there and are currently educating and feeding over 100 kids a day. Through the years we have made about every mistake possible but have kept chugging along. Unknowingly we created strife in the village where none existed before, and caused division among families and friends as we went about our well intentioned efforts. This book has opened our eyes and caused us to rethink our entire approach. Planned now are meetings with the village Chief and community leaders to work together with us on what they need, not what we think they need. And to transition the project we’ve done over to them if it fits their long term goals. We’re committed from this point forward to partner with those we serve. Many thanks to Robert Lupton for taking valuable time from his life to write this book and to share his wisdom that was earned in the trenches. Troy Chesnut PhD, CFP, EA Managing Director, Vrdur Foundation

This book has opened my eyes to faults that has plagued our approaches to alleviating poverty and helping the materially poor.

This book is an eye opener. I believe the strategies in this book can be applied to other parts of ministry. Like how pastors may end up with dependent parishioners who are unable to foster their own spiritual growth. Instead, they become so dependent on the church that a whole week would go by before they finally pick up their Bibles or a whole week would go by before their children will start hearing about God. They expect the church to teach everything to them and their children that even after years of coming, for some reason...they are still "poor" in spirit and "far" from God. Hm...I wonder if there is a book about this out there somewhere?

Lupton shows a better way to help the poor without hurting them. No questions about that. Nevertheless, he goes light on the need for internal motivation required inside the poor, else all this work is for naught. Possibly, he would set expectations if he said this works for the "leaders" and those highly motivated. Not everyone is going to win just because we follow the FCS oath. But that is ok. If I run a certain type of store I must realize not everyone is a candidate to be my customer. I just need to know my true customer well, and not expect too much from the rest. Finally, I think he underestimates the Gospel in turning more of the folks into highly motivated folks from across the tracks. Or at least he does not share what the role of the Gospel is in the community development concept.

For the first time I could not stop reading this book. I finished it in one night. As one who has worked in the inner city for 14 years, I have been challenged to think in a different way. The writer answered questions that I have had for a long time. If you are church leader or one who cares for the poor in the world, you must read this book. Mark Roye