Bob Lupton may
not be a conservative, but he has been a practitioner of poverty alleviation
for decades. He moved with
his family to a low-income neighborhood in Atlanta and has since helped rebuild
one neighborhood after another. Along the way, he has seen what works and what
fails across the United States and in numerous developing countries around the world.
Part of poverty is the feeling that one does not contribute to the
surrounding community.
He explained in “Toxic Charity,” published in 2011, that
much of what has been tried not only does not work, but poisons the giver and
the recipient, creating resentment and dependency. Together with Brian
Fikkert’s “When Helping Hurts,” published two years earlier, “Toxic Charity”
challenged the assumption of most Christian churches and charities (not to
mention secular charities and government programs) that giving without
expectation of getting anything in return is effective charity.
“Nobody
has ever been served out of poverty,” Lupton writes. Part of poverty is the
feeling that one does not contribute to the surrounding community. But
receiving goods and services with nothing in exchange can leave one feeling he
has nothing of value to contribute. If Uncle Ben’s lesson to Peter Parker was,
“with great power comes great responsibility,” then it is little wonder charity
feels disempowering—it asks the recipient to take no responsibility, so what
power can he have? At the same time, generous benefactors may look to Jesus’
words and demand much of those to whom they have given much.
Value is only created through reciprocal
exchange. That is why business owners create wealth and redistribute it through
government or philanthropy, and why we should look to the potential of
for-profit ministry. Social enterprise takes on a deeper meaning in the
organizations Lupton profiles than in many benefit corporations, or B Corps,
which are intended to balance the interests of owners with benefits to the
environment and society but more often provide a veneer of conspicuous
compassion to otherwise ordinary consumer purchases.
