When Helping Hurts

For the last year and half we have been studying "When Helping Hurts".  Our trip to South Africa was like a culmination final paper and exam on a course which I (in my own mind) have entitled "Community Developement and Poverty Alleviation."  We learned during the book study that sin destroys our relationship with God, our relationship with creation and our relationship with others.  The poor (no mater where in the world) are those who have these broken relationships. We have also been learning that just giving to the poor is not really helping.  In actual fact it becomes demoralizing to those who receive the hand outs.  They feel the only way to get ahead is to receive money/help form foreigners.  Truly helping others embraces the concept of respect, patience and a belief that everyone has gifts that God has given them that are adequate enough to solve their problems.  I'm not trying to say that giving is wrong.  I'm saying that coming along side and partnering with others is the long term sustainable way to build into their lives.  We need to be coming along side of people and empowering them.  Helping them to see their God given gifts and how they can use them to improve their own circumstances. 

Now I would like to take the expression "When helping hurts" to another dynamic.  When we reach out to others in an effort to help, we quite often get hurt.  During our time in South Africa, Nic reached out and prayed for Max and was hurt deeply when he discovered two days later Max had past away.  Max had third stage Aids. Although it did hurt I don't think Nic would have changed or avoided this experience.   Les and Angela also had a life changing experience when they was able to visit Grace.  They was deeply moved by the poverty seen in Grace's "relationships."  Les was able to pray for Grace that God would be a comfort and help her in her situation.  They discovered later that even though she was a believer she had been a hard women who quite often pushed people away from her.  So in her last days she was alone, locked in a run down house without any companionship.  It hurt them deeply to see Grace left alone in her poverty.

As we reach out to others wherever we are let's remember to keep our relationship with God strong and let's keep reaching out to others even though it might hurt. We need to keep building relationships where we mutually encourage one another to continue to use our God given gifts to serve Him and others.

Les and Julia