Friday, May 16, 2008

MAY is National Foster Care Awareness Month


Please join those who are foster parents and advocates in participating in a Prayer Vigil Week for children in foster care.


*******************************************************

Check out the prayer guide materials for your church or an individual at:
www.icareaboutorphans.org
and for more generic information:
www.fostercaremonth.org

As Christians,we are called to care for widows and orphans. There are about 140 millions orphans in the world with 513,000 children in foster care in the United States.
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.........." James 1:27
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When Helping Hurts

When Helping Hurts

Recommended Book


"When Helping Hurts:How to Alleviate PovertyWithout Hurting the Poor...and Yourself"
by Steve Corbett and Dr. Brian Fikkett

Churches and individual Christians typically have faulty assumptions about the causes of poverty, resulting in the use of strategies that do considerable harm to poor people and to themselves. When Helping Hurts is a book by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development that directly addresses these assumptions, providing foundational concepts, clearly articulated general principles, and relevant applications. The result is an effective and holistic approach to ministry to the poor, not a truncated gospel.

What You Will Learn
The book begins by establishing a solid biblical foundation for understanding the nature of poverty and its alleviation. This is more than an academic exercise, for people's understanding of poverty shapes the strategies they use to minister to poor people. Building upon this foundation, the book then outlines several general principles for all poverty alleviation efforts including: the importance of distinguishing between relief, rehabilitation, and development; the difference between asset-based and needs-based strategies; and the advantages of participatory over blueprint approaches. These general principles are then applied to short-term mission efforts and to various economic development strategies appropriate for North American and international contexts, including jobs training, financial literacy, individual development accounts, and microenterprise development.

Who Should Read This Book
The book is designed for those who want to minister to poor people more effectively, including pastors, missionaries, deacon boards, lay leaders, home and foreign missions committees, mercy ministry teams, and donors. It is appropriate for an individual or for a group such as a Sunday school class, a ministry team, or a small group Bible study.
AuthorsWhen Helping Hurts is written by Steve Corbett and Dr. Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development and the Department of Economics and Community Development at Covenant College. Steve and Brian draw upon decades of experience as practitioners, researchers, and trainers in economics and community development both in North America and around the world.

Free Self/Group-study Course
To help you study the topics of the book further, the Chalmers Center has made available at no charge a four-lesson self/group-study course that complements the book. This course provides additional readings, reflection questions, application questions, and learning exercises. It is appropriate for an individual or a group such as a Sunday school class or a ministry team.

www.chalmers.org/when-helping-hurts/book.php

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