Toxic Charity   

Many of you have come across Bob Lupton's book Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, And How to Reverse It. In it, Lupton reflects on the damage we do when we do not honor our shared humanity with those in need. In an earlier book, Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life, he describes four levels of sharing based on the Hebrew Scriptures:

1. Provide a job for a person in need without the knowledge that you have provided it;
2. Provide work that the needy knows you have provided;
3. Give an anonymous gifts to meet an immediate need;
4. Provide a gift to the poor with the full knowledge of the donor's identity.

I am struck by how practical and contemporary this centuries-old wisdom is. I am also struck by how much easier it is to provide a Band-Aid than to engage the deep change within ourselves that is needed for true transformation.

Four years ago, we claimed the elimination of unemployment across our fourteen counties as a Big-HOLY-Audacious-Goal. Having no sense of how to begin, we turned back to the third and fourth levels of giving. As I reread Lupton's book on Compassion this week, I began to wonder what it might look like for us to explore partnerships across our communities that develop economic feasibility plans committed to a triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.

What would mixed-income zoning look like that honors the need for gentrification without pushing out the poor? How might we connect marketplace gifts across the presbytery for the development of new jobs? Are we ready to build structures that support a circular economy that results sustainable communities?

Ultimately, the whole Jesus calls the whole person. We are to be inwardly strong that we might be outwardly focused. Our call is not to sustain our congregations, but to serve our communities to the glory of God. The prophet Jeremiah reminds us that it is only as we seek the Shalom of the communities in which God has placed us that we will truly know the Shalom for which we so deeply hunger (c.f., Jeremiah 29:1-11).

In moving toward Shalom, Lupton challenges us toward "the magic of exchange." He describes this magic as the process in which we move beyond one-way giving to circular economies that enhance the financial capacity of local enterprise and local residents. This is work that the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been doing (http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/about/history-1), among others.

It is easy to get overwhelmed. Still, God calls us to be hands and feet and heart for the world. This fall, take some time as a congregation - in your Sunday School classes, leadership circles, and fellowship time - to ponder God's call to be clothed with compassion.

Together in Christ,

Debbie Rundlett
General Presbyter

All ladies are invited to attend the 2014 Fall Lantern Women's Retreat in September 19-21, 2014 

All are invited to attend. Find out more about the choir by clicking on this link.

Alex Barnes, Pastor 

Milton Rittman Presbyterian Church

250 N. Street

Rittman, Ohio 44270

http://miltonpreschurch.org/  

Grant applications are due to the Mission Center no later than Monday, October 20, 2014, by fax (330-339-6225), email (Candice@MVPJourney.org) or in person. Awards to be given at the December 2014 presbytery meeting.