When Helping Hurts

1.Corbett and Fikkert open with a striking confession: many short-term mission trips and church benevolence programs, despite enormous goodwill, leave poor communities worse off than before. Does that claim surprise you, disturb you, or resonate with something you've already suspected? Why?

2.The authors describe a common 'god-complex' that can quietly motivate charitable work — a subtle sense that we are the solution and the poor are the problem. Where have you seen this attitude, either in yourself or in ministries you've observed?

1.The authors present several case studies — including a church that flooded a Haitian market with free T-shirts, undercutting local vendors — where charitable interventions damaged local economies and community dignity. Which of these examples struck you most? What went wrong, and why?

2.Corbett and Fikkert argue that one of the core problems is that helpers often don't ask, 'What is the nature of poverty?' before they act. What is the danger of skipping that diagnostic step and going straight to action?

1.The authors argue that poverty cannot be properly understood without the four-chapter 'big story' of Scripture: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. Why is this narrative framework essential? What goes wrong when we try to address poverty without it?

2.Corbett and Fikkert describe human beings as 'image-bearers' (imago Dei) created for four key relationships: with God, self, others, and the rest of creation. Poverty, they argue, is the result of brokenness in one or more of these relationships. Which of these four broken relationships do you see most visibly in the forms of poverty you have encountered?

1.The authors argue that our motivations for helping the poor are often mixed — a blend of genuine compassion, guilt, a need to feel good, and cultural pressure. Which of these motivations do you recognize most honestly in yourself?

2.Corbett and Fikkert draw a sharp contrast between 'asset-based' thinking (focusing on what a community or person already has) and 'needs-based' thinking (focusing on what they lack). Why does this distinction matter so much? How does needs-based thinking inadvertently reinforce the poverty mindset it claims to fight?

1.The authors formally define the three categories introduced earlier: relief (urgent, short-term aid for crisis), rehabilitation (restoring people to pre-crisis stability), and development (ongoing process of walking with people as they move toward their God-given potential). In your own words, describe the difference between the three and give a real-world example of each.

2.Corbett and Fikkert argue that the single most common mistake in poverty ministry is applying relief in a situation that actually calls for development. Why is this so easy to do? What emotional and cultural pressures push us toward relief even when it's the wrong tool?

1.The authors argue that healthy poverty ministry must begin with the local church, not with parachurch organizations or outside experts. Why do they make this argument? Do you agree that the local church is the primary vehicle for poverty work, or do you see reasons to push back?

2.Corbett and Fikkert emphasize the importance of asset-based community development (ABCD) — beginning with an inventory of what people and communities already possess, rather than what they lack. How is this approach connected to the doctrine of the imago Dei introduced in Chapter 2?

1.The authors argue that many churches invest enormous energy in overseas mission while the poor in their own neighborhoods go largely unengaged. What explains this tendency? Is it easier, spiritually or emotionally, to help people far away than to help people close to home?

2.The chapter introduces practical tools for understanding who actually lives in your local community — demographic research, listening sessions, asset mapping. Have you (or your church) ever done this kind of intentional community analysis? What surprised you, or what do you think you would find?

1.The authors cite research suggesting that many short-term mission trips primarily benefit the participants rather than the communities they visit — and in some cases actually harm local economies and undermine local leadership. How do you respond to this finding? Does it match your own experience of or observations about short-term trips?

2.Corbett and Fikkert describe the way that Western short-term teams sometimes complete projects (building walls, painting schools) that local workers could have done — thereby depriving local people of income and the dignity of meaningful work. What would a truly 'asset-based' short-term trip look like instead?

1.The authors argue that for middle-class North American Christians, the most fundamental challenge is not finding the right poverty program to support but confronting our own relationship with money, lifestyle, and possessions. Do you agree that this is the deeper issue? Why or why not?

2.Corbett and Fikkert draw on the language of 'Jubilee' and the early church's radical generosity (Acts 4) to argue that the New Testament envisions something more radical than occasional charity — a reorienting of our whole economic life around the needs of others. What would it practically mean for your household to move in that direction?

1.Which chapter or concept in When Helping Hurts was most surprising or most challenging to you? What made it land so hard?

2.The book's central argument rests on a theological claim: that poverty is rooted in broken relationships — with God, self, others, and creation — and that true poverty alleviation requires restoring those relationships. Has that framework changed the way you define poverty? How would you explain it to someone who has never read the book?