Discussion question your group will work through:
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?
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About This Study Guide
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert challenges Christians to rethink the way they engage in poverty alleviation. The book's central thesis is that much of what the church does in the name of helping the poor actually makes things worse — not because of bad intentions, but because of a fundamental misdiagnosis of poverty itself. Rather than seeing poverty primarily as a lack of material resources, the authors argue that poverty is rooted in broken relationships: with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation. True poverty alleviation, they contend, requires restoring those relationships, which means that "development" — walking alongside people as they grow in dignity and capacity — is almost always preferable to "relief," which should be reserved only for genuine crisis situations.
This study guide is designed for use in small groups or personal study over ten weeks. Each week, read the assigned chapter before your group meets (or before you sit down with your journal). Then work through the discussion questions, pausing on any that feel especially convicting or confusing. The closing prayer at the end of each session is meant to move the ideas from your head into your heart — feel free to read it aloud together or adapt it in your own words. Journaling between sessions, especially in response to the application questions, will help you carry the insights beyond the meeting room and into your everyday life.
By the end of this guide, you will have a more honest picture of your own assumptions about poverty and charity, a biblical framework for understanding why people are poor, and practical tools for evaluating and reshaping the ways your church or small group serves low-income communities. Perhaps most importantly, you will be confronted with the uncomfortable possibility that your desire to help — however sincere — can sometimes be more about your own need to feel good than about the genuine flourishing of your neighbor. That confrontation, the authors insist, is not a reason for paralysis but an invitation to more faithful, humble, and effective ministry.
10-Week Schedule
- Week 1Introduction — The Chasm Between Intentions and Results7 questions
- Week 2Chapter 1 — When Helping Hurts7 questions
- Week 3Chapter 2 — What Is Poverty and Why Is It So Hard to Eliminate?7 questions
- Week 4Chapter 3 — Giving and Taking: Why Do You Want to Help the Poor?7 questions
- Week 5Chapter 4 — Relief, Rehabilitation, and Development7 questions
- Week 6Chapter 5 — Foundational Elements of a Healthy Ministry7 questions
- Week 7Chapter 6 — Working in Your Jerusalem7 questions
- Week 8Chapter 7 — Working Abroad: Short-Term Missions and Microenterprise Development7 questions
- Week 9Chapter 8 — Toward a Lifestyle of Poverty Alleviation7 questions
- Week 10Review & Reflection8 questions
Week 1: Introduction — The Chasm Between Intentions and Results
Free sampleRead the Introduction of When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.
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?
3.The book distinguishes between three types of giving situations: relief, rehabilitation, and development. Even before the authors define these formally, how would you intuitively describe the difference between them? Can you think of a real-life example of each from your own community?
4.Fikkert shares that his own discomfort around poor people was a formative confession that shaped this book. What emotions or discomforts do you notice in yourself when you are in close proximity to people experiencing poverty?
5.The introduction argues that the way we define poverty determines the solutions we pursue. How have you typically defined poverty — primarily as a lack of money, a lack of opportunity, a moral failing, or something else? How has that definition shaped your response to it?
6.The authors write for an audience of North American Christians who are materially wealthy by global standards. They suggest that this wealth itself can be a source of spiritual poverty. What do you make of that idea? Does affluence carry its own kind of brokenness?
7.What personal or ministry experience are you bringing into this study? Share briefly with your group the moment that first made you want to engage with poverty, and one question you are still carrying from that experience.
Week 2: Chapter 1 — When Helping Hurts
Read Chapter 1 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Luke 4:18; 2 Corinthians 8:9.
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?
Week 3: Chapter 2 — What Is Poverty and Why Is It So Hard to Eliminate?
Read Chapter 2 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Genesis 1–3; Colossians 1:15–20.
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?
Week 4: Chapter 3 — Giving and Taking: Why Do You Want to Help the Poor?
Read Chapter 3 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Philippians 2:1–11; Matthew 25:31–46.
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?
Week 5: Chapter 4 — Relief, Rehabilitation, and Development
Read Chapter 4 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Luke 10:25–37; Acts 2:42–47.
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.
Week 6: Chapter 5 — Foundational Elements of a Healthy Ministry
Read Chapter 5 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Nehemiah 1–2; Micah 6:8.
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?
Week 7: Chapter 6 — Working in Your Jerusalem
Read Chapter 6 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Acts 1:8; Luke 4:18–19.
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?
Week 8: Chapter 7 — Working Abroad: Short-Term Missions and Microenterprise Development
Read Chapter 7 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Romans 15:20–21; 2 Corinthians 9:6–15.
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?
Week 9: Chapter 8 — Toward a Lifestyle of Poverty Alleviation
Read Chapter 8 of When Helping Hurts. Key Scripture: Luke 16:13; Matthew 6:19–24; Acts 4:32–35.
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?
Week 10: Review & Reflection
Review your notes, journal entries, and highlights from all chapters of When Helping Hurts.
1.Which chapter or concept in When Helping Hurts was most surprising or most challenging to you? What made it land so hard?
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