At a glance: this is a 10-week study and discussion guide for When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett, with 71 questions organized by reading assignment. Week 1 is free to read, with no card required.
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.