Charity or Involvement

I don't mean to commandeer the blog with low-income outreach issues-- it's what's on my mind.

When we think of this sort of outreach, we generally conceive of it in terms of charity. We give away food, clothing, money, etc. This is a good work and needs to be done; however, it does not fully address the issues at hand. Consider a couple of quotes;

From Larry James's Blog--
...from Dom Helder Camara:"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." Camara points out a truth with which everyone who really understands poverty and the forces that create it must at some point grapple.Charity doesn't provide sustainable solutions to systemic, generational poverty. Rather, charity offers people with power a respectable means of maintaining control of their advantage. Most don't even realize how these forces work.

and from the Bruderhof Community's Daily Dig--
I don't believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person and learns from the other. I have a lot to learn from other people. - Eduardo Galeano

There is a common point in these quotes that we must incorporate in our outreach thinking. We also must include "low-income" folks from our fellowhip in ministry development. I had a recent conversation with just such a person. I quickly became aware of my need to partner with this person so to benefit from her insights and perspective.

If you've got some time, 2 very good readings--
Landon Saunder's Radical Human Presence
Jim Wallis - Betraying Jesus (this link may be temporarily broken)