Adapted from Helping Without Hurting in Generosity

In a previous post, we introduced the idea that our giving of time and resources to poverty alleviation ministry needs to be consistent with God’s story of change. But how do we do that well?

We all have stories of change, and if we’re not careful to understand and live into God’s story, we can automatically and unconsciously imprint false or incomplete stories onto those we seek to serve.  

A fish doesn’t know it’s swimming in water because it has never experienced anything else. The water shapes its entire reality, even though the fish isn’t aware of it. In the same way, we live in communities whose cultures—stories, systems, and practices—shape us deeply without us realizing it. We can’t see this powerful force because it’s all we’ve ever known, just like a fish can’t see the water around it.

False Stories of Change

In a fallen world, we’ve all been shaped by false stories without realizing it. So we often support and create ministries that match our own goals and ideas. But if we are living in the wrong story, we can end up harming ourselves, the ministries we support, and the people they try to help.

Two main false stories show up often. The first is the “American Dream” (or Western Naturalism), which says people are only physical creatures with physical needs, so flourishing comes from consuming more goods and experiences. Poverty alleviation, then, looks like providing resources or promoting economic empowerment so people can buy more on their own.

As Christians, we might reject this reductionist view but still slip into the “Baptized American Dream” (or Evangelical Gnosticism), which tells us God cares mainly about spiritual matters and our souls getting to heaven. We’re left without a unified story for our bodies, so we may go to church on Sunday and default to the American Dream of consumption during the week. Our poverty alleviation efforts often mirror the same handouts or economic strategies with evangelism tacked on.

But the biblical story is bigger, with Christ reconciling all things (Col. 1:20) and offering hope and healing to whole people—integrated in body and soul, and designed to enjoy flourishing relationships with God, self, others, and creation. We want to give toward ministries that recognize and embody this vision.

Discipling Our Giving for Flourishing

Of course, we want to live into God’s story. He isn’t surprised by our imperfections or the ways our lives get intertwined with the false stories of our culture. The Christian life is a journey of leaving those old stories behind and being transformed by God’s true story. Growing in generosity is just one part of how He transforms us over time.

God desires far more for us than accumulating wealth or floating around like ghosts in a heavenly future. He created us to live as embodied creatures who enjoy the four key relationships both now and for eternity. 

At the heart of these relationships is love, which provides the motive for our giving. Otherwise, what good are our gifts? As the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 13:3: “ If I give away all I have…but have not love, I gain nothing.” If we’re giving for the wrong reasons or toward the wrong goal, maybe we’d be better off keeping our money! 

Sometimes, we can end up thinking of generosity as a “math problem,” trying to give enough away to be considered as “generous.” But generosity should facilitate the flourishing of others and ourselves for God’s glory. This means supporting ministries aligned with God’s story, not the story of the American Dream, even in its Baptized version. Otherwise, we may lift someone out of material poverty but leave them believing that flourishing comes from something less than what God wants for all of us.

In addition to providing the motive for our giving, love determines the goal of our giving. God’s love is directed towards transforming all of us—both the giver and the receiver—into the image of Christ. Love explains the “why” of our giving, and it also determines the “where.” We join in God’s mission by choosing to give to ministries that restore people to true human flourishing.

Longing for God’s Dwelling Place

As we come to Christ, we are being brought into the very dwelling place of God. Whether we realize it or not, this is what all of us are all longing for. Every one of us is aching to return to Eden, to dwell in God’s presence—to be home. 

In the safety and security of home, transformation happens. As our relationship with God is restored, so are our relationships with ourselves, others, and creation. Our whole person (body, soul, and relationships) begins to heal. We become new creatures in Christ, restored image bearers.

We also recover our original purpose—NOT just in the new heavens and earth, but RIGHT now. Genesis 1:27 and 2:15 show that God created people to be priests and rulers, spreading His worship and order throughout creation. After the fall, we spread brokenness instead. But in Christ, as 1 Peter 2:9 says, we are restored as priest-rulers who are called and empowered to seek His kingdom here and now.

This is why we believe the local church is so important to poverty alleviation in God’s story. It’s where we gather each week in God’s presence with His people to worship Him. Then we go out as priest-rulers in daily life, building communities whose practices reflect God’s vision for change.

As we do this, the world begins to look more like the new creation—the restored Eden—where people can thrive in their relationships with God, themselves, others, and creation. This is the kind of community where everyone, whether rich or poor, can experience true human flourishing and become whole.

In our next post, we’ll look at practical ways to look for well-designed ministries, and ways to track God’s work through them.

For more on this, check out Helping Without Hurting in Generosity—a FREE video-based resource from Chalmers that digs into effective generosity for the sake of kingdom ministry.