Posts by Brian Fikkert

Adapted from Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream and the forthcoming A Field Guide to Becoming Whole: Principles for Poverty Alleviation Ministry. Used by permission of Moody Publishers. Why do we do what we do at Chalmers? Why do you do what you do at the church or ministry where…

Adapted from Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream, pp. 251-258 As I’ve shared in this space before, the story that God is telling about His Kingdom is key to our understanding of why and how we are to care for the poor. Moreover, getting this story wrong—telling a broken story…

Adapted from Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream. If you’ve read or heard much from the Chalmers Center over the years, you know that we are deeply committed to helping the local church to minister to people who are poor. In an era in which many have lost faith in…

Adapted from Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream, pp. 92-96, 98-99, 120. I had a wonderful upbringing in a godly, Christian family, and I attended Christian schools from first grade through my senior year of college. But despite my parents’ best efforts, like many Western Christians, I somehow absorbed highly…

Excerpted from Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic, Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2019), 52-55. Humans beings are created to be image bearers. To be an image bearer is to act as a mirror, reflecting the image of whatever god we are worshiping onto the rest…

Excerpted from Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic, Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2019)., 32, 34-35, 39. Stories are powerful. The stories we believe—whether true or false—shape our entire lives, telling us who we are, who we were, and who we are becoming. But what are…