Living into the Story

Group of people listening to a lecture

God is working out His reconciling story in this broken world. The Bible doesn’t provide us with a detailed script for this story—but it does give us the overall direction of God’s unfolding plan. What does this mean for our efforts to help people who are poor?

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More in Common

More in Common podcast

In American culture, there’s often a divide between rural and urban dwellers. Yet when two leaders from these communities view their lives through a holistic Gospel lens, they find surprising common ground. Listen as they discuss fatherhood, marriage, discipleship, death, and hope in Christ.

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What Story Is Your Ministry Telling?

The Role of Story in Poverty Alleviation

Unfortunately, several common but misguided stories of change are shaping our lives, including our approaches to poverty alleviation. Our poverty alleviation efforts often do harm because we have unknowingly and unconsciously—yet deeply and destructively—absorbed misguided stories of change from our culture.

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Economics in Jesus’ Kingdom

Economics in Jesus’ Kingdom

God is bringing a kingdom far more real than any earthly power or authority we experience today. That kingdom calls Christians to embrace a whole life of economic discipleship by which we learn to live as economic citizens of God’s kingdom.

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Faith & Finances for Citygate Members

From the creators of When Helping Hurts Start financial education classes for low-income adults. Get resources and training to address poverty at the roots—and bring lasting change to your community. Get Certified Develop Your Staff Give your team the skills and confidence to help clients move out of poverty and truly flourish. Train Your Volunteers…

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Innovate Boot Camp

Jump Start Creativity in Your Ministry at the FREE Innovate Boot Camp Feb 15 & 16 at 1:00-2:00 pm ET Discover how innovation can help you strengthen your existing ministry. In these two Zoom sessions, you’ll be introduced to: Innovation tools Chalmers unique approach to ministry design Collaboration Reserve Your Seat TODAY! About Innovate Boot…

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Innovate Boot Camp Confirmation

Thank you for registering for the Innovate Boot Camp! Mark your calendar for Feb 15 & 16 at 1:00-2:00 pm ET. Download the participant packet! Questions? How much does the Innovate Boot Camp costs? Expand The boot camp is FREE. We will also share an opportunity for you to participated in a paid training, but…

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Rethink Poverty

There’s more to poverty than meets the eye. Building transformative poverty alleviation ministries that help without hurting Learn More Poverty alleviation isn’t about giving people more stuff. We often make the mistake of defining poverty as the lack of material goods. But this assumes that consumption is the goal of life. When you talk to…

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A Field Guide to Becoming Whole

A Field Guide to Becoming Whole

A Field Guide to Becoming Whole Discover a biblical framework for lasting change—for yourself, and the people you seek to help. Get the Book Learn 5 key themes of effective poverty alleviation, with real-world examples Think through helpful questions to uncover what these principles mean for your context Explore innovative ways to apply these principles…

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IDA Toolkit

IDA Toolkit In 2010, the Chalmers Center piloted Asset-Driven Development of Chattanooga (ADDC), an IDA hub that was established to provide training and back-office support to ministries in the Chattanooga area interested in establishing and operating IDA programs. The videos and accompanying resources provide a self-paced course of study for ministries to lay the foundations…

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Watch Now: Improvising the Kingdom

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  Chalmers’ Founder and President Brian Fikkert and Director of Innovation Tabitha Kapic hosted a conversation on February 16 around how to apply a biblical framework for poverty alleviation to improvise God’s kingdom and foster real change in your community. — Want to learn more? Unleash your church or nonprofit to create a new or…

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A Framework for Effective Benevolence

A Framework for Effective Benevolence

One of the most important questions that we should ask as we engage in any kind of poverty alleviation work is “What is poverty?” Because the way that we diagnose the problem determines the solutions that we used to alleviate the problem.

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Building Your A-Team: How to Recruit, Equip, and Support a Core Team for Your Work Readiness Ministry

Building Your A-Team

Last week, Shay Bassett, Director of the Work Life program at the Chalmers Center hosted a webinar on Building Your A-Team: How to Recruit, Equip, and Support a Core Team for Your Work Readiness Ministry. She shared about why work matters, the barriers people face to finding and keeping sustaining work, and why we need a new story about work.

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Why Your Church is Called to Help the Materially Poor

Why Your Church is Called to Help the Materially Poor

What is the task of the church? We are to embody Jesus Christ by declaring with both our words and our deeds that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords who is bringing in a kingdom of righteousness, justice, and peace. And the church needs to do this where Jesus did it: among the blind, the lame, the sick and outcast, and the poor.

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