Have you wrestled with a growing sense that charity alone isn’t enough to solve the world’s deepest problems? Whether it’s feeding the hungry, ending human trafficking, providing clean water or translating Scripture, nonprofit leaders have been looking for ways to increase impact without creating fatigue for their financial donors.

The phrase “community development” can bring up images of everything from trash pickups to bike lanes to block parties. What really is community development, and how can your church or organization incorporate it into your work? Community development can be so nebulous because it is, very simply, members of the community coming together to make their community better. So, what do beautification projects and festivals and mixed income housing have to do with poverty?

In 2006, Jay and Julie St. Clair helped transform a ramshackle apartment complex known on the street as “The Last Resort” into an urban transitional housing program they christened “God’s Resort.” From the original few units, God’s Resort has expanded to now offer nearly 40 housing units...

Imagine a situation in which you learned that the water that you had been drinking for some time had been revealed to be toxic - what you thought was life-giving was actually bringing harm to those who consumed it. In 2011, Robert Lupton wrote an exposé of sorts entitled Toxic Charity that revealed to many that the charity they had practiced for years could likewise be toxic. It was important to realize this, but what does one do to replace toxic practices with those that are life-giving? Robert Lupton’s Charity Detox aims to provide the groundwork and methods for purifying one’s charity.

“We want to avoid a situation where people are unaware of what they’re entitled to,” said Vice President Harris last Monday. She was explaining the purpose of the Biden administration’s “Help is Here” tour, showcasing the third round of national stimulus legislation passed into law this month. I hope someone meets them along the way and hands off the book When Helping Hurts. This fundamental read highlights the harm done when indiscriminate charity fails to discern true need on an individual level.