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Understanding Poverty Series
Part One
What is Poverty?
We recognize that every individual and each community lives and operates within systems and that these systems can be transformed through our engagement with church, businesses, governments and wider civil society. When we hear about people like Jumana in Chad, we know we want to respond. So how can we get involved ourselves?
Part Two
What Change Do We Want to See?
Poverty is everywhere we go. But the Bible tells us that God is working to redeem and restore His whole creation. In John 10:10 Jesus says: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ This life of ‘wholeness’ encompasses all aspects of life: ‘being’, ‘having’, ‘doing’ and ‘interacting’. It is inherently relational. Whereas discussions of well-being are often linked to maximizing one’s own potential, the biblical notion of shalom (‘peace’) is about the well-being of the whole community, and the individual within it. Shalom cannot exist where there is no justice and righteousness.
Who Can Help Tackle Poverty?
Poverty is intricately linked to the social and systemic consequences of broken relationships between God, people and wider creation. We see that poverty comes from a distorted understanding of self, which affects how we interact with other people, with wider creation and with God. God is working to redeem and restore the whole of creation, and we believe that as God’s people, we are called to be part of this, responding to poverty holistically by seeking to restore relationships.
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Studies
Church-Based Community Transformation Impact Assessment
Does Engaging the Church in Community Development Really Make a Difference? A study of the impact of Tearfund’s Church-based Community Transformation training in Ethiopia Download At Tearfund, we believe in a holistic gospel, one that focuses on both word and deed. Out of this belief came Church-Based Community Transformation (CCT) – a biblical model of …
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When Helping Hurts
When Helping Hurts A six-part video course on how your church can alleviate poverty without hurting the poor… and yourself. Access Now Watch the Trailer Good intentions are not enough. Each year, tens of millions of dollars and volunteering hours are given by churches and Christians to support those living in poverty—whether internationally or within …
Hand in Hand
Hand in Hand This resource explores passages from the Bible to help us gain some insight into the impact of sexual violence on our communities and churches, and suggests ways that we can respond. These Bible studies are designed to be used in small groups such as Bible study groups, youth groups, and other church …
Integral, Inspirational, and Influential
Best practice interventions for the circular economy in developing countries Integral, Inspirational, and Influential Tearfund’s approach to humanitarian and development response is to work wherever possible with and through the local church. This is because, as a Christian NGO, Tearfund considers itself to have a specific calling to work alongside local communities of Christians to help …
Part 1: What is Poverty?
Part 1: Understanding Poverty What is Poverty? How we understand poverty will determine our response to it. Many, especially in the West, understand poverty as economic poverty. For example, the World Bank defines people in poverty as those living on less than $1.90 a day. Other measures of poverty such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index …
Part 2: What Change Do We Want to See?
Part 2: Understanding Poverty What Change Do We Want to See? Poverty is everywhere we go, but the Bible tells us that God is working to redeem and restore His whole Creation. In John 10:10 Jesus says: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ This life of ‘wholeness’ …
Understanding Poverty
Understanding Poverty When we look at the world, poverty can feel both deeply shocking and profoundly normal. We hear the statistics regularly: 10% of the global population live on less than $1.90 a day, while even in Canada a so-called ‘developed’ or ‘first-world’ country, 3.4 million people continue to live under the poverty line. Most …
Made in the Image of God
Made in the Image of God Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. ‘So …
Part 3: Who Can Help Tackle Poverty?
Part 5: Understanding Poverty How you can help combat poverty? Poverty is intricately linked to the social and systemic consequences of broken relationships between God, people and wider creation. We see that poverty comes from a distorted understanding of self, which affects how we interact with other people, with wider creation and with God. God …
