What is Poverty?
What is poverty?
I asked that question in a college class recently and received a variety of responses:
“Not having enough.”
“A lack of money”
“Being in need.”
“Stuck in unjust systems.”
Each of these responses points to elements of poverty, especially when we are speaking of generational poverty (defined as being in poverty for 2 or more generations) in the United States. The thoughts these students shared are also insightful because they point to a central reality of poverty.
Poverty is complex.
This is an important truth to grasp because how you view poverty will dictate how you address poverty and, most importantly, it will impact how you interact with those trapped in cycles of poverty.
Is it purely a financial issue? Then give people more money.
Is it a spiritual battle? Tell people about Jesus.
Is it a character flaw? They need to change.
Is it a flaw in society? Systems and policy need to change.
But it’s not that simple is it? If poverty were a one dimensional problem, then it could have been eradicated by now. But poverty is a multi-faceted disease in our world and must be attacked on several fronts by various individuals and organizations. There is no one size fits all approach to poverty (as the “War on Poverty” in the USA has unfortunately shown us over the decades).
Shepherd Community Center, an urban non-profit on the near Eastside of Indianapolis, provides a helpful framework for understanding the complexity of poverty. If generational poverty is created through multiple areas of brokenness, then the solution to breaking cycles of poverty will be need to be equally multi-faceted. Shepherd identifies 10 assets needed to break the cycle of generational poverty.
These 10 Assets are:
Faith in a personal God who provides purpose and guidance is foundational for hope.
Physical health and mobility are key to functioning at school, at work, and within social networks.
Relationships provide critical help in times of need, stress, and crisis.
Emotional control enables healthy responses to negative circumstances and challenge.
Mental acuity in academic skills and critical thinking supports good decision-making.
Identifying with stable adults that model stability, planning, and perseverance promotes growth.
Self-advocacy—the belief that you can question the status quo and pursue your dreams—empowers change.
Knowledge of dominant, mainstream culture helps people succeed and get things done in work and life.
Future-orientation supports long-term planning, life-long learning, and perseverance.
The money to provide for basic needs such as housing, food, and healthcare is foundational for escaping generational poverty.
Poverty is complex. And being in poverty for many people can be defined as the degree to which they do not have access to these ten assets and resources to flourish as a child of God.
And that leads us to why asking the question “What is Poverty?” is so important. Because it is important to God. When someone is faced with the injustice of poverty, it breaks the heart of God.
We read throughout Scripture how much God cares about those in poverty:
“At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”
Here in Deuteronomy, God commands the people of God to care for four groups of people, all of which do not have a way to own property. In their ancient agrarian-focused society, owning property would be the only way for someone to sustain themselves or build any degree of wealth.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.”
We see this mandate lived out by Boaz in the book of Ruth in the Bible when he provides the opportunity for the impoverished Ruth to glean from his fields and avoid starvation.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ”
In one of his most famous teachings, Jesus spells out that following Jesus fundamentally includes caring for the marginalized, ostracized, and impoverished.
God cares deeply about those trapped in cycles of poverty. And we must care as well.
And in order to address poverty in our own corners of the world, we need to grow in our understanding of the complexity of poverty and how that complexity is active in our neighborhoods, towns, and cities. The 10 Assets listed above are a helpful tool in that journey of learning, but the most important prerequisite for eradicating poverty is: Relationships.
Relationships are key to addressing any brokenness in our world, but especially poverty. Bryant Meyers points out that poverty “is a result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable.” And if broken relationships contribute to poverty growing in communities, then healthy relationships are key to eradicating poverty.
Relationships, in fact, are central to who we are as daughters and sons of God. The opposite of poverty is flourishing as a human. Human flourishing consists of being in healthy relationships with God and others. And flourishing as a human means moving out of dependency and even beyond self-sufficiency to a thriving life where an individual has enough resources and is also contributing to the betterment of the world. Surviving is necessary, but it is not enough. Each child of God should be able to flourish.
“The opposite of poverty is human flourishing.”
-Jeremy Sullivan Height
Poverty is complex, yes. But addressing poverty must matter to us because it matters deeply to God. And poverty is not inevitable. Cycles of poverty can be broken. It’s not easy or simple, but - together - we can overcome poverty.
And it all starts with answering the question:
