Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It)

Written by Robert D. Lupton

Narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla

Veteran urban activist Robert Lupton reveals the shockingly toxic effects that modern charity has upon the very people meant to benefit from it. Toxic Charity provides proven new models for charitable groups who want to help—not sabotage—those whom they desire to serve. Lupton, the founder of FCS Urban Ministries (Focused Community Strategies) in Atlanta, the voice of the Urban Perspectives newsletter, and the author of Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life, has been at the forefront of urban ministry activism for forty years. Now, in the vein of Jeffrey Sachs’s The End of Poverty, Richard Stearns’s The Hole in Our Gospel, and Gregory Boyle’s Tattoos on the Heart, his groundbreaking Toxic Charity shows us how to start serving needy and impoverished members of our communities in a way that will lead to lasting, real-world change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Feb 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062997203

Robert D. Lupton

ROBERT D. LUPTON is founder and president of FCS (Focused Community Strategies) Urban Ministries and author of Toxic Charity;  Theirs Is the Kingdom; Return Flight; Renewing the City; Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life; and the widely circulated “Urban Perspectives” newsletter. He has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Georgia. To learn more, visit www.fcsministries.org.

Reviews for Toxic Charity

[addunn3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting concepts around charity. Looks at charity as either "crisis" intervention or "community development", but often charity ends up in the first category simply because it is easier, quicker and gives the donor a positive feeling. Stresses looking at charity and its effects from the receiver's point of view. Worth the read but a bit disorganized and repetitious.

[john_warner-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Christians are frequently very charitable people. However, sometimes our charity given to the most disadvantaged can ultimately be ineffective or harmful. Our best intentions may too frequently disempower the individual, strip away the work ethic and foster and sustain dependency. The author, who worked 30 years in urban renewal in Atlanta informs the reader in the charitable pitfalls and provides strategies in providing assistance while maintaining the dignity of those being helped. This book is an eye-opener and a must read for anyone who coordinates assistance to the disadvantaged.