When Helping Hurts in College Ministry

I'm always on the lookout for ministry insights that can help college ministers like us. And here's one!

One of the most influential books on missions is When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor... and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. This book helped change the conversation about mission work in the developing world. The premise is that, sometimes, our well-intended efforts to help those in need can unintentionally do more harm than good. Sometimes, "helping" can disrupt local economies, foster dependence, and undermine local institutions. For instance, a village might be able to feed itself; the village doesn't need immediate relief, they need help getting BETTER at agriculture. But instead of helping the village DEVELOP sustainable agriculture, a missions organization provides immediate RELIEF: free food. Over time, the village doesn't improve; it becomes dependent on the relief - and maybe even LESS able to provide for itself. "Helping" ends up hurting. Instead of simply giving handouts, mission organizations should help local people and churches be empowered, educated, and entrepreneurial.

To break it down, there are three categories of need which require three categories of help:

1. RELIEF: Someone is in immediate, life-threatening need and can't help themselves. They need immediate, material assistance. Victims of natural disasters or famine often need outside intervention to survive.

2. REHABILITATION: People have suffered a loss and need assistance getting back to a healthy and sustainable place. They need someone to work alongside them, not to provide for them. Someone who has lost their job or become homeless may need a temporary place to stay and some training to get back on their feet. But just getting a financial handout might not empower them; it could just create dependence.

3. DEVELOPMENT: Someone is surviving just fine, but with education and empowerment, they can flourish and even begin to provide for others who need rehabilitation and relief. Development aims to eliminate the need for relief organizations.

In college ministry, our goal is evangelism and disciple-making in the next generation. And our students have the same three needs.

1. RELIEF: Sometimes students have a mental health crisis, get kicked out of the house, or have a ruptured appendix when their parents are out of state. They need the Body of Christ to offer some immediate assistance.

2. REHABILITATION: Often, Christian students are mired in addiction to pornography or other self-destructive behavior. They have great potential, but are not ready to lead others. They need someone to walk beside them to wholeness before they become a self-sustaining disciple of Jesus.

3. DEVELOPMENT: A few students are doing great walking with Jesus. But with some ongoing training and attention, they can thrive! They could become disciples who make even more disciples of Jesus. These are the students who we recruit to training and leadership development. We let them lead Bible studies, disciple new believers, and lead other students. With a little help, they can multiply ministry and the Kingdom of God!

But in college ministry, sometimes our best-intentioned efforts to help can hurt. Some college ministries can overlook students who need relief and rehabilitation in their zeal to produce disciple-makers. We're teaching the senior-level class when they need the 101. One particular ministry's solution for everything was, "Just share the gospel more." A member would say, "I'm struggling with my mental health or an addiction." The answer came, "Just share the gospel more."

Sometimes, a student needs a lifeline. We must be willing to occasionally be crisis counselors and humanitarian workers. Sometimes, the student needs a loving, firm mentor patiently walking beside them. They may not be ready for intensive training on being a disciple-maker until they work through some deeper issues.

On the other hand, we can treat students with "the soft bigotry of low expectations." They need development, but we only offer relief. It's tempting to have a savior complex and feel we must always do for them what they could and should do for themselves. A student needs clear discipleship, but, in our low expectations, we don't push them to be in God's word daily, memorize scripture, repent from sin, serve others, or share their faith. We want to be sympathetic counselors when they need inspiring trainers! In the short term, it might feel great to feel needed or to have a room full of people listening to us teach. But in the end, they're not being transformed. So, let's always strive to help and never hurt our students!