The book, the alternative? From Mauricio L. Miller, I was recently recommended as a “milestone”. When does it hurt to help?Brian Fikkert, but I still decided to give him a chance.
What we have essentially here is a critique of American social services by a nearly 3-decade-old professional, Mauritius is the son of a Mexican immigrant who tragically shot himself in the head at a Las Vegas hotel, facing uncontrollable debts with medical bills. that is a tribute to his mother’s hard work and monumental efforts to ensure a good education during his studies at the University of Berkeley.
- From the outset.
- The author addresses current trends and approaches to combating poverty in the United States; constantly talks about taking an alternative approach to confronting and treating those struggling with their financial difficulties; in fact.
- He goes further and accuses those with liberal problems.
- (and some conservative ideologies) to exacerbate poverty.
- Often due to their own professional interests.
- At first.
- He quoted MLK Jr.
- Stating:.
“The superficial understanding of people of goodwill is more frustrating than the utter misunderstanding of people of ill will. (P. 3)
One of the great challenges of the book is the practice of so-called volunteers and social workers (in all aspects) in this sector, who promote the negativity of poor communities to maintain their funding, maintain their jobs or create jobs for themselves. The negative approach, he says, minimizes the strengths and talents of people living in poor communities. We would do well, as church planters and fundraisers, to take note of Mauritius’ advice here. Should we make sure that in our presentations of the needs of our communities, we don’t lay too many eggs in the pudding?when it comes to citing statistics on drug crimes and problems, etc. , they exist, but there are also great people who dedicate their lives to the communities we seek to reach. it’s dark and dark. The problem is often the financiers who want to hear all the bloody statistics and we, who end up exaggerating to show how poor and bad our regions are before we get the money.
Explain this in detail in one of its chapters
“To qualify for my programs, people had to point out their weaknesses, their flaws. The more powerless was he, the more eligible he would be for services?(P. 5)
He then cites the example of two young gang members trying to get out of their plight; one of the children committed a robbery and the other had no criminal record; due to its economic constraints, he could only accept the child with a criminal record. because they described him as “the most needy. ” The other child wasn’t accepted because his?Didn’t it violate the law, this meant it didn’t correspond to its “needy parameters. “The child with a record was in fact, he says, rewarded for his criminal conduct. At the same time, in your experience, how much more needed could you paint?community, more funding could get. The more money I had, the more people I could employ, these people in need. Pimp poverty, that’s what he calls it, and they abound among agencies looking to help the poor and needy.
One of his main claims is that the welfare system does not help people get out of poverty (financial). The problem is,
“Benefits are reduced as your income increases and almost disappear when you earn more than the poverty line” (p. 36).
Of course you are right. The same is true in needy communities in Scotland. For example, a young couple with three children collects the rent and fees paid for their state housing. They also receive child benefit and JSA (Job Seeker’s Allowance) [i]. In order for them to live at the same level as they currently live in this system, they must earn about 1,800 euros (about R $ 9,000) per month tax-free, when both are illiterate and unskilled, this will never happen. one of them has a low paid job, it affects their benefits so drastically that they end up losing money when they work, therefore they have no motivation to look for work, it is not a matter of laziness for them. This is simple economic math, it is not system crap. They are arrested for it.
Chapter 3 of the book is once again another devastating critique of how the middle class sees the poor.
“People who grew up in a world where they don’t have to worry about money all the time have an intrinsic advantage. Do privileged people have access to options, support networks, and opportunities I never imagined?(P. 38).
I see this now in my own children. My eldest daughter sits down and talks openly about the college she’d like to go to. It’s amazing to me. This kind of conversation never took place in my (alleged) homes where I grew up. The best thing I could expect after school was a job with my dad somewhere or at one of the local factories. College wasn’t for people like us (as my father used to say). But my daughter can not only talk about colleges, she can also dream of going to another country. It’s a privilege and he doesn’t even realize it! Mauritius writes:
“Education is, of course, one of the strategies our country uses to generate upward mobility. But if there are programs to help children from poor families get into college, are there any ways to help them survive once admitted?(p. 41).
The working class and the middle class live in two different worlds and that is noticeable in higher education institutions, but you say that there are still opportunities to reach these places, here is the point of Mauricio and I think it is good.
“Are opportunities for the exceptional?the homeless enough to be the best of his kind at Harvard, or the overworked guy who becomes a hit at the show. Doesn’t being normal (and poor) make you a candidate for opportunities or a job?(p. 65)
It is a book that has many questions and suggestions along the way that leads to what he calls an alternative. And the alternative, when we get there, is basically investing in community relations. He believes that less money should be spent hiring professionals to help the poor and more for local families. It is a book with a one-dimensional view of poverty (lack of material and lack of opportunities) and it does not even pretend to be spiritual. The answers it offers are pretty obvious. Let the poor decide for themselves what they need, create a leadership vacuum, and let them fill it. But this has no effect on the real and lasting damage that social status has done to our communities. He denies it, but there is a lower class that has no interest in working and is going to suck whatever it can out of the state. Your alternative will fall on deaf ears here. But there is still real merit in the book. He believes the answer for the poor is to empower them to prosper. I think the answer is to empower them by introducing them to the gospel of Jesus and helping them grow in a local church.
I agree with him that the professionalization of social services only accentuates and perpetuates the division of classes between the middle class and the poor, I see it in the approach of the ministry of mercy of the church all the time, when we do everything from the department. to neglected regions is to send donations and do the work ourselves, instead of building real associations and relationships, do we perpetuate it?They and we are strengthening class division. We often want to help people out of compassion. But punishment actually weakens the poor, we do for them what we must help them do for themselves or help them get closer to their farthest friends and family. After all, how did they survive until we rode our white horses?There are no easy answers to these questions, but there is hope in the gospel. Today more than ever, scotland’s poor need the hope of evangelical churches. Transformed sinners who live transformed lives transform communities.
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[i] N. T. : A type of unemployment insurance
Editor’s note: This text was published by the author taking into account the European context, but we, from Let’s Go to the Gospel, think that this information is also important to our context.
In recent years, Christians and Christian organizations have increased their interest in helping people suffering from poverty and misery, but this renewed interest in poverty reduction is doomed to failure if it has no roots in the local church, which is God’s established way of attracting the miserable People into a transformative relationship with him. Emphasizing the priority of the gospel, Mez McConnell and Mike McKinley, both pastors of local churches in poverty-affected areas, offer biblical leadership and practical strategies to faithfully establish, revitalize, and cultivate churches in difficult places, in our own community, and elsewhere in the world.
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