Make Poverty Personal: Taking the Poor as Seriously as the Bible Does
(Ash Barker, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009)

Review by Jeff Boyd

You have likely heard of the campaign to Make Poverty History.[i] If not, you are at least aware of its parallel, the One Campaign[ii], which advertises the same motto and has received high profile backing from Bono, Bill Frist and Tom Daschle. The current title emphasizes Ash Barker's conviction that the key to making poverty history is to first make it personal. As Shane Claiborne says, "I am convinced that the tragedy in the church is not that rich folks don't care about poor folks, but that rich folks don't know poor folks."[iii]

Barker's stories of living with his family in a struggling neighborhood in Melbourne and also the past seven years in the largest slum in Bangkok, Thailand, not only add color to the theology and social analysis, but also reveal why Barker is well qualified to write on this topic. Poverty is life and death for him, his family and his neighbors; it is not merely an academic or theoretical pursuit.

While Ash values the analysis of Jeffrey Sachs in The End of Poverty[iv], he believes it is too mechanistic and materialistic. Make Poverty Personal is his quest to demonstrate that Christians have a significant role to play in combating poverty, that is, with the Holy Spirit empowering us with spiritual strength and love, we can share the good news of true hope and a new identity. Rather than turning first to the government or to the free market, Barker calls the church to be the church, for Christians to be Christians. As for the source of our wisdom he states boldly, "The Bible too often has been reduced to children's entertainment, rather than the greatest revealed response to poverty and injustice ever written. For when it come to understanding and responding to poverty, the best book to read is still the Bible."[v]

To make his case, Barker takes the reader on a tour of eight prominent sections of the Bible, introducing key teachings on poverty along the way. Though not a long book (only 200 pages), it includes chapters on the Exodus, Hebrew laws, Hebrew poetry, the prophets, the gospels, Acts, the epistles and Revelation[vi]. Through these vignettes, Barker explores diverse and related themes–missional living, community, church, oppression, economic and social justice, empire and family.[vii]

Barker's personal stories, insightful biblical analysis and easy-to-read style of writing make this a very accessible book for people who want to learn how to better live out God's passion for the poor and marginalized. I believe readers will be nudged out of their comfort zones as they encounter both the needs in the world and the love of the Creator, our common Father.

Regarding the book more generally, I can envision three barriers that could keep some Adventists from actually opening the front cover and digging into its treasures, and I would like to briefly address these in hopes that more Adventist Today readers will in fact engage it. First, based on past experience, I know some will say, "This is just the ‘social gospel' again. We already know it's flawed."[viii] We must be careful here. Adventists rightly reject significant aspects of the "social gospel," especially its post-millennial eschatology. However, we dare not ignore the Bible's clear teachings on personal care for those in need.[ix]

Ministries such as Adventist Community Services, ADRA[x] and other local initiatives demonstrate that many Adventists are taking these verses seriously and are showing God's grace and mercy to the just and unjust alike (Luke 6:33-36). We are Jesus' hands and feet to carry on the work he did while he walked with us. May we be faithful to both teach about the kingdom and demonstrate it with our lives.

Second, some people may ignore the book because they believe efforts to fight poverty will inevitably fail. A close friend of mine who is an Adventist pastor once quoted Matthew 26:11 to me and asked why I would want to work to fight poverty and injustice since Jesus said we would always have the poor among us.[xi] This is both poor theology and poor logic.

When Jesus said we would always have poor among us, he clearly meant that we would therefore have many more opportunities to help them. This scandalous woman in Matthew 26 could serve others later, but this was her last opportunity to anoint Jesus with her perfume. Also, Jesus' response included a quote from Deuteronomy 15:11, which is a prophetic call for just generosity.

Going through stages or periods of poverty is not uncommon. My wife and I went through a very low time despite our education, hard work and prayers, and we are most grateful for the amazing kindness of church members, friends and family. Now that we are getting back on our feet, we want to help others through their difficult times.

There will always be someone struggling with finances because of a lost job, health problem, unexpected expense, or, yes, a poor decision or lifestyle choice. As Bono sings, "sometimes you can't make it on your own."[xii] And individuals and families with longer-term needs are no less deserving of love and support. It is good to remember that little things like the widow's mite, a cup of cold water, fish and loaves matter in the kingdom. Helping someone get two meals a day instead of just one is beautiful, so we should not give up just because we cannot personally provide three meals for everyone on the planet.

The logic of this excuse for not actively caring for the poor (i.e., there will always be poor people, so there is no point in fighting it) is also highly suspect. Think about how absurd this sounds with other vocations. "There will always be sick people in this sinful world, so why waste your time becoming a doctor? There will always be people who reject Jesus as Lord and Savior, so why become a pastor or have evangelistic meetings? There will always be ignorance, so why become a teacher or invest in education?"

Just because a social problem (or evil) will never be fully eradicated does not preclude passionate and rational actions against it. Furthermore, Make Poverty Personal reminds us that poverty is not merely an issue; it is people lacking basic needs, people created in the image of God, people with stories, emotions and desires. We may not end everyone's poverty, but we can end it for some, and we can give support and hope to people who we personally know are struggling with problems that may last years or a lifetime.

The final potential obstacle blocking some Adventists from reading Make Poverty Personal will be the publishers; it is a joint project between Baker Books and Emersion. Those who are especially attuned to the emergent movement and Emergent Village may write this book off simply because of the logo. Whatever characteristics of the emergent movement are viewed as misleading or in error, readers may be encouraged to know Make Poverty Personal was first published by Urban Neighbors of Hope in Australia where it was in close running for "Christian Book of the Year" before Baker and Emersion distributed it more widely. I hope you will not let the Emergent Village name keep you from experiencing present truth as expressed in this important book.

One significant way to improve your reading of Make Poverty Personal is to journey through it with a community. Each chapter has discussion and reflection questions that make it ideal for a home or Sabbath School group. A community can encourage us when we are overwhelmed, humble us when we develop savior-complexes, help us see our blind spots, pray with us and for us, and take meaningful action steps with us as we try new ways of living. This is a calling to you and me. While systems and structures are important in the fight against poverty, we are confronted with the need for incarnational Christians. "It takes people to love people back to life-life on life, taking poverty personally."[xiii] As we face these realities, may we remember, "Optimism is impossible, despair is a cop out; all that is left is Christian hope."[xiv]

Read the introduction to the book (first 24 pages) here. 

[i] makepovertyhistory.org

[ii] one.org

[iii] Make Poverty Personal (2009), Barker, p. 11.

[iv] I greatly respect this book as well, and strongly encourage people to read Sach's analysis of the present world and what it would likely take to reach the Millennium Development Goals. Learn more at earthinstitute.columbia.edu/pages/endofpoverty/index and un.org/millenniumgoals. The Micah Challenge is a Christian campaign to achieve the MDGs (micahchallenge.us).

[v] Make Poverty Personal, p. 19.

[vi] Since the Bible has some 2,000 verses relating to poverty and justice, the scriptures reviewed by Barker represent a small yet powerful sample. You can find all 2,000 highlighted in the Poverty and Justice Bible (povertyandjusticebible.org). The Faith in Action Study Bible will also be helpful for some (worldvisionresources.com). Additionally, World Vision offers a significant collection of relevant verses online at worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/g8-bibleverses/. Evangelicals for Social Action and Sojourners have excellent resources as well (esa-online.org/Display.asp?Page=GuidetoResources & sojo.net/index.cfm?action=resources.home).

[vii] My recommendations for pursuing these themes further: Dive head-first into Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Sider) and Walking with the Poor (Myers), both of which are at the deep end of the pool of theology, sociology and praxis. To get your churches involved, study Churches That Make a Difference (Sider, Olson & Unruh) and The Externally Focused Church (Rusaw & Swanson). Oppression and justice themes figure prominently in Good News about Injustice and other books by Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission.[vii] Finally, explore empire in Jesus for President (Claiborne & Haw), Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Bell) and Colossians Remixed (Walsh & Keesmaat; PG-13). Make Poverty Personal is an excellent introduction to this network of topics, though this library is by no means required reading before engaging in radical discipleship (as if there were any other kind of discipleship).

[viii] Basic overviews of the "social gospel" can be found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Gospel and pbs.org/now/society/socialgospel.html.

[ix] These ten verses are a great start: Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 56:1, Jeremiah 22:16, Ezekiel 16:40, Amos 5:21 & 24, Matthew 25:40, Galatians 2:10, James 1:27, James 5:3 and 1 John 3:17.

[x] communityservices.org and adra.org.

[xi] I was glad to see that Barker deals with this issue (pp. 57-59). See also Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (1997), Sider, pp. 70-72.

[xii] "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" is on U2's album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004).

[xiii] Make Poverty Personal, p. 189.

[xiv] Ibid., p. 191.