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Quest for Hope in the Slum Community: A Global Urban Reader

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SPIRITUAL

Theology of Poverty

Transforming Society, Quezon City, Philippines : Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture, pp. 1-16
Myers, Bryant (1999) Walking with the Poor, New York, NY : Orbis Books, Maryknoll pp. 46-56
Incarnational Ministry

Companion to the Poor: Christ in the Urban Slums, Monrovia, CA : MARC pp. 17-24, 77-84
Baker, Ken (2002) "The Incarnational Model: Perception of Deception?" Evangelical Missions Quarterly, January 2002 pp. 16-24
Mission

Mission as Transformation, Oxford : Regnum pp.11-25
Gollings, Richard (1994) "Planting Covenant Communities of Faith in the City" from God So Loves the City: Seeking a Theology for Urban Mission, edited by Charles Van Engen, and J. Tiersma Monrovia, CA: MARC pp. 125-142
PHYSICAL

History

A History of World Societies, Fifth Edition, Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company pp. 1118-1141
Gugler, Josef, ed. (1996) The Urban Transformation of the Developing World, Oxford : Oxford University Press pp. 1-14
Health

Faith in Development edited by D. Belshaw, R. Calderisi and C. Sugden, Oxford: Regnum pp.131-141
Rowland, Stan (1995) "Christian Witness through Community Health" from Transforming Health, Eric Ram editor, Monrovia, CA : MARC pp.215-233
Property

DeSoto, Hernando. (2000) The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else New York : Basic Books pp. 15-37
UN Habitat (2003) "Slums in the Housing Sector," from The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, London : Earthscan pp. 104-117
EMOTIONAL

Prostitution

"The Sex Trafficking of Children in San Diego " from El Universal Mexico City, January 9, 2003. Translated by Chuck Goolsby.
Human Rights Watch/Asia (1995) "Rape for Profit: Trafficking of Nepali Girls and Women to India 's Brothels" New York : Human Rights Watch pp. 7-12 (from "Patterns of Abuse" up through "Padma")
Children

Florence, Italy : Innocenti Research Centre pp. 8-14
Anderson, Jeff (2001) Restoring Children of the Streets: A Guide for Mobilizing and Equipping God's People Around the World, Moutlake Terrace, WA : Action International Ministries pp. 12-18
Justice

Haugen, Gary (1999) Good News About Injustice, Downers Grove : InterVarsity Press
Grigg, Viv (1990) Companion to the Poor: Christ in the Urban Slums, Monrovia, CA : MARC pp. 161-188
SOCIAL

Community Development

Transforming Power: Biblical Strategies for Making a Difference in your Community, Downers Grove : InterVarsity Press pp. 148-161
Myers, Bryant (1999) Walking with the Poor, New York, NY : Orbis Books, Maryknoll pp. 137-150
Economics

Faith in Development edited by D. Belshaw, R. Calderisi and C. Sugden, Oxford : Regnum pp.165-179
Prahalad, C.K. and Allen Hammond (2002) "Serving the World's Poor Profitably" Harvard Business Review, Boston, pp. 48-56
Ethnicity

Ethnic Conflict in World Politics, San Francisco : Westview Press pp. 1-26
Gornik, Mark (2002) To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City, Grand Rapids : Eerdmans pp.35-50
ENVIRONMENTAL

Water and Sanitation

A Sourcebook for Poverty Reduction Strategies edited by Jeni Klugman, Washington DC : The World Bank pp. 373-379
Environmental Health Project (1996) "Health and the Environment in Urban Poor Areas: Avoiding a Crisis through Prevention," Capsule Report Number 1, March 1996, Arlington, VA : Environmental Health Project
Population

The Nine Lives of Population Control, edited by Michael Cromartie, Washington DC : Ethics and Public Policy Center. pp.102-127
V. Setty-Venugopal and U. D. Upadhyay (2002) "Birth Spacing: Three to Five Saves Lives" from Population Reports, Volume XXX, Number 2, Summer 2002, Baltimore, MD: Population Information Program pp.1-2, 7-8, 12-23
Urban Planning

Third World City : The New Urban Geography of Southeast Asia " from Urban Studies, Vol. 35, No. 12, pp. 2309-2321
Goetz, Edward (2003) Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America Washington DC : Urban Institute Press (chapter 1)

Have recently been reading a great deal about poverty and ways that those of us who have been blessed can reach out to those less fortunate. I am most interested in a holistic approach to ministry that not only encourages physically and economically but also and most importantly spiritually. A good read!

Quest for Hope in the Slum Community is a superb first look at urban ministry in the world's slum communities. This anthology (I believe the first of its kind, but I may be wrong about that) compiles articles from many missionaries and theologians which investigate the theology of ministry in the cities of the world, the historical context of slums, the physical and emotional needs of people living in slums, and many more vital aspects of urban ministry. I personally am reading the anthology as I prepare for InterVarsity's Global Urban Trek and continue to find the material in the book engaging, challenging, analytical, and critical. The book does a good job of not merely espousing a single view of urban missiology, instead the multiplicity of authors, from institutions and ministries all over the world, provide diverse and thought-provoking ideas in missions. I think this anthology should be a first place to investigate slum ministry and many of its facets and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in what it means to follow Jesus into the desperate places of the world with genuine mission and love.

I spent many years developing and helping lead one of the urban poor organizations Scott mentions.

The book is pretty typical of the 'new friars' movement. Heavy on theological abstraction, wonderful vision of a day when the lion will lay down with the lamb, and sadly little to offer those who want to do something useful to transform poor communities in the real world.

Cool moral vision + lack of practical skills and responsible efforts = lots of wasted money that could have been spent on more realistic approaches that do more real good for poor people.

The problem is the vision he describes doesn't really work.

When I say it doesn't work, I mean it doesn't work for poor people. These groups accomplish little for the poor in measurable or practical ways, even if you take into account spiritual change within poor communities. If you consider the truly substantial monies spent, well, it gets even harder to support.

It does work in some instances for middle and upper middle class people trying to leave behind western and western inspired fundamentalist/evangelical approaches that don't usually even consider the poor.

Or put another way, these groups give people who believe they belong to a more honest version of Christian faith a home. That's a welcome place to be for some folks.

By current American fundamentalist/evangelical standards of sacrifice, you've got to respect people choosing to live in inner cities and squatter slums to serve others, whether they have much practical contribution to make or not.

But the costs of helping them gain their spiritual insight may not make sense when compared with the lack of significant concrete contribution to the lives of the people they claim they're serving.

In other words, the 'new friars' movement is mostly about helping western Christians grow spiritually through risk taking.

I'm all for risk taking, but if you claim you're about transforming poor communities and you raise lots of money on that basis you've got to walk the talk. That part is especially important.

Supporters of this approach sometimes defend themselves against this kind of criticism by claiming that critics don't trust God and need to die to unrealistic dreams.

They claim that kind of 'dying to yourself' helps people block out the siren song of measurable accomplishment and practical leadership, which I guess they think is incompatible with real faith.

So, if you want to vote no against current mainstream western and western influenced evangelical/fundamentalist experiences, the 'new friars' efforts can help you make that symbolic statement.

On the other hand, if you want to be useful to poor people, think twice about the 'new friars' organizations.

If you've got marketable skills, faith enough to take action, and some common sense you can do better for poor folks. Lots of more realistic options out there.