Toxic Charity

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

By: Robert D. Lupton

Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

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 40 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.

©2011 Robert D. Lupton (P)2019 HarperAudio

informative

a different perspective that provokes thought..social srrvants should pass it on...empowerment is the order of the day

Insightful Eye Opener

Coming from a religious background, with ton of emphasis on service, this book definitely brings afloat valuable points to consider when doing or embarking in service projects!

Insightful!

This book tells poignant truths about where we are in charity work, and where we need to go. I am inspired in my nonprofit work, and plan to implement many of these strategies!

read it before your next service project

A hard book since it challenged things I had been doing g for years. Is the issue crisis or chronic? Both require a different approach.

Mmmm

Some points were valid, others not, but author tended to talk about people that don't see things his way in a very scathing way. I was really disappointed with the lack of respect.

Good information but at times insensitive

I enjoyed some of the information but lacks empathy when speaking of low income communities. Some times the writer comes up as imperialistic but the theory presented is good overall analysis.

Not my cup of charity

The book is very specific on what needs to be done with charity. I'm not a fan. Not poorly written, but no room for discussion.

Good Read Woth Unique Perspective

Overall the book was good. The author makes his points clearly and definitely. I think the content is a bit idealistic and almost biased. Having been on both sides of this equation, I'm not sure that the author's points are all valid or even necessary. I do appreciate the honesty and conviction that he writes with. Good Read!

I thought this was a 25 year old book initially

I knew the author was a much older person from a time passed. The phrases “ghetto children” and “urban mothers” smells of Regan & Clinton era super-predator language. I was waiting for the word colored to come out of his mouth. His broad stroked observation that Vietnamese immigrants are good fishermen speaks to this. Very antiquated.

HOWEVER, there is still value in the perspective offered if you’re able to listen beyond the delivery of the embarrassing uncle who’s foci are solely on the inner city and the African continent and devoid of any observations of wester nations dependent on US aid or the rural poor. But again… although he speaks like somewhat completely out of touch, there are usable observations.