\u201cShouldn\u2019t we expect that those who receive will eventually become givers?\u201d This was a comment made by a young leader in the Evangelical Covenant Church of Kenya in October when we were discussing principles of transformational community development.<\/p>\n
We sometimes treat the poor as if they will always be poor, and will always need to be the receivers of our generosity.\u00a0 There is often a kind of co-dependent relationship which sustains a poverty mentality among both poor and non-poor.\u00a0 Many non-poor wish to maintain a relationship in which they are able to be providers for the poor in order to gain a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction.\u00a0 Likewise some who are poor have a fatalistic view of their poverty and believe that they will always need to be dependent on the non-poor for their survival.<\/p>\n
Jesus read the words of the prophet Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19, \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.\u00a0 He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The good news message to the poor that Jesus proclaimed in word and deed was a message of radical transformation.\u00a0 The coming of the Kingdom of God means that things cannot and will not remain the same.\u00a0 In the Kingdom of God both the poor and the non-poor are transformed.\u00a0 Those who have been receivers only will also become givers.\u00a0 Those who have been givers will recognize their own need for transformation and will also become receivers.<\/p>\n