Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions with Dr. Brian Fikkert

This episode of the Faith and Finance Podcast is brought to you in part by Heart for Lebanon. True financial freedom begins with putting God first, and generosity is one way we live that out. Our partner, Heart for Lebanon, serves vulnerable young women at risk of exploitation, early marriage, and violence, offering them safety, education, and the hope of the gospel. To give or learn more, text the word FAITH to 98656. That's FAITH to 98656.

Or visit faithfi.com slash lebanon. Are our efforts to help the poor always helpful, or could they sometimes do more harm than good? Hi, I'm Rob West. Today, we'll explore how short-term missions can genuinely reflect the heart of Christ and bring lasting change without unintentionally hurting the very people we aim to serve. Dr. Brian Fickert joins us for that conversation, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well it's always a joy to welcome Dr. Brian Fickert back to the program. He's the founder and president of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development and co-author of Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions. With a PhD in economics, Brian brings a unique and thoughtful perspective on how we can truly help those in need. And Brian, it's great to have you back with us.

It's so great to be with you again, Rob. Brian, this is your second book built around the theme of Helping Without Hurting, and this one specifically focuses on short-term missions. It's designed as a group study, both with leader and participant guides to help churches prepare well for mission trips, and that's especially timely as many churches are gearing up for short-term missions this summer. In fact, I've actually got kids on a mission trip right now in the Dominican Republic, so this is particularly interesting to me, and it's exciting to think about how this resource can really shape those experiences for the better. I want to dive into that, so let's start with some of the common misconceptions about short-term missions and why it's so important to rethink what these trips are really about. Yeah, well our book, Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions, is really focused on mission trips to poor communities or poor countries, and so some of the things we're saying wouldn't apply more broadly.

But the issue we're trying to get at is actually the same issue that we begin the book on helping hurts with, and that's this question. What is poverty? Americans tend to define poverty as a lack of food, a lack of clothing, a lack of shelter. We tend to define poverty as a lack of some material resource, and as a result, the way that we go about trying to help the poor is to provide them with more material resources, and that shows up in a big way in a lot of our short-term trips.

The image we have of a team of people going to another country and going to a poor community, handing out food or clothing or shoes, really flows out of that material understanding of poverty. But when you ask poor people around the world what is poverty, they'll say something like this, I feel shame. I feel less than human. I feel like I lack dignity and capacity.

I can't seem to affect positive change in my life. And the materially poor tend to define their poverty in more psychological, social, and even spiritual terms. And so that disconnect between our understanding and the way that they're experiencing it is really at the heart of the problem. And so I believe we want to take a more relational approach to the nature of poverty, no matter how the context we're working in, and then we should apply it to the issue of short-term missions. How can short-term trips actually foster people living in healthy relationship with God, self, others, and creation?

Brian, that is so helpful. Perhaps we can unpack this a bit more by looking at where this goes wrong. In what ways can a well-intentioned mission trip actually do more harm than good? That's a great question. You know, when we think about the human being as a relational creature, again, wired for relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of creation, each and every one of us is struggling with broken relationships.

It just bubbles up in different ways. And so let's just take that relationship with self. Those of us who have material resources have a broken relationship with ourselves. We tend to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We tend to think of ourselves in prideful terms. We tend to think that we kind of have the answers and that we've been uniquely anointed by God to bring our wisdom and our culture to the rest of the world to save them. Well, you know, Western civilization isn't doing that great right now.

And so we might want to have a little more of a pause before we get too short of ourselves. Well, when we're working with people who are materially poor, their broken relationship with self tends towards the inverse of our problem. They tend to think of themselves as inferior, as lacking. And so when those of us who have a sense of pride or superiority interact with those who are having a sense of inferiority, it's a bad mix.

We tend to exacerbate the inferiority they're already experiencing. Oh, that is so good. And I can see why this resource would be so helpful for churches planning short-term mission trips this summer. We're talking with Brian Fickert much more just after this break.

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That's faith to 98656 or visit faithfi.com forward slash Lebanon. Are you gearing up for a short-term mission trip or perhaps you're a part of a church who sends mission trips on a short-term basis all over the world? Well, I've got a resource for you. I'm joined today by Brian Fickert. He's founder and president of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development and he's co-author of Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions. And we're talking about how we can understand really what's going on in a poverty situation, whether that's in our culture or another, and how that can help inform a short-term mission trip that actually doesn't do more harm than good. And Brian, you were sharing before the break about this idea of really just being present rather than bringing the answers or even necessarily a project that we can complete.

Why is being present often more valuable? You know, if poverty is rooted in broken relationships, then the solution to poverty is actually restoring people to right relationship. And the way that that happens is through deep community. God has established the local church as his embodiment in the world and that local church is to foster a community that's for wholeness, that's for flourishing, that restores people to the dignity and worth and capacity that we have as image bearers of God Almighty. And so the whole thing in Scripture, the vision in Scripture is about community and the new creation and the way to get there is through deep community.

And so that's the approach you ought to be taking. Now, as I say that, I think it's really important for us to remember that the primary instrument that God has placed in a low-income community is not us. It's the local church or local ministry that's already there. They're the ones that are going to be there over the long haul. They're the ones that have the opportunity to develop deep community, deep relationships with people who are in poverty. And we can't do that on a short-term trip.

We can't develop deep relationship, deep community in the context of a week-long trip. And so I think our job is to actually step back a bit and say, how can we as outsiders, how can we support the local church or ministry that's already there? What can we do to elevate them? What can we do to make them look good, so to speak, in the eyes of the local community?

And that means that we have really more of a backstage role. It's not so much running around and building things and handing out things. It's more of a, how can we stay behind the scenes a bit more and love on the church or ministry that's already there? How can we encourage them? How can we pray for them? How can we listen to their stories? How can we support them once we return back home? And so it's, you know, it might be babysitting the kids of the director so that he and his wife can go out on a date.

It's a backstage role, not a front stage role. That's so good. Brian, let's talk about just understanding the unique cultures that we're dropping into. I mentioned before the break that I've got three of my four are in the Dominican Republic right now, and they spent weeks with the church team and the other students, really just understanding the culture of where they were going to be in the DR. And why is that so important? You know, so often the gospel has gotten mixed up with American culture and civilization. And sometimes we think we're exporting the gospel and we're really exporting America. And so it's really important to value the good things that are in a local culture. You know, the Colossians chapter one teaches that Jesus Christ is the creator and sustainer and reconciler of all things in heaven and on earth.

That means that he is actually holding all things together. And so when we walk into a poor community, there's a sense in which we ought to take our shoes off, run holy ground. Christ has been actively engaging and sustaining this community long before we ever got there. And so we can look for the goodness that's there.

Sure, there's brokenness everywhere. We can see that. But there's also good. And we want to fan the flames of the good. We want to recognize Christ's work. We want to recognize the goodness in the local culture because, again, part of the issue is that people have a sense of inferiority, a sense of shame. And so when we celebrate the good things in their culture, we're saying to them, hey, God has made you an image bearer too. Look at the things you've created.

Look at the things you've done. And so just asking the question about what's good here is part of the healing process. It's part of restoring people to the dignity and worth and capacity they have as image bearers of God Almighty. The question, just the question of what's good here is poverty alleviation. Well, we mentioned this resource can be really helpful when local churches use it alongside their short-term sending activities. And Brian, I'd love to know your thoughts just on how the Sending Church can really help achieve long-term mission success. How can the Sending Church really achieve long-term mission success? It really has to do with, again, understanding the relational nature of poverty and understanding that the institution that's primarily capable of developing the long-term relationships are the local church, our local ministry in the community in the majority world of Africa, Asia and Latin America. So success for the U.S. church is to be a good partner. It means to come alongside and support and encourage the work that's already going on there. It means letting that local ministry, leadership and staff to let their hair down, to be themselves, to be transparent, to not have to kind of put on a dog and pony show to convince us that they're doing great things. It's being a friend who walks together through thick and thin, through good days and bad days. It's just being a friend over long periods of time.

That's the thing. Brian, this is of course a show about how we can steward God's financial resources in a way that brings him glory. And often these trips involve fundraising. How can that in and of itself be an experience between us and the Lord as we seek to raise funds?

Well, that's a really great question. You know, when I talk to people who are going on short-term trips, particularly young people, I'm a professor at Covenant College, when I talk to young people and I say to them, go as a learner, go to listen and to learn, suddenly the young person will go, well, I can't raise money for that. They want me to go and do something. Well, that's at the heart of the problem, right? And so the financial supporter is often expecting some kind of tangible accomplishment and it puts a lot of pressure on the young person to go and produce something and that does a lot of harm. And so I'm often saying to that young person, go as a learner and communicate to your financial supporters that you're going as a learner. And oftentimes what happens is the young person says, I don't feel right about raising money to go for my personal educational experience.

And I don't agree with that. I actually think that it's worth it. It's worth investing in young people to go. There can be a really high return if the trip is embedded in a longer term learning process, but we need to be clear as to what we're doing, what the purpose is so that we can steward God's resources well. It is my view that too much money is being spent on short term trips, that we could probably steward our resources in other ways.

But I do believe there is a role for such trips when done well. Well, I think you've made that case today and I'm excited for more churches to pick up a copy of this to help shape their short term missions to have a lasting impact both here and in the host countries. Brian, we always appreciate our time with you. Thanks for stopping by. It's always a joy to be with you folks. That's Dr. Brian Fickert, co-author of Helping Without Hurting in Short Term Missions.

You can learn more about his work at cholmers.org. Your calls are next 800-525-7000. Stick around. What's most important to you when it comes to choosing your financial advisor? Someone who's aligned with your biblical values? How about someone who will take the time to explain your options? Certified Kingdom Advisors are professionals who meet high standards in competence and integrity and have been trained to offer biblical financial advice.

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Soundmindinvesting.org. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith in Finance. We're taking your calls and questions though, and Joyce has been waiting patiently in Alabama. Joyce, go ahead with that question.

How can I help? Thank you so much for taking my call. I just purchased a new SUV about a week or two ago, and I was informed there is an option to do the biweekly payment. I had never heard of that before in regards to vehicles.

I knew about it as it related to houses, but not on vehicles. So my question is, would it be to my advantage to do the biweekly option rather than the once-per-month option of paying on the principal or knocking the interest out? Yeah, it absolutely would. So if you have that option, and a lot of times you can do it yourself, but if they're making it available to you, it'll actually make it a little simpler because they're ready for it and they'll apply it appropriately. But basically, it reduces the interest costs and shortens the loan.

And here's why. Instead of one monthly payment, let's take a $400 a month car payment, you pay half of that amount every two weeks, so $200 every 14 days. And since there's 52 weeks in a year, you're going to make 26 half payments, which equals 13 full payments instead of the usual 12 when you're paying monthly. And so that extra 13th payment is going to allow you to pay that straight to principal and thereby reduce the balance faster. Less principal means less interest to cruise over time. So on a $20,000 five-year loan at let's say 6%, a pretty typical rate right now, switching to biweekly could save you hundreds of dollars at a minimum and shave a good number of months off the loan, which is a good thing because you'll pay it off quicker. I mean, even if you paid it off in four and a half years instead of five, you know, that's a benefit.

Now, not all lenders will allow those biweekly payments automatically. So if yours does, I think take full advantage of it. Okay. Okay. All right. Very good. Thank you so much. You are very welcome. Thanks for your call today, Joyce. We appreciate it. Charles, go ahead, sir.

Yes. My mother passed away in October of last year. And we are going to, my sister and I both inherited it.

And we're going to sell it probably next month. My question is, in Texas, there's no inheritance tax. But what is the, is there an inheritance tax in federally? Yeah, there's no federal inheritance tax either.

So there's nothing to worry about there. Essentially, you know, what you're talking about is potentially a capital gain. Now, the benefit of inheriting a home is you get what's called a step up in basis.

So the home's tax basis steps up to its fair market value as of the date of your mom's death. So she bought it for 100,000. It's worth 300,000. When she passes, your basis is now 300. And if you sell it soon after, you'd owe zero in capital gains because there's no profit. If it appreciated, let's say you held it for a year and you sold it for 350, well, then you'd have a $50,000 gain.

And you would have to report that. But essentially, you get the benefit of that step up. And if it's sold shortly after, and you can justify that you're basically selling it for the market value as of the date of her death, then there is no capital gain. And there is no, you know, federal inheritance tax that you would pay directly as an heir, any taxes, which most people at this point don't pay them because it has to be a state that exceeds $13 million.

Most estates don't pay a state tax and there's no inheritance tax. Okay. Well, I appreciate your help very much.

Absolutely. Thanks for your call. Cleveland, Ohio. Hi, Linda. How can I help?

Hi, thank you. We have some friends that have asked us to give them a letter of giftedness to help them buy a home. They're asking for $17,000 for which they have $17,000 in cash that they will exchange for our tech immediately. And we don't understand why they can't, we said, well, why don't you just give them the cash? And they said, no, they can't, the loan company will not allow them to do that.

So we're not sure if there's a reason if we would do this, will we be causing ourselves difficulties or them? Well, yeah, I'm not exactly, I mean, this is not uncommon. So here, here's the way this normally works. I mean, normally if I were going to buy a house and I didn't have the money to buy it and I call a friend like you and I say, listen, you know, I don't have the money to buy this house. Can you loan me $17,000 and I'll pay it back, you know, over time and all of a sudden you give me $17,000, then the lender wants to know that you essentially have taken out another loan for the purpose of being able to buy this house and therefore you don't really have the money. And so what they typically want is a gift letter from the person quote, giving you the money saying, listen, we're giving you this money as a straight gift.

This is a family member or a friend. This is your money. Keep it. And we're not expecting repayment. And then that gives the lender the confidence to say, okay, it's not like there's a second loan out there. This person actually does have the money that they're, you know, putting down on the house. We're going to do our underwriting to make sure we feel like they're a good risk for the rest of it that we're loaning them. But at least we know that, you know, the money they're getting as a down payment that we see just came into the account in the last 90 days or whatever, um, you know, is not expected to be repaid. And therefore now there's two loans, essentially one personal and one conventional.

And so that's typically the way this works. There's something awry here with regard to them asking you for the, for the gift letter, because you're not actually making them a gift. Uh, they're giving you the money back and I'm trying to figure out exactly what that would be in terms of if they've already got the money and they're trying to justify how they got it.

I suspect, and I'm just guessing here, maybe they bar at it from somebody else that does expect repayment and they're going to use your exchange of 17,000 and your gift letter, you know, to justify it, which obviously any of those scenarios are wrong because it's just not true. Right. Right. Yeah. So I would say far from this.

Go ahead. I was going to say they are, um, from another country that deals in cash only. And so I think that that probably is part of the issue, but we just don't know how that's going to come down on us to them. Um, I think at the end of the day, you just need to say, listen, we're willing to help, but we're, we're not going to say something that's not true. And so, you know, you providing a letter saying you made a gift when you didn't, you just exchanged checks.

That's not a gift. I think that's where you need to, that's the showstopper as far as I'm concerned. Okay. And they should just tell the, again, the fact that they've got the money is they're in some way that they can convince the loan company or they're just, yeah, I mean, there's something there that's tripping the loan company up as to the source of funds. And I, I'm sure there's any number of scenarios as to what that is and the fact that they're coming from out of the country, you know, further complicates things. And so they're just trying to appease the requests on the underwriting of here's all the things we need. And that's one of them.

And they're trying to figure out a way to get that. But I just don't think you guys can be involved in, you know, attesting to something that doesn't actually represent what's really going on here. Right. Right. Okay.

Well, thank you very much for your answer. All right, Linda, appreciate your call very much. Thanks for being on today. Folks, so grateful to have you along with us today on the broadcast. We'll be back tomorrow, Lord willing to do it all over again. Our goal, help you see God as your ultimate treasure and live as a wise and faithful steward. Big thanks to our team today, Pat, Devin, Jim, and everybody here at Faith By. Have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faith By and listeners like you.