A Field Guide to Becoming Whole: Principles for Poverty Alleviation Ministries

This is not a how-to manual… (it’s a field guide)

We all want to know, "How can I help without hurting in this specific situation?" But there’s no one answer, and there’s definitely no short cuts, but there are key principles—or ministry design principles.

Think of these like the rules an improvising actor learns—the principles are crucial—but the actor must decide how to put them into practice based on the complexities of the situation.

This book contains and explicates 20 ministry design principles developed over decades of observing, studying, and experimenting. They’re in no way perfect, but they represent the very best ideas we have to date for how to do effective poverty alleviation in the kingdom of God.

DR. BRIAN FIKKERT (PhD, Yale University) is the Founder and President of the Chalmers Center at Covenant College, where he has also served as a Professor of Economics and Community Development since 1997. He has published numerous articles in academic and popular journals and is co-author of six books, including the best-selling When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself. Brian and his wife, Jill, have three adult children.

DR. KELLY M. KAPIC (PhD King's College, University of London) is professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, where he has taught since 2001. He has written and edited numerous books, including Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering, which won the Book of the Year Award from Christianity Today in the category of Theology and Ethics.