---
title: "When Helping Hurts"
canonical: "https://www.bibletolife.com/resources/books/when-helping-hurts"
markdown: "https://www.bibletolife.com/resources/books/when-helping-hurts.md"
type: "books"
typeTitle: "Books"
authors:
  - "Brian Fikkert"
  - "Steve Corbett"
date: "2022-01-26"
updated: "2026-02-18"
topics:
  - "Justice and Reconciliation"
  - "Worldview and Ethical Issues"
perspective: "Learn"
bookAuthor: "Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert"
buyAtMoody: "https://www.moodypublishers.com/when-helping-hurts/?utm_source=Bible+to+Life&utm_medium=Button&utm_campaign=Bible+To+Life+Generic"
buyAtAmazon: "https://amzn.to/3XLPv5Q"
buyAtChristianBook: "https://www.christianbook.com/helping-alleviate-poverty-without-hurting-yourself/steve-corbett/9780802409980/pd/409980"
---

# When Helping Hurts

> Poverty requires more than donations to solve. This book reveals how well-meaning aid can backfire and offers proven strategies for empowering the materially poor through sustainable, inside-out change.

**Type:** Books  
**Published:** January 26, 2022  
**Authors:** [Brian Fikkert](https://www.bibletolife.com/resources/authors/brian-fikkert), [Steve Corbett](https://www.bibletolife.com/resources/authors/steve-corbett)  
**Topics:** [Justice and Reconciliation](https://www.bibletolife.com/resources/topics/justice-and-reconciliation), [Worldview and Ethical Issues](https://www.bibletolife.com/resources/topics/worldview-and-ethical-issues)  
**Perspective:** Learn

[Buy at Moody Publishers](https://www.moodypublishers.com/when-helping-hurts/?utm_source=Bible+to+Life&utm_medium=Button&utm_campaign=Bible+To+Life+Generic) · [Buy at Amazon](https://amzn.to/3XLPv5Q) · [Buy at Christianbook](https://www.christianbook.com/helping-alleviate-poverty-without-hurting-yourself/steve-corbett/9780802409980/pd/409980)

Poverty is much more than simply a lack of material resources, and it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve it. When Helping Hurts shows how some alleviation efforts, failing to consider the complexities of poverty, have actually (and unintentionally) done more harm than good.

But it looks ahead. It encourages us to see the dignity in everyone, to empower the materially poor, and to know that we are all uniquely needy—and that God in the gospel is reconciling all things to himself.

Focusing on both North American and Majority World contexts, When Helping Hurts provides proven strategies for effective poverty alleviation, catalyzing the idea that sustainable change comes not from the outside in, but from the inside out.