A lecture given to various students in different setting, but all to make aware of poverty what it is and what we can do about it.

1. START…Poverty and Good News. No: PP66/1024/

2. Poverty and Good News
•‘The Poor you will always have
with you’
•Tell John that the Poor have Good
News told them’
Jesus the Christ

3. Meaning of Poor
• To know what we are talking about we must
define the words we use.
• Often words are used, and where there is
general agreement to meaning that isn’t a
problem.
• Unfortunately, we often throw words
around without understanding their meaning
or content.

4. We also fail to ask each other what the
words mean, hence we end up in a
fog, or worse, we assume we and
everyone else knows what we are
talking about. In fact we are all in a fog.
E.G.
•British
• Racism
• Christian

5. Poor Can Relate To Many Things:
•Materially Poor
•Being Spiritually Poor
•Relationally poor
WHO THINKS THAT THEY ARE RICH?
Who Thinks that they are Poor?
WHY?
DEFINE SOMEONE WHO IS POOR…

6. Without money.
Without enough money.
Without power.
Without education.
Without access.
Without health care.
Socially excluded.
So Let Us Try and Define POOR First:-
Definitions.
CENTRAL AMERICA

7. Absolute Poverty.
A minimum standard often called the
poverty line but will vary from country
to country
MONGOLIA
CHINA

8. Relative Poverty
Poor in relation to those around you
POLAND

9. Income Poverty.
Less than a dollar a day. Or less money
than that being defined as needed to
live in your country.

10. Human Poverty.
Takes into account other factors such as
life expectancy, infant
mortality, nutrition, literacy, lack of
food and lack of clean water.

11. Basic Need Poverty
That goes beyond money and takes into
account such things that a person needs
to survive in a given situation such as
employment and participation in the
society that that person is in.

12. N.B. need to understand that a socially
excluded person(poor) may have a TV
and a Car.

13. The Many Complaints That
Poor People Would Express
Are:-
• That they are looked down on.
• That they are blamed for problems.
• That they are seen as feckless or undeserving.
• That it is their fault that they are a problem.
• That they are work shy.

14. For many that also brings an
expectation, one that says ‘I ought to
be treated badly, it’s what I deserve’.

15. CYCLE OF POVERTY
POVERTY
HUNGER
MALNUTRITION
HEALTH
SCHOOL
WORK SKILLS
UNEMPLOYMENT
LACK OF INCOME
POVERTY Etc.,

16. Comment.
Recently I heard a comment from a
man working on repairing houses in
Kossavo, to help the returning refugees.
He said EUROPE
FRANCE
SPAIN
ITALY
GERMANY
POLAND
LATVIA
ESTONIA
LITHUANIA
GREAT
BRITAIN
IR
ELAN
D
PORTUGAL
SW
EDEN
FINLAND
NORW
AY
SW
ITZER
LAN
D
AUSTRIA
BELG
IU
M
N
ETH
ER
LAND
S
ICELAND
LU
XEM
BO
U
R
G
D
EN
M
AR
K
BELARUS
CZECH
REP.
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
HUNGARY
SLOVAKIA
MOLDAVIA

17. “we are concentrating on putting roofs
on the houses that we can, we have
started with those that need the least
repair, because that is obviously the
quickest way to get people in and
settled.

18. The only problem is that the houses
least damaged seem to belong to the
people who were the most well
of, those who have the most seriously
damaged properties are usually the
poorest people, so tragically we are
simply underlining the poverty and
making the poorest people the worst
cared for”

19. It Might Help Us To Define
Rich
• Lots of money
• Lots of power
• Lots of access

20. N.B. Access is particularly
important
Particularly access to credit, or to land and resources
However the rich might also be poor in terms of :
• Relationships
• Family
• Good things that cannot be measured in money
• In things like Love, Peace, Joy, Clean Conscience
etc

21. Who Are Where Are The Poor.
• They exist in all countries.
• However it should be obvious that the north of the
world is generally richer than the south.
• The most affected people by poverty are
CHILDREN.
• The next most people affected by poverty are
WOMEN. Yet we should note that it is woman
who actually are the main producer’s of the worlds
goods and wealth.

22. At the very beginning I talked
about Good News What Is That
Good News?
Definitions

23. • My Value System
• My World View
(We all have a value system, and a world view
even if we have never thought we had one and
we will live by it even unconsciously)
• So I am a follower of Jesus
• My world view and value system is therefore
affected by that
• My world View is that there is good news for
the poor

24. In Scripture it is Recorded that
Jesus sends a message to his
cousin John The Baptist and says
‘tell John that the poor have the
Good news told them’

25. So What is that Good News

26. Let me first show you what the good news that
is being talked about does for the poor
• It gives people Status
• It gives people access
• It gives people rights
• It gives people value
• It gives people
purpose
• It gives people power
• It gives people
meaning
• It gives people
wholeness
• It gives people family
• It gives people
community
• It gives people access
to knowledge
• It gives people access
to Wisdom

27. •RELATIONSHIPS.
• COMMUNITY.
• TANGIBLE THINGS
‘that was what Jesus was sending the
message back to John about’
to the poor now,

28. What Then Can YOU do
Well
We Need to Start With Our Own
Personal Integrity.

29. What do we do with the access that we have.
What do we do with the power that we have.
What do we do to benefit the lives of others.
What have you got lets make a list
What do we buy
–Who are we.
–What is our life style like.

30. We live in a Global Village
• We are our brothers and sisters keepers.
• We can become (influence for change)
• We can become effective direction givers
• We can Model a different way to be

31. What Can We Give.
Sometimes money
Sometimes expertise
Sometimes access
Sometimes power
To empower someone they must be able
to bring something to the party.

32. ILLS:-
I was working with a group of leaders
who were meeting with people from an
African country. The group asked the
question “What can we do for you?
What do you need: What can we send
you?”
AFRICA

33. At the close of the meeting the
Chairperson asked if anyone had any
final questions.
I replied “Yes. What are they going
to do for us send to us, help us with?”
Everyone looked at me in dumbfounded
silence!

34. Important Principles:
We must if we
have power find ways
of not only giving but
receiving.
We must hold on
to the basic
assumption that we
DO NOT have it all.
We really are
poor in some
areas, even poverty
stricken and we need
to be receivers.
We will create 2nd
class citizens and a
dependency immature
mentality unhelpful to
everyone if we do not
recognise and create
mutual respect.
We need body
mentality where all parts
are necessary and
contribute.
We need giving and
receiving, this done well
can enhance mutual
respect and will empower
others this is vital.

35. Perceptions
• Describe a country that you would think of
as poor
HOW MANY POSITIVE COMMENTS
DID YOU WRITE?
HOW MANY NEGATIVE COMMENTS DID
YOU WRITE?

36. We Need To Create
Empower, Facilitate, Enrich, Enabl
e

37. Sri Lank and some of the things
our community has done there

38. We Have Addressed Some of the
Needs of the Poor By:-
• Opening a shop. Employs two people
• Opening print works employs two or three people
• Opening a sowing factory employs around 5
people
• Opening a taxi service employs one person profits
keep his family and sends kids to school
• Opened a School – Employs some 20 people
• Opened a vocational training centre employs 2 –
but gives loads of others chance of a job
•

39. Kenya
• Opened an orphanage
• Opened a Garage
• Opened a School
• Opening as I speak Micro Finance programme
On the basis of being our brothers / sisters keeper
this I think is all or our responsibility.

40. Kenya

41. So What Can You Do

42. Start.......

43. Its The Small Beginnings That
Make A Big Difference.........

44. The Event without walls 28th May 1995
DNA GROUP 9TH March 1999
DNA GROUP 7TH February 2000
DNA GROUP 8TH February 2001
London Training Consortium – College November 12th 2010
Adrian L Hawkes.
END…