With more than 225,000 copies sold, When Helping Hurts is a paradigm-forming
contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation and ministry to those
in need. Emphasizing the poverty of both heart and society, this book exposes the
need that every person has and how it can be filled. The reader is brought to understand
that poverty is much more than simply a lack of financial or material resources
and that it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve the problem of
poverty.

While this book exposes past and current development efforts that
churches have engaged in which unintentionally undermine the people they're trying
to help, its central point is to provide proven strategies that challenge Christians
to help the poor empower themselves. Focusing on both North American and Majority
World contexts, When Helping Hurts catalyzes the idea that sustainable change
for people living in poverty comes not from the outside-in, but from the inside-out.