Care for People Sermon Series: Book References

Here are a couple of books that I will reference during my "Care for People" sermon series.

Robert Lupton, Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, and How to Reverse It. (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011)  Toxic Charity is a very readable, practical book filled with stories of Lupton's own work in the inner city.  While sometimes quite provocative, he provides a good counterbalance to the kind of well-meaning efforts of many churches and agencies that are actually counter-productive.

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty (New York: Public Affairs, 2011) Poor Economics addresses various aspects of global poverty from an economic perspective, attempting to show what kinds of interventions might be most helpful.  

Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant, Forces for Good: SixPractices of High-Impact Non-Profits (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008).  Using a case study method, Forces for Good looks at non-profits from a variety of fields to determine practices that make them effective.  The book is similar in methodology to Jim Collins's business book Good to Great.