What should individual Christians be doing to address poverty? There are two parts to the equation: one is arranging the funding to tackle poverty, and the other is using those funds wisely. Whilst governments are able to provide the greatest amount of resources, a difficulty is that the larger the amount of funding available, the more difficult it is to spend that money effectively. I don’t believe governments will solve poverty.
God has provided Christians who live in the West with enormous personal wealth, when viewed on a global scale. The average income of an Australian over the course of a lifetime is around 200 times the income of a typical African. If you accept the Biblical principle that the resources which come under your control while you are on earth do not belong to you and you cannot take them with you when you die – you are merely a trustee for a limited period of time – then you will surely agree that as God’s trustee you should be allocating a significant proportion of those resources to the poor.
It is not enough for you just to send money to a charity and let them distribute it. You need to meet some people who are living in poverty. You need to learn from them about their struggles and how to see the world through their eyes. You need to smell the smells of the slums, and to walk for a while in the shoes of the poor. You need to take their advice on how to assist them, and you need to be humble enough to listen to their criticism as you make mistakes along the way. And along with your money, you need to give yourself.