Hope Rising: How Christians Can End Extreme Poverty in This Generation

by Scott C. Todd PhD

Overview

Extreme poverty does not have to exist. When Christians accept that fact and start living accordingly, we will find the solution is already within our reach.

Worldwide, 18,000 children die from preventable causes every day. If that statistic leaves you feeling powerless, you are not alone—but you are wrong. If a false sense of powerlessness has lulled you into apathy, it’s time to shake off the grogginess of low expectations and get to work. We can make this world a place where kids do not die from easily preventable diseases.

In Hope Rising, Scott Todd of Compassion International pens a galvanizing, comprehensive vision of the movement that will eradicate extreme global poverty through transformative Christian generosity—and do it within our lifetime. Todd provides riveting evidence to show that we are much closer to that goal than you might think.

According to Todd, we live in an historic moment, and chances are you are already part of it. The gospel is already reshaping lives from thoughtless consumption to informed concern. Twenty-first-century Christians are generating multi-continent grassroots movements through communications and travel. Public and private sectors are working together. It’s a whole new era of philanthropy, compassion, and justice aimed at eradicating the pandemic of extreme global poverty.

This is a future we have the God-given power to create. This is the history we hope to write.

As Todd envisions, “The twenty-first-century Christians embraced the entirety of their gospel—the truths it proclaims and the muscles it demands—with a new integrity. They did not deteriorate into humanist liberalism, as some had feared. Nor did they pile works on top of Grace…They simply determined that their world did not need to have children dying of preventable causes such as dirty water.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780529101129
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	05/06/2014
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.58(w) x 8.26(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Scott C. Todd, Ph.D. is the Senior Vice President for Global Advocacy at Compassion International. During his ten years of service at Compassion he has held a number of posts, including Director of Compassion's HIV/AIDS Initiative, Child Survival Programs, and a range of special programs serving children in poverty around the world.

Table of Contents

Part 1 The Death and Resurrection of Expectations

Chapter 1 A New Day for Starfish 3

Chapter 2 Why I Write 6

Chapter 3 Cold Showers of Unmet Expectations 10

Chapter 4 Jacki 15

Chapter 5 Overthrowing the Tyranny of Low Expectations 19

Chapter 6 Stay Out of the Handbasket 28

Chapter 7 The Shift 34

Chapter 8 True Fast 39

Part 2 Poverty is Not an Unconquerable Mystery

Chapter 9 Why Kids Die 49

Chapter 10 The Rubble and Hunger of Poverty 55

Chapter 11 Poverty Whispers, "You Can't" 61

Chapter 12 The Poor Will Not Always Be with Us 66

Chapter 13 We Are Not All Poor 75

Part 3 What Kind of People Will End Extreme Poverty?

Chapter 14 Tom's Truck 83

Chapter 15 The Uncrushable Movement 86

Chapter 16 The Threat of Love 91

Chapter 17 Fearless Love 96

Chapter 18 Incognito Mother Teresas 101

Chapter 19 Who Do We Think We Are? 104

Chapter 20 Stewards of Power 108

Part 4 The Primary Colors of Social Change

Chapter 21 How Mom Can End Extreme Poverty 119

Chapter 22 Creating a Good Normal: The Role of Government 126

Chapter 23 Shopping for a Better World: How Business Can End Poverty 135

Chapter 24 Against the Gates of Hell: How the Church Can End Poverty 144

Part 5 Catalysts and Strategy

Chapter 25 Fast Living 155

Chapter 26 Ten Percent Radical 161

Chapter 27 The Next Generation 171

Chapter 28 Thorns and Promises 184

Chapter 29 The History We Hope to Write 189

Chapter 30 Raising Hope 189

Endnotes 195

About Compassion International 206

Appreciation 209