Q&A with Bob Lupton
Bob Lupton
9 Questions for Faith Innovator Bob Lupton of Focused Community Strategies
Through his nonprofit, Focused Community Strategies (FCS), Atlanta community leader and entrepreneur Bob Lupton has ministered to a thriving and diverse congregation, started multiple business ventures, and helped foster a wide range of human services, including the creation of housing for hundreds of families. Lupton has also authored several books, including the widely read Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, and How to Reverse It.
How do you think social entrepreneurship differs from charity?
Charity is often one-way giving, intended to assist people in times of tragedy or hardship. Social entrepreneurship is, at its most basic level, doing business for a social cause. Success is not measured by profit alone but includes—as an essential goal—the improvement of the quality of life in this world.
What are some common mistakes churches make when working with people in need?
The most common error made by churches and charities in the delivery of their services to the needy is confusing crisis needs and chronic needs. Poverty in the United States is largely chronic, yet most of our church-based assistance is crisis oriented, or temporary. This occurs for several reasons:
Compassionate helpers are drawn toward meeting immediate needs rather than seeking underlying causes and longer-term cures. And it is easier to mobilize volunteers around simple giveaway programs than to recruit them to become involved in messy, complex personal problems.
But there are downsides to treating chronic poverty with ongoing emergency assistance: Giveaway programs often lead to unhealthy dependency, and one-way giving tends to deplete human dignity by treating recipients as needy victims rather than self-sufficient contributors.
Often people with good intentions tend to pull out their checkbooks or credit cards to solve problems. What might people miss by doing this?
Certainly, money is needed to address the challenges of poverty. As a matter of fact, to rightly tackle this herculean task, much more money will be required. But money alone is inadequate for the task.
Consider the complexity of poverty in this country: the overwhelming mental health needs of more than 60 percent of our homeless population; the affordable housing shortage for those working for minimum wage; the addiction epidemic; the isolation of the poor in neglected neighborhoods; an education system that fails to provide low-income students with basic life skills.
We could very quickly become overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenge, but that’s where faith comes in. To persist in the face of discouragement, to trust God to do the impossible, and to discover the fulfillment that comes through joining in God’s redemptive work in this world.
If you unexpectedly received $1 million today, where would you invest it/what would you do with it?
A million dollars won’t go very far these days. Not when the challenges of poverty are so great. So, I would need to be very strategic. In order to have ongoing impact, I would identify a neglected neighborhood in the inner city, a neighborhood that has potential for revitalization. I would purchase vacant lots and houses that would secure affordability for the future. I would mobilize some real estate professionals—architects, land planners, civil engineers, lawyers, bankers, etc.—to volunteer and commission them to put together a master plan for community restoration. It would be a long-term strategy—maybe for a decade or more.
I would use some of the million as investment to leverage housing initiatives as well as purchase some commercial buildings for needed retail and office space. Some of the money would be used to create and preserve affordable housing to ensure that existing residents have a permanent place in the neighborhood.
Should churches get involved in politics? If so, how?
Churches are involved in politics! Ask any pastor. Every church that I have ever known abounds with politics, internal and external. Maybe the question ought to be: Is there a redemptive way to be involved in politics?
At the very least, we could insist on civility. Regardless of our position on an issue, we could agree that listening, decent discourse, and disagreeing agreeably could promote mutual understanding rather than rancorous division. That would be a significant improvement over the current divisiveness that alienates us from one another.
But should churches get involved in politics? Of course. To accomplish any constructive action in church or in the larger society, we have to be engaged. Finding and affirming the value in each other’s convictions is the key to redemptive politics.
What inspires you in your day-to-day work?
I am inspired by a new generation of capable young visionaries who understand the importance of harnessing economic forces to accomplish lasting solutions to poverty. I am also encouraged by the observable shift from a social service approach to poverty alleviation toward market-based solutions, replacing clothes closets with thrift stores, food pantries with affordable grocery stores, and free shelters with affordable housing.
What achievement of your own do you think has made the greatest positive change? The “greatest positive change” has also been the most unexpected—the change that has taken place within me.
I came into this work with a bit of a savior complex. I came to rescue the poor from poverty. I came with great confidence that the Gospel and good programs would bring the hope that oppressed people needed—spiritual as well as physical. What I discovered instead was that God had already preceded me.
Many of the neighbors I came “to save” already had a deep faith that sustained them through unimaginable hardships. I discovered, in them, spiritual depth so vital and personal that, by comparison, my faith seemed very shallow. It would be their example, their sacrificial love of neighbor, their sharing of meals and money with those who would never repay, their trust in God to supply all their needs—this simple, practical faith—that would expose my arrogance and bring about my own spiritual conversion.
The “greatest positive change” was also my most surprising: that my calling to serve among the materially disadvantaged was more about my own salvation than about the salvation of those I came to save.
If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would they be?
The very first person who comes to my mind is my Peggy, my dear, departed wife and love of my life. She is the one I would give the most to have one more dinner with. Mother Teresa would be my second choice. Her life of compassion and her spiritual journey have greatly inspired me.
What are the biggest challenges facing our city? Affordable housing would top the list of Atlanta challenges. It will require a concerted commitment of major resources from business, government (all levels), philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors to provide for all citizens to have an adequate roof over their heads.
What are the biggest challenges facing people of faith?
For Western Christians (especially affluent ones), applying the radical teachings of the one we call Lord is a challenge most of us choose to ignore. “Loving our enemies,” “turning our cheek,” “inviting the poor into our homes,” et cetera, et cetera. Enough said?
