‘Toxic Charity’ topic of lecture
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg University’s DeVito Lecture Series will host Dr. Robert Lupton Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15 in Alumni Hall.
Admission is free and the public is invited to attend Lupton’s lecture, “Toxic Charity – How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, and How to Reverse it.”
In his lecture, Lupton takes an in-depth look at caring, well-meaning people and their tendencies to unintentionally do more harm than good in their attempts to assist those in need. He talks about the principles of charity and unintended consequences and offers practical remedies to correct the harm and replace it with new paradigms of service.
Lupton invested the past 43 years of his life in inner-city Atlanta as a Christian community developer and entrepreneur who brings together communities of resource with communities of need. In response to a call he first felt while serving in Vietnam, he left a budding business career to work with delinquent urban youth. His life’s work has been the rebuilding of urban neighborhoods where families can flourish and children can grow into healthy adults.
Through Focus Community Strategies Urban Ministries, a nonprofit organization which he founded, Lupton developed three mixed-income subdivisions, organized two multi-racial congregations, started a number of businesses, created housing for hundreds of families and initiated a wide range of human services in his community.
He is the author of five books: “Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life,” “Renewing the City,” “Return Flight,” “Theirs is the Kingdom” and “Toxic Charity.”