What would it take to make society better? For the majority, conditions are getting worse and this will continue unless strong action is taken. This book offers a wide range of expert contributors outlining what might help to make better societies and which mechanisms, interventions and evidence are needed when we think about a better society. The book looks at what is needed to prevent the proliferation of harm and the gradual collapse of civil society. It argues that social scientists need to cast aside their commitment to the established order and its ideological support systems, look ahead at the likely outcomes of various interventions and move to the forefront of informed political debate. Providing practical steps and policy programmes, this is ideal for academics and students across a wide range of social science fields and those interested in social inequality.

What would it take to make society better? For the majority, conditions are getting worse and this will continue unless strong action is taken. This book offers a wide range of expert contributors outlining what might help to make better societies and which mechanisms, interventions and evidence are needed when we think about a better society. The book looks at what is needed to prevent the proliferation of harm and the gradual collapse of civil society. It argues that social scientists need to cast aside their commitment to the established order and its ideological support systems, look ahead at the likely outcomes of various interventions and move to the forefront of informed political debate. Providing practical steps and policy programmes, this is ideal for academics and students across a wide range of social science fields and those interested in social inequality.

"When Helping Hurts" is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation and has sold over 225,000 copies. Now there is a stand-alone resource to introduce this paradigm in an accessible way. Rather than simply looking at economics, it looks at the poverty of relationships between man and God, man and man, man and creation, and man and self. Utilizing free, online video lessons set both in Africa and the United States, the "Small Group Experience" is the ideal resource for small groups, Sunday school classes, parachurch and non-profit ministries, ministry training, and even individuals.
In six lessons, the concepts of "When Helping Hurts" are brought to the reader in a format that is perfect for training, discussion, and application. It is an ideal introduction to life-changing ideas and offers the perfect context for engagement. The videos provide expert instruction, and the "Small Group Experience" provides questions and prompts for conversation, deeper learning, and taking action.

September 1914, and the whole of Europe was at war following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his beloved wife Sophie by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914. In France and Belgium, the British Expeditionary Force were struggling to hold back the German hoards as their casualties began to mount. Back in Britain the call went out for volunteers to join the `Pals' battalions which were springing up in the northern towns of England, and one of the first to volunteer was young Jack Smallshaw of Accrington. On 15th September 1914, Jack became an `Accrington Pal,' a member of a battalion of men who are remembered more than any other of the Pals battalions because of the appalling tragedy which befell them on the killing fields of the Somme. On that fateful day on 1st July 1916, the battalion attacked the fortified village of Serre and were virtually wiped out on the slopes in front of the village. Jack was one of the very few who survived. He continued to serve on the front throughout the remainder of 1916 and into 1917, where he took part in the battle at Oppy wood in May of that year. Shortly afterwards he was struck down by a second bout of trench fever and spent the rest of the year recovering in England. By February 1918 he was back in France serving on the front line, but Jack was never the same man. He was in the thick of the action again in March when the Germans launched their spring offensive against the allied lines. He weathered that too, and stuck it out to the bitter end. This then, is the story of a quite remarkable survivor of the `war to end all wars', whose diaries have lain unpublished, in the possession of his family, since 1919.

"When Helping Hurts" is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation and has sold over 225,000 copies. Now, this stand-alone resource applies the principles of "helping without hurting" specifically to short term missions. "Helping Without Hurting: Short Term Missions""Leader's Guide" will be aimed at the preparation and debriefing of short-term missionaries. Accompanying "Helping Without Hurting: Short Term Missions Participants' Guide," this will be an ideal resource for Church leaders, missions pastors, and youth pastors who make short-term missions planning decisions and desire to prevent inadvertent harm as they enter materially poor communities.
This leader's guide provides explanations of how to design STMs well in light of the principles of "When Helping Hurts," practical examples from short-term trips to illustrate the key principles, suggested resources, and the content of the participant's guide with annotation and teaching notes to guide leaders as they facilitate sessions with participants.

With more than 225,000 copies sold, "When Helping Hurts" is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation and ministry to those in need. Emphasizing the poverty of both heart and society, this book exposes the need that every person has and how it can be filled. The reader is brought to understand that poverty is much more than simply a lack of financial or material resources and that it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve the problem of poverty.

While this book exposes past and current development efforts that churches have engaged in which unintentionally undermine the people they're trying to help, its central point is to provide proven strategies that challenge Christians to help the poor empower themselves. Focusing on both North American and Majority World contexts, "When Helping Hurts" catalyzes the idea that sustainable change for people living in poverty comes not from the outside-in, but from the inside-out.