One very crucial issues we face when ministering in the third world is the overwhelming poverty in which much of the population lives. The tendency is to simply give small gifts here and there to help alleviate the poverty. However, one must take into consideration that what is a small gift to you can easily distort the reality of where people live and create a since of dependency rather than freedom. I am not advocating no gifts, just care and reason when giving. An American can easily hand over a US $20.00 bill and think little of it, not realizing that for many Ugandans, that is more than a month salary for someone who has little context in which to respond to so much money all at once. Below are articles and ministries that are worthy of consideration.

Avoiding the Creation of Dependency
One of the most difficult issues to deal with when ministering in the third world is an overreaction to the grinding poverty you encounter. Some allow feelings of guilt to move them to help meet real human needs in such a way that does not produce a real step up in standard of living but an active dependence upon gifts from the first world. This is a problem in dealing with individuals as well as in building churches. Great care should be taken to avoid becoming a partner in building dependency. The January-February 1997 issue of Mission Frontiers is devoted to this subject.