The Wealth of the Poor

Author: Larry James

One-sentence summary: James lays out the realities of Dallas’s poverty issues and what has worked and not worked over the years to change the city.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: We found it very interesting and helpful in many ways at it related to our perspectives and some of the methods used to fight poverty.

Our least favorite thing about it: It read more like a how-to manual than we expected.

Main Topics of Discussion: Poverty, “Charity”, Volunteers, Evangelism, Ministry, Relationships

Our favorite quote: “I’ve found that all of us are rich and all of us are poor, just in different ways.”

Notes: We really enjoyed this book and the insight it provided into the detailed history of what is currently City Square (formerly Central Dallas Ministries). The victories and failures of their various tactics in the war against poverty were enlightening and helpful. Some were revelatory and eye-opening. We appreciated learning more about how things really work and changing our perspectives on a few conventional ways of doing “charity.”

Picking out a least favorite thing just came down to our expectations being wrong to begin with. We expected less detail and manual-like writing. However, that being said, there are several really wonderful inspirational books out there that spur people (especially Christians) to begin a revolutionary life of service and generosity to work toward change. This book by James serves a different purpose, although it is inspirational in a way. It really lays out the nuts and bolts of working to overcome poverty and all its facets in a large city. This book definitely has its place especially because of the experience detailed within as well as the practicality of what it shares.

Some of the things that we took away from the book are: the benefit of flexibility, taking time to evaluate practices regularly for effectiveness, doing ministry where you are, and the importance of relationship…among others.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We drew names for our first-ever gift exchange and we decided what we would each bring for our Thanksgiving potluck meeting next month! And we celebrated Lindsay's birthday.

What We Ate: Taco Soup (al fresco!)