The Naughty Baptist

Missions Monday: Another 'Makeover' home is sold

Today I saw another story about how a home that was built for "Extreme Makeover" is being sold.: "'Makeover' home to become 'high-end' drug rehab center." The reason: They could not afford the property taxes on it. So after everyone donated their time and efforts, the home was sold for half a million dollars.

I've written about this before. My view hasn't changed in two years: I have nothing really to say about the family. If it's best for their family to sell, then sell it.

I also haven't changed my opinion on the problem. I know this situation is a bit different, since this family had their home destroyed. However, I think the issue stand. You can read what I wrote back in July of 2012 (July is apparently the month for selling these things). If you don't feel up to it, here's the punchline:

The problem here is the underlying assumption: Your family has trouble because you’re not able to have nice stuff. If you assume that, the solution is obvious: Give them nice stuff. It’s a simplistic, materialistic solution to a very complex problem...

This whole tale is another example of why the materialistic view of poverty doesn’t work. People can parachute in and do something really big but, in the end, the family is no better off for it. A year and a half later they’re having to find other ways to meet the same needs they had before.

How we do missions matters. Poverty is an extremely complex problem, and the solutions (yes, plural) will have the be complex. Shows like this are entertainment, and that's it. We need more than entertainment and sentiment to fix these problems.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.