Area Studies

by Kumar Aryal

Corruption, lack of education, population growth, and natural disasters are the main causes of the persistent poverty in the Philippines. Evangelical Christians are visible in responding to poverty in the Philippines, but the majority of their programs and services meet immediate needs, which has the tendency to create dependency, instead of development, if continued over a long period of time. Evangelicals seem to have a very minimal partnership with the government, instead going directly to the poor to avoid a long government process, and not wanting government officials to pocket the money that should go to the poor. Compounding the inadequate evangelical response is that there seems to be a lack of collaboration among evangelical Christian churches and NGOs in responding to poverty in the Philippines.



This research shows that in addition to the four causes of poverty in Metro Manilla, there are four types of poverty. When economic, psychological, social, and spiritual poverty are addressed in an integrated manner, poor people will experience shalom, which is the goal of holistic development.