Author’s Note: This article continues a series deeply influenced by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert’s work, especially When Helping Hurts, Becoming Whole, and A Field Guide to Becoming Whole. [1] I am grateful for the theological framework these books provide, and what follows is my own reflection on how those themes apply in the context of reaching people in poverty to the point of homelessness at the Medford Gospel Mission.
In particular, the phrase “destructive formative practices” is drawn from Becoming Whole and A Field Guide to Becoming Whole. [2]
In the last article, we looked at one root cause of poverty: broken people.
This is important because poverty is not only something outside of us. It is also connected to the brokenness within us. Sin has fractured our relationship with God, ourselves, others, and the rest of creation. We are not machines that simply need better inputs. We are whole persons in need of restoration.
But broken people are not simply shaped by what they believe.
People are also shaped by what they repeatedly do.
That brings us to the next root cause of poverty: destructive formative practices.
A formative practice is a repeated habit, routine, behavior, or pattern that shapes a person over time. These practices may seem small at first. They may even feel ordinary. But over time, they form us.
What we practice becomes familiar.
What becomes familiar begins to feel normal.
And what feels normal often becomes the way we live without even thinking about it.
This is why habits are so powerful. They do not merely reveal what is already in the heart. They also help shape the heart. The things we repeatedly do form the way we think, the way we feel, the way we respond, the way we relate to others, and the way we imagine the future.
In Becoming Whole, Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapic emphasize that “formative practices” can be powerful tools for growth, shaping people into “different kinds of people than they were before.” These practices help form the whole person, influencing the “mind, affections, will, body, and relationships.” [2]
That can be a beautiful thing:
- A person who practices honesty begins to become more truthful.
- A person who practices prayer begins to become more dependent on God.
- A person who practices loving their neighbor begins to become less self-centered.
- A person who practices regular participation in worship services at a local church begins to become more Christlike.
- A person who practices faithfulness in responsibilities begins to become more trustworthy.
- A person who practices forgiveness begins to become more gracious.
At the Mission, we take formative practices seriously. Within our micro-community, men and women are given the opportunity to discover, practice, and slowly grow into a new way of life.
That matters because human beings are always being shaped. We are shaped by what we love, what we worship, what we repeat, and what we participate in. We are not static; we are always becoming something. Over time, our repeated practices aim us toward a particular vision of life. And because we were made for community, that formation does not happen in isolation. We are formed together.
This brings us to the flip side of formative practices: destructive formative practices. The same principle works in the opposite direction. Just as repeated practices can form us toward wholeness, they can also deform us toward brokenness. What we love, worship, repeat, and participate in can shape us into people who are more Christlike—or into people who are more self-protective, isolated, dishonest, resentful, or enslaved.
- A person who repeatedly practices escape begins to become more controlled by escape.
- A person who repeatedly practices deception begins to become more comfortable with lies.
- A person who repeatedly practices blaming others begins to become less able to take responsibility.
- A person who repeatedly practices isolation begins to become less able to live in healthy community.
- A person who repeatedly practices addiction, manipulation, violence, theft, sexual sin, or irresponsibility is not merely “making bad choices” in isolated moments. Those repeated practices are shaping the person from the inside out.
They are forming a life.
This matters when we think about poverty to the point of homelessness. Homelessness can’t simply be solved by addressing the physical need. The need for food, clothing, and shelter is real, but it is not the whole need. Likewise, recovery services, mental health treatment, and employment may all be important, but none of them alone can restore a whole person
If we want to address poverty faithfully, we have to go beneath the visible need and deal with the roots.
For some, the destructive practice is substance abuse. What may have started as escape becomes bondage. Over time, the body, mind, desires, relationships, and responsibilities are all reshaped around the next drink, the next high, or the next way to numb the pain.
For others, the destructive practice is dishonesty. Years of hiding, manipulating, exaggerating, or avoiding the truth can make honesty feel dangerous. Telling the truth may feel harder than staying in the old pattern, even when the old pattern is destroying them.
For others, the destructive practice is isolation. Pain, shame, trauma, betrayal, or pride can teach a person to pull away from others. Over time, isolation begins to feel safer than community, even though God created us for relationship.
For others, the destructive practice is chaos. When someone has lived in instability for years, structure itself can feel foreign. Keeping appointments, showing up on time, completing basic responsibilities, submitting to authority, and following through may feel overwhelming. Not because the person has no dignity, but because the person has been formed by a life where disorder became normal.
And for others, the destructive practice is despair. That may sound strange, but despair can become a habit too. A person can practice hopelessness for so long that hope begins to feel unrealistic. They may stop imagining a different future. They may stop trying. They may believe, deep down, that this is just who they are and this is just how life will always be.
These patterns are not all the same.
Some are sinful choices. Some are survival strategies learned through trauma. Some are responses to broken families, broken communities, broken systems, or spiritual bondage. Often, many of those things are tangled together.
So at the Medford Gospel Mission we attack the root of destructive formative practices with wisdom, mercy, and grace. And we must do so in community, in a way that leads people toward the local church.
And we do so knowing that the gospel gives us hope because Jesus Christ does not merely forgive guilty people. He also makes people new. He does not simply erase the record of sin and leave us unchanged. He gives us his Spirit, brings us into his body, teaches us a new way to live, and begins conforming us to his image.
In Christ, people can learn a new way of being human:
- The thief can learn to work and give (Ephesians 4:28).
- The liar can learn to speak truth (Ephesians 4:25).
- The bitter can learn forgiveness (Ephesians 4:31–32).
- The isolated can be placed into a family (Psalm 68:6).
- The ashamed can learn to walk as a beloved child of God (Romans 8:15–17).
- The hopeless can learn to hope again. (Romans 15:13)
It is important to remember that God is at work reaching into the ordinary patterns of daily life.
Poverty is not finally defeated when someone merely has a different circumstance. Poverty is defeated as a person is restored to God, to themselves, to others, and to the work God created them to do.
That restoration includes new practices.
- Practices of worship instead of idolatry.
- Truth instead of deception.
- Repentance instead of hiding.
- · Responsibility instead of avoidance.
- Community instead of isolation.
- Service instead of selfishness.
- Work instead of passivity.
- Prayer instead of self-reliance.
- Hope instead of despair.
At the Medford Gospel Mission, we are not simply trying to interrupt homelessness for a night. We are seeking, by God’s grace, to help men and women enter a new way of life in Christ.
And we must do this with humility, because this is not only their need. It is ours too. We are all being formed. We all have practices that shape us. We all need God’s grace to turn us away from the patterns of the old life and toward the life of the kingdom.
The good news is that Jesus Christ is patient with people in process. He does not despise small beginnings. He meets people in real life, in ordinary moments, in repeated acts of faithfulness, and he teaches us to walk in newness of life.
So when someone at the Mission begins showing up, telling the truth, serving others, praying honestly, working faithfully, reconciling with family, or staying when they used to run, we should pay attention.
Those are not small things. They are signs that a new way of life is taking root. And wherever the roots are being healed, the fruit will begin to change.
In the next article, we will look at broken systems, because people are not only shaped by false gods, brokenness, and destructive formative practices. We are also shaped by systems that promise to restore but often work against the very things that makes us human.
Root Causes of Poverty:
- False gods and erroneous stories of change
- Broken people
- Destructive formative practices
- Broken systems
- Demonic forces
[1] See Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic, Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream, chap. 2, especially the discussion of story of change, formative practices, systems, and the way repeated practices shape personhood.
[2] Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic, Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream, chap. 2.
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