Have you ever stopped to wonder what causes poverty so deep that people end up homeless?
When we look around, we can see many things that are clearly problems. We see addiction. We see mental illness. We see the lack of affordable housing. We see wages that do not stretch far enough. And all of those things are real. They matter. They hurt people deeply, and they effect entire communities.
They are visible. They are painful. They are difficult to address. But they are not the root causes of the problem.
They are the fruit hanging on the branches. They are not the roots buried in the ground.
This time of year, as weeds begin to rise up in our yards and gardens, we are reminded of a simple truth: you cannot solve a weed problem by cutting off what is visible above the surface. You may make the yard look cleaner for a little while. It may even appear that the problem is gone. But if the roots are still alive underneath, the weed will come back.
And often it comes back stronger, wider and harder to deal with than before.
And the same is true when we look at poverty and homelessness.
If we only deal with what is visible, we may provide temporary relief, but we will not bring lasting transformation. If we only chop off the top, the roots remain alive underneath. And wherever the roots remain, the problem will rise again.
So we have to ask a deeper question. Not only, “What causes homelessness?” But even deeper: “What causes poverty?”
Because homelessness is one expression of poverty. It is one manifestation of a deeper brokenness. And if we are serious about loving our neighbors, making an impact in our community, and honoring Christ, then we must be willing to go beneath the surface. We must be willing to look below the visible pain and ask what is happening in the roots.
This way of thinking has been shaped in part by the Chalmers Center’s work, especially Becoming Whole and A Field Guide to Becoming Whole, which help us look beneath the visible symptoms of homelessness to the deeper roots of poverty.
Those resources have been helpful to us because they do not ask only about poverty in one place, or homelessness in one setting, or need in one neighborhood. They ask the deeper question: What are the root causes of poverty itself?
And they identify five causes that often work together to keep people and communities trapped in poverty.
The first is false gods and erroneous stories of change. In other words, what are we trusting to save us, satisfy us, and make us whole? Whenever we place our hope in something other than the living God—money, power, pleasure, success, comfort, approval—we are building our lives on sand.
The second is broken people. The Bible tells us that sin has fractured every part of who we are. Our relationship with God is broken. Our relationship with ourselves is broken. Our relationship with other people is broken. Even our relationship with creation is broken. Poverty is not just about economics. It is about human brokenness that reaches into every corner of life.
The third is destructive formative practices. These are the habits, routines, and repeated patterns that shape our lives day after day. What we believe gets practiced. And what we practice forms us. Over time, destructive habits can deepen bondage, reinforce despair, and make it harder to imagine a different future.
The fourth is broken systems. There are social, economic, and community structures that are twisted by sin and injustice. Some systems exclude. Some exploit. Some trap people in cycles that are hard to escape. These broken systems are not imaginary. They are real, and they have power. They shape neighborhoods, opportunities, access, and outcomes in ways that deeply affect human lives.
And the fifth is demonic forces. Because this world is not spiritually neutral. We have an enemy who delights in bondage, despair, shame, and destruction. Scripture reminds us that our struggle is not merely against flesh and blood. There are spiritual realities at work in this broken world, and they too play a role in keeping people enslaved and crushed beneath the weight of poverty.
These are the very roots of poverty that the Mission is seeking to address every single day.
Because when we begin to address these roots, we are doing more than providing a bed for the night. More than offering a meal for the moment. More than easing one crisis for one day. We are participating in the restoring work of God. We are joining the work of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, who did not come merely to manage symptoms, but to make all things new.
And that matters, because we are not called merely to make people a little more comfortable in their brokenness. We are called to love them so deeply that we are willing to walk with them toward restoration. We are called to more than symptom relief. We are called to the hard work of going after the roots.
By God’s grace, that is what this Mission longs to do.
To help men and women move out of the poverty that may have led to homelessness.
To address not only visible need, but deeper bondage.
To care not only for immediate suffering, but for the underlying brokenness beneath it.
To labor not only for survival, but for restoration.
And over the next few months, I want us to walk through these root causes one by one. I want us to see what they are, how they work, and how the Mission is seeking to address them in real, practical, Christ-centered ways.
This series is called Attacking the Roots.
Because if we truly want to see lives changed, then we must do more than cut back weeds.
We must go after the roots.
Partner with us in God’s work of relational restoration.