Mission

The Chalmers Center helps God's people rethink poverty and respond with effective, Biblical principles so that all people are restored to flourishing. Our approach to poverty alleviation is based on our unique framework that combines God's story of change, the local church, and transformational development.

What We Do

For 25 years, the Chalmers Center has successfully equipped churches and para-church ministries to implement biblically-based economic development ministries that empower poor people in the U.S. and Majority World (Africa, Asia, and Latin America). Since our bestselling book, When Helping Hurts, was first published 13 years ago, our work has helped to influence the entire Christian poverty alleviation ecosystem, transforming both the goals and the methods of poverty alleviation.

Chalmers has partnered with Christian organizations and churches in the U.S.and Majority World, to implement economic development programs that have restored over 2 million people living in poverty to flourishing participants in God's Kingdom, and that is only the beginning.


By God's grace, Chalmers' influence also extends far beyond the program participants we can count. From small churches and ministries that have reimagined the Kingdom of God in their communities to large churches and organizations like Life.Church and Water Mission that have embedded Chalmers' principles into their ministries, God has used Chalmers' biblical framework to help change the way Christians respond to poverty worldwide.