Awaiting a Savior: The Gospel, the New Creation and the End of Poverty

“Poverty is very complex. Awaiting a Savior helps unpack the maze of complexities and shines a fresh light on God’s heart for the poor and His strategy to mobilize the body of Christ to alleviate poverty. Aaron does a stellar job of unpacking the theological issues of this dreadful plight and brings hope to a hopeless topic.”

“Aaron Armstrong knows what he’s talking about! I highly recommend this book!”

“Awaiting a Savior is a truly rare book in providing a thoroughly Christian answer to poverty. It both thinks and bleeds. Aaron sees sin as the ultimate problem and Jesus as the ultimate answer, and does so while dealing with the practical, dirt-under-your-fingernails issues of gospel-centered poverty relief.”

“Aaron Armstrong sees the world through Bibline colored glasses. In other words the Bible, God’s inspired, holy, perfect Word is the lens through which he sees the world and its ills and therefore the solutions to be applied. Far too many throw their Bibles aside and then apply their own logic and wisdom to crafting solutions. The world’s problems are primarily spiritual, not social, and this demands that their solutions must start with and remain firmly rooted in God’s solutions. Aaron says, If you don’t understand what happened in the Garden of Eden, you are missing the single biggest factor that contributes to poverty.’ Amen! This book lays out a simple, yet profound understanding for all Christ-followers and churches wishing to truly help bring relief and blessing into the lives of this world’s poor. I highly recommend that if God is prompting you to step into the fight against poverty (and every Christian should have this prompting) that you begin with this book and build your approach squarely on a Biblical understanding of the complete need and therefore the only lasting and truly effective solution.”rdquo;

“In his book, Awaiting a Savior, Aaron Armstrong addresses the issue of poverty in a clear and theologically practical way. Armstrong does a good job emphasizing sin’s damaging effects on economics and pointing to the one true hope of the world, Jesus. This book is a valuable resource to help Christians think biblically when it comes to finances, economics, resources, and poverty.”

“Order this book by Aaron Armstrong and then read it from front to back. You will never listen to or engage in a conversation about poverty the same way again. This is great stuff!”

“We all care about poverty, but caring isn’t enough. We need to move beyond feelings and good intentions. In Awaiting a Savior, Aaron Armstrong helps us think theologically about poverty, because we’ll never know how to respond until we understand both the issue and our response from a biblical perspective. He then shows us how we can respond out of grace, not guilt. This book is a clear and insightful look at an issue that’s on all of our minds.”

“Aaron Armstrong has succeeded in helping us see the solution to poverty in a biblical light. He understands that poverty itself is no more a root problem than those things said to be born out of it, such as economic oppression or social injustice. Thus, he calls us back to Scripture to see that the real root problem is sin and that the answer is found in nothing less than the enduring good news of Jesus Christ. With so much confusion in the Church and para-church ministries regarding a Christian response to poverty and so much interest in social justice presently, this volume is an urgent read for any Christian who has a genuine interest in helping the poor.”

“In our highly activist, solutions-oriented generation, we easily think that we ourselves are the solution to the world’s social ills, particularly poverty. But the problem of poverty is the problem of sin and its solution lies in the heart of the Gospel. Aaron Armstrong brilliantly brings us back to Genesis and delivers a theologically robust vision for obeying the Scriptures' command to help the poor while living in anxious anticipation of Christ’s coming Kingdom.”

“Finally, a book that tackles the subject of poverty in a biblical, balanced, thought-provoking, and convicting manner! In his book Aaron manages to walk the fine line of calling for a biblical solution to poverty without causing the reader to feel overly burdened with unnecessary, unbiblical guilt. He also shows how biblical generosity is ultimately rooted in the generosity of God himself. Too many times I’ve seen the call for generosity fueled by legalistic guilt. Aaron instead points the reader to the glories of the gospel as the motivation for giving. Read this book. Discuss it with your friends. Be generous!”

“Aaron Armstrong has not only thought hard about alleviating poverty, he’s also worked hard at it. Consequently, this biblical theology of poverty is a mixture of pessimism, optimism, and realism. He’s rightly pessimistic about humanistic solutions, he’s brightly optimistic about God’s ultimate solution, and he’s practically realistic about the best and most the Church can do in this present age.”

“Aaron Armstrong’s book, Awaiting A Savior, brings a fresh approach to the world-wide problem of poverty. It is gospel-driven, Jesus-centered, and gets at the real but often overlooked cause of poverty.This is not another book that takes you on a guilt trip because we’re not doing enough.’ It is not filled with lists of all the things we should do to eliminate poverty, but rather is a solid theological treatment of what poverty really stems from and how to see it within a biblical framework.”Aaron has provided thought provoking questions throughout that will get your brain churning.”

“Aaron Armstrong’s heart to minister to the least of these is on full display in this concise book about the opportunities and limitations of ministry to the poor. Challenging our own idolatry, our motivations, and our actions, Awaiting a Savior reorients our mercy ministry around the gospel, seeking to show how a life of love is the overflow of a grace-filled heart.”

“While many books on eradicating poverty focus solely on statistics and need as motivating tactics, Awaiting a Savior moves beyond the stats, the great need, and excellently emphasizes addressing the root of poverty and what motivates us to address the issue. The redemptive story of God highlighted in this book provides the grace-based motivation in the gospel necessary to provide the most holistic and sustainable response to the great need around us. Few books so astutely combine a comprehensive theological look at poverty with empowering, inspirational motivation.”