2026.06.14 Sermon Notes: Disrupting Generational Poverty

Westside Family Church

Disrupting Generational Poverty

Pastor Randy Frazee

Notes: 

What is generational poverty?

Generational poverty means a family has been poor for at least two generations, experiencing a self-perpetuating cycle where lack of resources, education, stable jobs, and social support traps them, making it incredibly difficult to improve their economic status due to systemic barriers, psychological stress, and limited opportunities, not just individual failings.

Notes: 

Fill in the blank: In the Old Testament, God provides a solution to generational poverty. (Leviticus 25)

God establishes the Year of Jubilee to provide relief from the chains of poverty.

Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you.

Leviticus 25:8-11

Bottom line. In the Year of Jubilee:

• Debts are forgiven

• Slaves are set free

Notes: 

Fill in the blank: 3 Important Questions

Question 1: Is generational poverty a problem in the US?

Answer: Yes, and it affects our children the most.

• 1 in 7 children in the US currently lives in poverty.

• 1/3 to ½ of children who were poor growing up will remain poor as adults.

Question 2: What is the impact of chronic poverty on people?

Answer: Devastating.

• Poverty = Poorer Health

• Poverty = Lower Education

• Poverty = Greater Addiction

• Poverty = Prison Time

• Poverty = Prostitution

• Poverty = Early Death

Question 3: What is our best solution to generational poverty in the US?

Answer: A child being able to read by the third grade.

• 1 in 3 children in the 4th grade are below the basic reading level in the United States.

• 80% of low-income 4th graders never reach reading proficiency.

• 60% of young men entering prison cannot read at a 3rd grade level.

• 130 million adults in the United States struggle to read basic sentences.

Notes: 

Fill in the blank: What do we plan to do about it?

We plan to do three things:

1. Raise up reading mentors so no children fall through the cracks on our watch.

2. Unleash Prayer Warriors to surround our schools.

3. Purchase a book for our book drive.

Notes: