Who are the poor? has four distinct elements:
Economic poverty – lacking teh material means to support themselves to live viably within our society.
Relational poverty – lacking a family or community support network to which they can turn in troubled times (Family breakdown is a key issue here)
Aspirational poverty – lacking hope or capcity to extricate themseleves from the situation they are in.
Spiritual poverty – not knowing the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father (Eph 1:17)
Martin Charlesworth
From the book “The Myth Of The Undeserving Poor – A Christian Response to Poverty in Britain Today”