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Xenos Adult Education
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Servanthood
1
Understanding
Ministry
Mission and Function of the Church
Ministry to the Social and
Physical Needs of our Society
Orientation
Although, as we saw earlier, the church is not intended to
take over the state, or to see itself as the state, this does not mean
that the church need not be concerned with socio-economic conditions in
our society. In fact, the Bible lays special responsibility on the people
of God, including the New Testament church, to watch out for the disadvantaged
members of society. We will look briefly at two aspects of this area of
biblical teaching:
- The biblical mandate
for social ministry
- The strategic
outlook of Xenos for dealing with this task
The biblical mandate
for social relief ministry
The ethics of generosity
in helping the poor is rooted in the person and work of Christ himself
according to 2 Cor. 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that
you through His poverty might become rich." This example of Christ's
should lead us to see our responsibility to use the wealth God has entrusted
to us to glorify him by sharing with the poor.
John draws the connection
this way: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us;
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the
world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against
him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not
love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (1 Jn. 3:16-19)
Christ's love should move us to compassion for those who are suffering
from poverty.
Jesus agreed that
caring for the physical needs of others is an essential part of what it
means to love others as we love ourselves in the parable of the good Samaritan.
(Lk. 10:25-37)
We are all made in
the image of God, and it should pain us that there is gross inequality.
When Paul led relief efforts for the poor believers in Judea, he reasoned
with the Corinthians that they should give generously to the effort because,
"this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but
by way of equality--at this present time your abundance being a supply
for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your
want, that there may be equality; as it is written, `He who {gathered}
much did not have too much, and he who {gathered} little had no lack.'"
(2 Cor. 8:13-15) Of course, the ideal is not that all Christians become
poor so that there will be equality.
Rather, the ideal
is that the poor become more prosperous so that their needs are met.
Jesus taught caring
for the poor in very strong terms when he described this scene at the
last judgment:
"Then the
King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me {something} to eat; I was
thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me
in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was
in prison, and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him,
saying, `Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty,
and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you
in, or naked, and clothe you? And when did we see you sick, or in prison,
and come to you?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I
say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.'" (Mt. 25:34-40)
Paul makes it clear
that we should also prioritize the needs of Christian poor, without neglecting
non-Christian poor. (Gal. 6:10) However, this support of the poor is for
those who are victims of tragedy, or who are disadvantaged, or not able
to work. It is not for those who are unwilling to work. (2 Thess. 3:6-
10)
Finally, the extent
to which we go in helping the disadvantaged is a matter of private conscience.
It is not to be legislated by the church. This can be seen from Paul's
comments in 2 Cor. 9:7 "Let each do just as he has purposed in his
own heart. . . not under compulsion. . ."
Discussion
The book
of Proverbs has some striking promises and warnings in the area of caring
for the poor. It may be appropriate to go around the room, each reading
one of the following proverbs, and the group summarizing what the verse
teaches, or what the application(s) is.
- Prov. 13:23 "Abundant
food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but it is swept away by injustice."
- Prov. 14:21 "He
who despises his neighbor sins, But happy is he who is gracious to the
poor."
- Prov. 14:31 "He
who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who is gracious
to the needy honors him."
- Prov. 19:17 "He
who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, And he will repay him
for his good deed."
- Prov. 21:13 "He
who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not
be answered."
- Prov. 22:9 "He
who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the
poor."
- Prov. 28:27 "He
who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will
have many curses."
- Prov. 29:7 "The
righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not
understand such concern."
Xenos'
strategy for dealing with
social relief ministry
At Xenos,
we believe that the church needs to carry out the biblical mandate outlined
above to the extent we are able, based on a carefully thought-out community
development strategy. Our social relief ministry, Urban Concern follows these
principles:
- We should devote
the vast majority of our resources to projects that effect permanent
socio-economic as well as spiritual change. In other words, we want
to impact families and communities with money, help, and the gospel
in a way that is self-sustaining over decades, not merely feed hungry
people in a way that is soon forgotten in an endless sea of need. Many
social problems have spiritual and moral causes which need to be addressed
at the same time that we meet immediate need. Any immediate needs that
we meet should be a part of an over all strategy to effect permanent
change within a specified community.
- We should devote
more resources to meeting need in foreign countries where poverty is
much worse than in the United States. This part of our strategy must
be worked out in conjunction with the imperatives in the area of world
missionary outreach mentioned earlier.
- We should accept
limitations in the size of the area and the number of people we help
for the sake of effecting real change. This means that we are obligated
to say "No" to many worth-while projects in order to avoid
diluting our impact in chosen communities.
Discussion
Ask the
group if they agree with the above three points, and if they understand
the thinking behind each. Are there any exceptions to these points?
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