A reader asks:
Part of the work of the Church is benevolence. To what extend can a church carry out the work of benevolence? Does the payment of house rent, medical bills,and money for feeding to members who has lost their jobs; and whose income is inadequate to meet a larger family responsibility part of the church responsibility? Who gets help and who doesn’t?
My answer:
This is not a full treatment of the question but rather a general response for your consideration. You could easily write an entire book on this topic.
It has always been the Church’s obligation to help the TRULY poor and needy. That line (who is TRULY in need) has been blurred by a welfare mentality, unprecedented prosperity and the confusing of true need with “lifestyle”. It takes discernment to know the difference between genuine HELP, and enabling poor behavior or subsidizing lifestyle.
Some people need help with rent because they lost their job due to no fault of their own or got cancer. Other people need help with rent because they’ve been foolish with finances, lazy, impulsive or indulgent. The former deserves our help… the latter deserves to learn a hard lesson via the consequences because the life skills are more valuable than the money.
Corporately, the Church Shepherds/Leaders/Deacons should wisely and prayerfully discern who is deserving of help and to what degree or longevity.
Individually, we pray and ask God for wisdom, compassion and generosity in making decisions on who should receive various kinds of help from us. Generally speaking, we should be people who actively seek opportunity to bless others, and people who err on the side of compassion and generosity.
Remember too, God honors our motives of generosity and love even if we don’t always make the “perfect” decision in these matters. I know our family has helped people before with the purest of motives only to find out that help was wasted and unappreciated. That does not change God’s blessing on our sincere desire to help another. The Christian’s “default response” should be generosity and benevolence trusting God for clear guidance with each decision and opportunity.
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at 11:14 am
It’s quite hard to really know who TRULY is in need or not unless one actually goes to the persons residence (if they have one). I’ve helped many along the way only to find later they have many valuables that they could sell for NEEDED things. On the other hand, perhaps the person doesn’t own the items but only “holding them for another;” which I’ve done on occasions. Are we not to judge others & help whomever comes knocking (such as would you let Jesus in)? Including one that may be drunk as a skunk, perhaps one just lost his parents or child? If a person asks for help & I’m ABLE to give, I give.
at 11:20 am
Yeah I agree with the above.
Although I fin myself being more compassionate to those who have illness and can’t support themselves instead of those who lost their money due to their own spending.. I don’t think gods attitude is ‘let them learn a life lesson’
In the prodigal of the Lost son, the son lead to his own downfall yet the father welcomed him back with open arms.
As the above comment states, if someone asks and I can give I will give.
at 12:10 pm
I appreciate this article and would like to share my thoughts. I attended a church for almost one year and was a faithful tither where sometimes I gave beyond my tithes. After losing my job this year, I have not received a telephone call to find out if I needed a glass of cold water, did I have any food to eat, is my rent paid, etc. This has bothered me because I was under the impression that someone would call to find out if I needed assistance or how I was doing. Unfortunately, it has not happened. What I do now is split my tithes between organizations that are feeding and helping others. I am receiving unemployment and prefer to give to charities than to tithe. God has to work on me with this one because I have purposed in my heart, no more tithing to churches. This is just where I am. I am aware that Scripture clearly states that I am to tithe, but my heart is just not there. God bless.
at 1:28 pm
I appreciate your honesty. Two thoughts… 1) you are 100% correct that Christians as a group (your “church”) should be more alert to the situations and needs of each other. There are many reasons for this problem, far too much to discuss here. 2) you should let someone know you have need. Why?
Think of it this way. If another person had need and you simply didn’t know it, what would you say to them? “Oh, I didn’t know… I wish you would have let me know. I would have been glad to help.” So give that benefit of the doubt to others too. I’ll be there are many people who would jump at the chance to help you if only you would take that humble step of letting someone know.
Finally, in the past, I too have chosen to give some of “giving” to missionaries, orphanages, etc rather than all to my church (though the duty to support our churches is clear). My reasoning was more that I thought too much money was already being spent on “us”, big buildings, more exciting “youth” facilities and activities, etc. I just wanted to see more of my giving go to the “frontlines” rather than to making my own “church experience” more comfortable, entertaining, variety filled or self focused. That was just my own personal conviction that I never communicated to others in my church so as not to cause division or discontent.
at 2:28 pm
I apologize that I was not clear in my post. God provides for me and my concern is that no one has called to find out if there is a need. I served in the church, was there for every service and meeting. My poor assumption would be that someone would call to find out if there was a need. Thank you for responding and I will end the conversation here. God bless!
at 3:34 pm
Anon,
Thanks for your great comments. I really appreciate them. The “Prodigal Son” story (really THE PARABLE OF THE FATHER) is about God’s relentless longing for the lost with only secondary application to our topic. The teaching in that parable is not to enable bad behavior, immaturity and willful selfishness all in the name of “compassion” (it is in fact, NOT compassionate at all to subsidize poor choices). The story does not go on to say, “and the prodigal son made the same stupid selfish choices over and over again and the Father just kept throwing him parties to show how loving he was.”
Again, the “prodigal son parable” is a picture of SALVATION between the father (God) and the son (the human sinner), not a direct lesson on human to human interaction either between peers or parent/siblings. Yes, of course, there is application for how we are to forgive, restore and have an unending longing for the return of the straying soul. But you never ignore the rest of Scripture or wisdom and use one passage like this as the “one size fits all” conclusion to a question like we are discussing. There are countless Scriptures about wisdom, consequences, “you reap what you sow”, parenting and discipleship that require the discerning Believer to determine based on the entire situation what help or charity is in order. The Bible teaches us the God Himself chastises us like a “good father” and there is no doubt that involves letting us “learn a life lesson” on a routine basis. How much more should we wisely do the same thing when appropriate? I’ll remind you what I ended with lest anyone think I’m advocating a cold and uncaring view of benevolence:
The Christian’s “default response” should be generosity and benevolence trusting God for clear guidance with each decision and opportunity.
at 3:38 pm
Thanks Maxine… you made some good points for discussion even if they weren’t exactly your situation. Thanks for joining the conversation and blessing us all. It is one of the most comments laments I hear about “church” is that people serve and serve and serve… then when they suffer in some way, they can “fade away” and no one ever notices or invests in the time of need (whether emotional or otherwise). I myself have experienced that and was quite heartbroken over it when I had served very fully for many years and was quickly forgotten when my circumstances became uncomfortable. I have no answers for that common problem other than to say, since we know how it feels, we should be diligent about never being guilty of it ourselves.
at 3:39 pm
Hi Joni… hope you are doing well. Abby is doing great… you’ve been so sweet to her over the years. You are correct, it’s hard to know for sure who is “truly” in need. That’s why we depend on God’s wisdom, and I’ll repeat what I finished up with:
The Christian’s “default response” should be generosity and benevolence trusting God for clear guidance with each decision and opportunity.