Archive for April, 2017
When to Help
Posted by stephenb5jones in Uncategorized on April 1, 2017
I’ve been thinking a lot about self-sufficiency lately and the different facets that presents when dealing with missions activities. Once upon a time foreign missions (and many times local missions work also) for the poor was about collecting food, clothing, medicine, blankets, etc. and distributing them to those who needed them. Somewhere in history, people began seeing some negative aspects of this approach. People took advantage of the handouts or became dependent on them. It often didn’t seem to really pull people out of their poverty, just allowed them to survive the crisis of daily living in poverty. Mission agencies and missionaries began asking themselves, “Am I helping or hurting the people I desire to assist? This great self-analysis led many to swing the mission pendulum to the other side where they made it their goal to only raise up local leaders or only financially support local leaders. And this too started showing signs of wear. Sometimes it worked marvelously, other times leaders were unable to lead effectively because of lack of training, financial resources to keep the church doors open, cultural pressures, or a myriad of other difficulties.
At some point we must begin to realize that there must be a balance of both approaches in order to effectively help people out of the poverty that they suffer both physically and spiritually. There’s a time and a place for us as Christians to simply give without strings to those in need. After a personal crisis or natural disaster, during a major illness or after a death are such times. There are also some forms of aid which we might have to always continue.
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
A church in an extremely poor neighborhood may never be able to pay a pastor and keep the lights on by themselves-it’s simply too expensive. They may hold bake sales and wash cars, have pastors that work bi-vocationally, etc. but ultimately they may still need a sister church elsewhere in the world to help support them financially. And that’s ok. If you think about it, that’s basically what we do with our tithes and offerings. If all the people of your church stopped tithing and giving offerings, how long would your church survive? (Probably for less time than that of the church in our imaginary ghetto somewhere!)
Imagine church as a person. There might be a church that has significant physical limitations, confined to a wheelchair and needing daily help to bathe or feed themselves. Their mind may be sharp and active and contributing to their world, but they will most likely always need some forms of assistance. Together we will undertake to determine what things can be learned and done by themselves and what we must assist with.
Another church may find that they have no physical limitations, but their mind doesn’t always work the way they want. They might be unable to effectively communicate or lack knowledge which limits their effectiveness and ability to succeed. Again, we should undertake to determine what things they can do themselves and those things that they will need help with.
Another of our imaginary churches has a body and mind which has been abused and trafficked, undereducated and undernourished. It is in essence “whole” yet there are fractures everywhere. This church may need someone for a short or a long time to walk alongside them and teach them how to love, to give, to provide for self, to forgive and many other lessons that they never had the opportunity to learn before.
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
And what of the church blessed with a highly functioning mind and body? They are the ones most able to do for themselves and use their abundance to help others. Truly it is their responsibility to use all their abilities to walk alongside their struggling sibling.
But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
And so we come back to look at the concept of how much do we give and how much do we expect other churches to learn to do for themselves. We must therefore be able to objectively analyze each of their capabilities and challenges in order to walk alongside them in their journey. With some we will need to assist them in some ways always unless the Lord provides miraculous healing, for others we will need to walk with them as they learn how to be able to provide for themselves. And for those to whom much has been given, much is required as they walk alongside these other brothers and sisters in the family of God.
Being self-sufficient is an American ideal, not one necessarily even shared by much of the rest of the world. Perhaps the rest of the world has understood something powerful that we here have yet to grasp. None of us is truly self-sufficient. God alone is the source of our power and the giver of gifts. Life is cruel sometimes and circumstances beyond anyone’s control come to every life/church. Our job is to rely first on God, then lean on each other as we travel life’s journey.
There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.
We must commit to never leaving a brother or sister behind if they require our help, to always encourage and demand that they reach further and higher in their pursuit of God’s purpose, and we must demand from ourselves that we will ask for help when we are in need and that we also will also reach for the dream that God has given us.
…so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
The conclusion to my thought process is simple: “How are you walking alongside your spiritual family to guide and help them and allow them to guide and help you?”
Barefoot missionaries 