I read a post recently titled “How does the church respond to poverty?” It touched my heart because its writer put into words things that I have been thinking lately about the disdain the religious right in this country seems to display towards the working poor. Please note that I said the working poor:
My family has struggled financially for the past several years, and without going into all the details, I will say it has nothing to do with wasting of money or unwillingness to work. My husband spent ten of the last twelve years working 70 hours a week at three different jobs, to pay our bills, before being laid off 18 months ago. We lost our very small home to foreclosure and now rent a small older house. And we are so grateful for God’s provision. It was a devastating experience, but as in everything, He used it to draw us closer to Him. People talk of living paycheck to paycheck…. we envy those who live that way, as we are usually spending next week’s paycheck three days before it’s here… haha.
What really struck me about this woman’s story was her experience with the way Christians respond to fellow believers in need:
I went to a Sunday School class for several weeks the subject of which was ‘giving’. I was excited to consider my own responsibility and privilege to give, as well as the church’s as a body. I was so deeply discouraged to see how much time we spent talking about all the reasons not to help the poor… they are living out the consequences of their own poor choices, we might ‘enable’ the receiver to stay in a bad situation, the “not work/don’t eat” verses, and most saddening to me, all the stories of people who themselves had been poorer, but pulled themselves out of it, so others should be able to as well.
When I mentioned a friend of mine, who attends a different church, who has eight children, and feeds them on 60 dollars a week, I was hoping maybe someone would see it as a chance to live out what we’d been studying. Instead, there was a shrugging of shoulders and comments that pancakes for supper weren’t so bad. And they’re not. If you aren’t having them four times a week.
This dear sister then moves forward and describes in very accurate detail, the ways we tend to analyze and respond to our sisters and brothers who need help despite their best efforts. Shamefully, I had to admit to myself that I have been guilty of this too.
I’m thankful that she put into words what has been on my heart lately. Click over and read the rest of it. You’ll be blessed, or convicted, or both.
Ah, and the comments. Especially the one about how the church has elevated the whole “money management” thing way too high. I am thinking about all the comments and the “spirit” of the whole thing and realy… it ought to come down to what GOD says about our individual situation.
I am not saying that as a general fluffy saying or cop-out. I’m thinking on real love and worship. Like… remember when Judas was getting all upset about the expensive perfume poured on Jesus? He was saying well. This could have been sold and used to help the poor!! But *really* he was saying that because he stole from the treasury box. He didn’t care about the poor, and Mary was WORSHIPING and acting out of gratitude and awe. And love!
So often we are selfish and can’t do those things to the poor, or give grace to our neighbour. This is convicting indeed…
It touched my heart because its writer put into words things that I have been thinking lately about the disdain the religious right in this country seems to display towards the working poor.
Can you expound on this please? Who do you mean by religious right, and where have you seen disdain displayed? Are you talking about the people you know in 3D; from blogs; from news and newspapers; from pulpits?
Personally, I liked this the best, from the comments on the article: “My family went through very hard times when I quit the full-time ministry. I’m thankful for brothers and sisters who stepped up to help us, even though we’d only just met.”
Very encouraging.
You’ll be blessed, or convicted, or both.
Quite often, conviction is the blessing.
This topic has been an issue for me as well, Terry. Although, I finally had to stop worrying about how “the Church” (as in all other professing believers) responds; and begin focusing on how I personally view the nature of poverty and what is my responsibility when I become aware of need. I suppose it’s a facet of “working out your own salvation with fear and trembling” .
Jesus did say we would always have the poor with us. It isn’t likely we will “cure” this problem. But I’ve been thinking this is because His followers will always need practice in unselfishly sharing the things we have in this world.
I honestly can’t say I’ve ever seen any examples of what she’s talking about in Church. The main difference I’ve seen between “right” parishes and “left” parishes is that the former, when the subject of poverty comes up, are more likely to talk about things like human dignity, personal charity, and the like, while the latter focus most of their attention on “punish the rich” and “elect more Democrats”.
I’ve seen the sort of “charity” that the latter kind practice. I’ve _been_ poor. I’ve been homeless. I’ve been hungry. I’ve been completely cut off from the human race. I’ve spent three months without having a single human being actually look me in the eye. Did they care? Not that I could tell.
Meanwhile, one of the visiting priests at a different parish (one known for more conservative leanings) not only hooked me up with my first job lead in weeks, but gave me a place to shower and some clean clothes, so I could show up for the interview not looking like a bum.
Sometimes our brothers and sisters in Christ need our help. We should give it, to the best of our ability. But we need to be mindful of the difference between poor people and “the poor”. They’re human individuals, each with his own needs…not just a nameless and faceless class to be pandered to.
I admit Cane that often I have heard this attitude displayed in articles I’ve read, but I’ve also seen it in person as well. The idea that financial distress is most often the result of bad decisions, failure to exercise due diligence, sinful tendencies, or some combination of the three.
If you have never seen or heard it, I am quite thankful. It means that what I have witnessed (both in real life and in religious conservative media), is an anomaly.
Keep in mind that the attitude is often markedly different when it comes to outreaches to the homeless and destitute. The church so far as I’ve witnessed, shines in that arena. But people who are just making it don’t seem to inspire that same level of compassion.
I’ve been a long-time lurker but feel compelled to respond. I must say that I agree with Lelnet in that I have never witnessed said experiences in the church. Maybe my church is unusual, I don’t know, but we are very giving and helpful to our members. On the first Sunday of every month, all giving goes specifically for those who need it in our church. For individuals with great needs, we have special offerings. We have a young woman whose husband left her and her young children, and our members step up to pay her bills and mortgage for that year as she was a stay-at-home mother. Our members also helped her find employment. They have done this for others as well, this is just the most recent example of the generosity of our church members. When we were expecting our child my husband lost his job, even though it was a very low paying job (we lived off less than $20k), it was better than nothing. A member of our church helped my husband get a job that paid 2X the amount he made at his previous one, a lady from our church brought us a whole bag of farm-fresh beef to eat, and we didn’t have to buy any clothes, stroller, carseat, etc. for our child. Some of our church members actually pooled money together to buy me brand new baby gear. Our church membership ranges from rich to poor (and I mean poor). Our pastor and wife live very frugally and their children wear hand-me-downs. Not because there is virtue, in itself, of being poor, but because they want to be good stewards of the money given to them.
I just wanted to put this out there, because, sometimes I think it is easier to lump all conservative churches together and say this is how they treat the poor, when not all are like that. Is my church perfect? No. I’ve noticed that some members help out more and give more than others and that some never step up to help others.
You guys have really encouraged me with your comments. Thank you for affirming that there are churches where people are banding together to help their fellow parishioners.
I do know that not every church is like the church this writer described. I know it for a fact. I also know for a fact that her experience really isn’t as isolated and unusual as the very encouraging dissenting comments here would indicate.
I guess for me, the crux of the matter is that if there is even one church that proclaims the name of Jesus that responds the way she experienced, it’s one too many and we need to examine ourselves, individually and corporately.
Just for the record, I wouldn’t ever assume that her experience is necessarily unusual. Just that sinful neglect can be found regardless of where you are on the political spectrum. And gracious generosity comes often from what some would regard as unexpected sources.
This is also describing a view that is contrary to my experience. Please recognize that there is a difference between discussing the policy of the “church” to the “poor” vice what the people of a particular church will do to assist the actual needs of a church member that they know needs assistance. Most Christian demoninations have a had line on the former and a soft heart for the latter. They do this by neccessity. If they had an open door to the poor, they would be bled dry by those people who are not under the protection of the church but who live day to day exploiting weakness in other people. Being called to Christ is not a sentence to be a patsy (unless your name happens to be Patsy).
Most churches have established processes under the control of the men of the church to provide assistance to the poor, as well as assistance to the weak, infirm and elderly. That assistance comes with strings attached. Normally, it comes with church oversight of how your other money gets spent. The permenently dependent class of the poor prefer the government veriety of assistance because it comes without accountability and without an expectation that the poor person will attemt to better himself/herself and rise out of that condition.
Finally, I am sad to report that most churches today are nothing more than businesses. They are firm on preaching a message of giving to the church (which they call charity) but they are also tight-fisted with what they have. Supporting the poor is bad for the bottom line.
Prof, if we keep agreeing this way I’m gonna be expecting to see pigs fly, LOL.
What I have witnessed is exactly what you describe. I will have to conclude that it is probably because I live in a densely populated area with densely populated churches and a degree of jadedness characterizes the way churches view those who say they need help.
I do know believers in more rural areas or in smaller churches and there does seem to be more generosity to those in need from what I’ve been told.
Individually, people tend to be more willing to help when they are closely acquainted with the person and they can vouch for the fact that they are truly in need.
@Prof:
Most churches have established processes under the control of the men of the church to provide assistance to the poor, as well as assistance to the weak, infirm and elderly. That assistance comes with strings attached. Normally, it comes with church oversight of how your other money gets spent. The permenently dependent class of the poor prefer the government veriety of assistance because it comes without accountability and without an expectation that the poor person will attemt to better himself/herself and rise out of that condition.
THIS! YES! Same with my church. We have a regular collection for the poor which is dispensed within the congregation because we have members who are indeed poor or have fallen on hard times. Several men of the congregation along with our pastor make the decision on who gets how much. We are small, though, so it would not be possible to throw open our doors and advertise “free aid here”. Since I know these men and the pastor well, I know they will make good decisions.
The “strings attached” is the way all charity used to be when charity was private. Whether an able-bodied man looking for a meal was required by Father O’Brien to perform a bit of maintenance on a parish building or an unmarried mother looking to enter the Home for Unwed Mothers had to endure a lecture from Sister Mary Holywater, there was a string attached. The “string” ensured the individual would make an effort to improve his condition.
There is a string attached to government assistance – permanent dependence.
most of the truly destitute in the u.s. are males, not femlaes — tho as always it’s only a “woman”s story” that moves us to empathy or compassion
the homeless in america are about 95 percent male, but all i ever hear preachers talk about are the church’s responsibilities towards “widows and orphans” = females and children
thats what women want to hear, and thats what the “prosperitized” men who preside over churches want to hear
nothing to do with jesus’ commands about love and charity, everything to do with psycho-socio-sexual strategizing
most of the male homeless were contentedly employed before females took over education and empoyment, and many of those men were FORCED from employment in a variety of ways — thus, it is not for you, in your omniscience, to aid only the “working” poor, unless you fully understand the circumstances and hearts of those you reject as unworthy of help (which you do not)
there are about a thousand homeless vets in the rural county i live in — all the homeless here are male . . . yet priority for social services goes to females, as does preference in education and employment
whether i’m in the cities or countryside, i walk past churches with three-quarters of a million dollars worth of vehicles in the parking lot, while around the corner homeless men live, and sometimes die, in the street
dunno who the churches think theyre fooling here, but it probably isn’t god
I must say that my family has experienced this personally. We were homeless for two weeks in where we had to sleep in our car over night once at a Wal-mart parking lot. We reached out to every local assembly (because we are the church – the Body of Christ) here in our area and not one helped us! LOL
Although we explained all that had happened in our family with my husband being laid off for the past two years and unable to find work even for the smallest of jobs. We live in a fairly small town so jobs here a sparse…the ones who helped us was the “church” (body of Christ) people that we hardly knew. I felt ashamed as a believer who was involved in the local assembly because we (at the local assembly) were so focused on getting so much money every week to pay the mortgage on the building and keep the TV station going and rebuilt after flooding out that when it came time to actually help those who need the help…the local assembly here did not step up but left us out in the cold (literally).
My family still hasn’t found a local assembly to fellowship with but even though we haven’t it doesn’t stop us from worshiping Him right at home in spirit and in truth and continuing to give Him praises for who He is! I do believe there are some Bible believing/teaching/truth-seeking local assemblies out there but we just haven’t found them yet. I have to agree that most (not all) local assemblies are ran like corporations (businesses) and I still can’t understand that. I honestly think we need to get back to our original roots as early first century Saints (as a Body of Christ) and follow the God-given principles to leadership roles in the Body of Christ. There is too much emphasis in titles and not enough on Biblical practices.
Blessings my sister,
Mystiqua
Thank you for sharing your story, Mystiqua. I’m glad your family is bouncing back (I clicked on your blog), and that you have kept the faith despite the hardships and the lack on concern on the part of many in the church.
This subject has stayed with me and my husband and I were discussing last night the fact that we can’t allow our tight budget to keep us from seeing those around us who we can help in some way, large or small.
Just imagine what the church (and I mean the people not the institution) could do to help one another if we opened our hearts and minds (and wallets) to those in need.
Amen! That is exactly how we feel…we don’t let our financial status get in the way either. Although it has been a rough up and down roller coaster ride we are still keeping the Faith. We were both led to start our own business and using what we have in hand already. I think this period of unemployment has been a God send to allow us to see things differently and cherish the most important things in our lives. God, our marriage, our children, our family and the body of Christ! Before we were more concerned with making enough to pay the rent, utilities, buying the next new gadgets etc…and keeping up with the Joneses! LOL Not anymore…Thanks for stopping by my blog and just subscribed to yours. God Bless!
Since I’m here.
Our small church helps the poor within our church. But assistance comes with guidelines and supervision, even counseling if necessary. You can “give a man a fish or teach them to fish” comes to mind. Giving money without guidance and guidelines may mean the church is constantly being called to do the same things over and over for the same people. Not wise stewardship on our part nor wise shepherding of the flock.
Berean Wife
the homeless in america are about 95 percent male, but all i ever hear preachers talk about are the church’s responsibilities towards “widows and orphans” = females and children
thats what women want to hear, and thats what the “prosperitized” men who preside over churches want to hear
nothing to do with jesus’ commands about love and charity, everything to do with psycho-socio-sexual strategizing
This is nonsense. The emphasis on females and orphans is from the Book of James “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
If you truly want to explore the Christian methods of charity, start with James, and 1 Timothy 5. Warning: the apostles weren’t man-o-sphere bloggers.
I actually think that charity should be provided as anonymously as possible. For one- to protect the dignity of people who can’t help their circumstances such as the sick, the mentally ill, or the just plain stupid. People are flawed and knowing too much about another persons circumstances can invite gossip and judgment.
Now I understand the need for “strings attached” but I don’t think the string needs to be humiliation. Financial counseling, psychological counseling, or job-hunting help can be provided. Letting Busy Body Betty vote on who gets the Church money and who doesn’t seems just a tad cruel to those in need.
I didn’t want to imply that the family referred to are examples of mentally ill, sick, or stupid. Clearly one circumstance that can’t be helped is a lack of available jobs. I should have added that in my first comment.
Letting Busy Body Betty vote on who gets the Church money and who doesn’t seems just a tad cruel to those in need.
I agree Gabriella. I think limiting the knowledge of such things to the elders of a church is sufficient. All Sister Betty needs to know is that $X amount went to charity.