Social Ministry and the Role of the Christian Community

Beyond the local church, what role should the corporate Christian community play in meeting the needs of the poor and helpless? By corporate Christian community I am referring to the various local churches and para-church ministries working together for a common goal. Frankly, this does not happen as often as it should and some might even call the phrase "Christian community" an oxymoron! However, when it does occur, two approaches have been favored.

The first approach is the denominational approach. The Mennonites serve as a good example of this concept. They have developed several service organizations in which the Mennonite churches share in the responsibility of supporting. These organizations include the Mennonite Disaster Service and the Mennonite Central Committee. In addition, the Mennonite churches practice what is commonly called “Mutual Aid.” Mutual aid is seen by many as primarily a ministry to church members only, however, some view it as a ministry to the community in general. Swartley and Kraybill write:

Mennonite mutual aid is a reciprocal responsibility, based on biblical teaching, to provide material aid to other church members who face special economic and physical hardships. Such help involves labor, services, goods, gifts, and payments in both spontaneous and organized forms at local and churchwide levels. (Swartley & Kraybill, 1998, 13)

Winfeld J. Fretz sees mutual aid as Christian love in action. He sees mutual aid as a means to share that love by, “…using the resources God has given us for His glory and the good of ourselves and our fellowmen. It is a way of limiting selfish desires for the good of the larger group or community of which we are members”. For Fretz, this larger group or community could refer to the civic community or even the nation (Swartley & Kraybill, 1998, 16).

Other denominations like the Southern Baptist Convention or the United Methodist Church have cooperative programs like disaster relief efforts and inner city ministries, but they do not have programs designed to help the poor and needy in general. This is left to the individual local churches. This leaves many churches unable to comprehensibly meet the needs of their community on their own. For churches like the one I attend, Grace Community Church which are non-denominational, there is no national group backing their efforts.

The second approach is what is called a shared ministry approach. This approach is based on local churches working together to make a difference in their community. Pastor Robert Lewis writes:

Biblically speaking, the “reach” Jesus originally had in mind for his church began with nothing less than a city. “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8; italics added). The game plan described here for the church is clear: city, region, and world. Churches in the New Testament were named for the city they belonged to: “church of the Thessalonians” (1 Thessalonians 1:1); “church of the Laodiceans” (Colossians 4:16); “church of God in Corinth” (1 Corinthians 1:2); “church in Ephesus” (Revelation 2:1); and son. Surely, this naming implied a calling with it too! When Jesus originally described his church, he pictured it in terms of storming the gates of a city (Matthew 16:18). Clearly, “city reaching” is a biblical concept. It is what the church, at ground level is to be about. (Lewis & Wilkins, 2001, 157)

Churches at “ground level” will need to come together as the church of that city (i.e. the church at Wasco), so that they can share the load and share the blessing. In fact, this has indeed ocurred in my own community where in the past, several Wasco churches worked together to respond to special needs of certain families. This ministry was called Wasco Aid. Each month several churches contributed to the Wasco Aid fund that was in turned used to help pay for car repairs, meals, gas and lodging for those stranded in town. Families or individuals from Wasco were the responsibility of the church they first contacted or attended.

A local example of a para-church organization working together with various local churches to meet the needs of the homeless is Flood Bakersfield. Their mission is to

...establish meaningful relationships with the homeless, recovery home residents, motel dwellers and those entrenched in generational poverty so as to empower them through the instruction of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome their present, disadvantaged circumstances and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Flood gives various local churches a vehicle through which their members can minister in a tangible way, primarily through Flood's Saturday Night Outreach to the homeless. Volunteers can serve by providing the music or teaching, preparing or serving a hot meal, or by acting as counselors, greeters, van drivers and chaperones. They can also help with security, food pack preparation and distribution, and children's activities.

Flood has grown exponentially over the last few years and they are much more than their Saturday Night Outreach. Currently they provide "mid-week volunteer opportunities, including Bible Studies, classes such as Parenting & Neglect, the creation of multiple kinds of food packs, medical and substance abuse intervention, job teaching, sourcing rental housing and providing links to the resource community."

Flood Bakersfield also serves as a great example of what I am going to talk about in my next post, public/private partnerships.

One concept that has come along that appears to be successful is called Christian Community Development (CCD). Specifically designed for the inner cities (but has been used in other community settings), CCD is a ministry of the church where people are encouraged to be and live among the poor and the needy. It is an incarnational ministry that has been successful in over 600 communities around the country (Gordon, n.d., 2). Gordon writes, “…nothing other than the community of God’s people is capable of affirming the dignity of the poor and enabling them to meet their own needs. It is practically impossible to do effective wholistic ministry apart from the local church” (Gordon, 9). Gordon goes on to explain:

Of course the wholistic approach is difficult because there are so many aspects to a person’s life. That is why there is no better way of helping a person than having him or her committed to a local church. A church that is committed to Christian Community Development sees not only the soul of a person as significant, but also his or her whole life on earth. It is being completely pro-life for a person, not only eternally, but also as the person lives on this earth.

Therefore, Christian Community Development sees the church must be involved in every aspect of a person’s life. It is important to network with other churches and organizations in communities. In order to accomplish the wholistic aspect of ministry, pastors and leaders must be networkers. Christian Community Development builds coalitions in communities so that they can work together to solve the problems. (Gordon, n.d., 12)

One more point I want to make. I know this will be controversial among my fundamentalist Christian brothers, but if the Church is going to have an impact as the Christian community, then there must be an effort at reconciliation and tearing down the walls that divide us. David S. Apple describes a community as “a group of people gathered together who are united in purpose, goals and vision. It is group focused on a specific task in a specific time and place” (Apple, n.d., 2). After using Acts 2:42-44 as a biblical example of community, he writes, “Community is multi-faceted. In many ways, it reflects the grace of God. It is mysterious. It is miraculous. It is inclusive.  It is real. It is humble. It is self-giving. It is compassionate. It is welcoming and intimate. It is a safe place. We need community. We should not be isolated” (Apple, 2).

If the church at where you live is going to effectively respond to the needs of the poor in your town, then you must work to create an environment of community. This means working at reconciliation.

Ministry to the poor and needy must involve the whole Christian community. Churches need to work together, along with parachurch ministries to be involved in community development. Christians in each community need to recognize that they make up the church at whatever city they live in.