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Invisible Church: The Homeless

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I continue and conclude the series on the Invisible Church with Homelessness. Before I go on, I want to say that I have read some things from people that have taken my posts out of context. My intentions were to reveal the neglection of our duties in the Church. I do not want to negate preaching, teaching, or witnessing as a means of evangelism. I simply am stating that words without benevolence is simply faith without actions. Taking care of those in need is part of our mission. The basic needs of every human being are health care, hunger, and shelter. We simply need to create ways to provide these basic needs of God’s creation.

We are stewards of God, but stewardship does not begin and end with possessions. Our priority in stewardship is investing in people. I would go as far as saying that stewardship has very little to do with money and possessions and has a lot to do with people. Sure, we want to keep and maintain our church facilities; but to neglect the starving souls around you in order to maintain the facility or organization is still poor stewardship.

Homelessness is just one aspect of many social responsibilities of the Church. Yes, there are spiritual needs, that are more important. I know that! But if we are not good at meeting the physical needs, we’re not going to be good at meeting the spiritual needs. A good father feeds his children on top of spiritually nourishing them.

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?”

I know taking care of your children is just common sense, but what about taking care of children who are not yours? What about providing shelter for God’s children?

Psalms 61:4
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.

Psalms 143:9
Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; In You I take shelter.

Isaiah 4:6
And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

Isaiah 16:4
Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab; Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler.

Joel 3:16
But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

I am not saying that you should invite a stranger into your house with your family there. I’m sure many have done that and have been safe, but there are plenty of programs out there that can do more to help with homelessness than you can. Many city shelters provide recovery programs that will help adults get back on their feet on top of providing shelter and food.

Ways that you can help with homelessness

  1. Volunteer at your shelter downtown.
  2. Buy extra food at the grocery store and drop it off at a shelter on your way back.
  3. provide supplies or money to the shelter organization.
  4. Start a ministry in your fellowship that helps out at the homeless shelter.
  5. Go through your old clothes and donate them.
  6. Donate your beat up car.

People in a homeless shelter are there for many reasons. Some from addictions. Some from mental or physical disabilities. Some from depression. Some from financial devastation. Some from divorce. When you serve at a shelter, make sure you interact with these people and find out their needs. Pray for their weaknesses, and encourage them. Many of them don’t have family. Many don’t have friends. All you have to do is be their Jesus, and love them.

The three words: ministration, ministry, and administration, all have the same greek root word – “diakonia”. When you look up the definition, the first description you read is “service, ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of others”. the ability to control, manage, or run things is not being a minister. The Greek term strictly says those who EXECUTE the commands that others have given them. We have many that act as bosses, or managers, but very little who act as ministers or servants. Make sure you are the one executing the commands of God by serving.

If you and 50 people in your church were asked to worship and fellowship in the middle of a barren wasteland for 40 days, what basic needs would you ask for? It’s not an impractical question. It doesn’t matter if you are in a grocery store, you still have to pay for food. Without money, you might as well be in a wasteland, because that food is just as much out of reach as it is to someone in a desert.

In the United States, the Health care system is destitute, the Social Security system is going bankrupt, the housing is devastated, and all people can do is cry at the government. Taking care of our families and taking care of the stranger is the Church’s responsibility, but we take up our pitch forks and torches and march on capital hill with all the other complainers. What’s wrong with us? The Church has really gone down the tube when people stop asking us for benevolence, and continue to beg Uncle Sam.

Invisible Church: Hunger

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In the last post, we had spoken about providing and helping people pay for health care. In continuation of the “Invisible Church” series, let’s talk about “hunger”. When it comes to world hunger the Church takes the verse, “man shall not live by bread alone” in a literal sense. People ask for food around the world and we just hand them a tract, or we send them a missionary. We say, “here, this is even better for you”. In a sense, when they ask for food, you might as well just give them a stone:

“If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?”

There’s nothing wrong with sending missionaries, or a shipping container full of bibles- that’s part of Jesus’ commission to us. The other part of the commission dealt with taking care of the poor, and feeding the hungry and the stranger. Send food also.

“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’”

We have much to be thankful for in our country. We need to share what we’ve been given. We are stewards, but we are acting like a bunch of glutenous wasters. We put so much money into things that are not needs. We have purchased so much “Jesus junk”. I’m talking about all the little knick knacks that you can purchase at the Christian store. Everything from TestaMints to t-shirts. Sure, that stuff is creative, it’s thoughtful, and it might even have its rightful place in our Christian sub culture; but for the most part it is just junk.

As we’ve stated before, God doesn’t need anymore advertisements; he needs ambassadors. He doesn’t need posters, He needs people that advertise his work through actions. Helping those who are hungry is one of the ways of doing that.

Everyone knows that the red cross, and heifer international brings aid to desolate people, but do the poor know that the Church does as well? The Church wasn’t meant to be a hospital just for Spiritual care; it was meant to be a hospital for physical, emotional, and mental care as well. I don’t know why we have handed that torch over? I don’t know if we think it’s too expensive, or too demanding? In essence, we didn’t hand over an opportunity to feed people, we’ve handed over an opportunity to witness. God gave us the call to take care of those in need so that they can see God in their needs through us. Zechariah 8:13 says:

“And it shall come to pass
That just as you were a curse among the nations,
O house of Judah and house of Israel,
So I will save you, and you shall be a blessing.”

The opportunity to be a blessing to others is not an opportunity to show off ourselves, God saved us and blessed us so that our actions would glorify His name. I know people need to find a place that has good doctrine and fellowship, but I’m kind of intrigued at the idea that churches put their address on the back as if that’s the road to salvation. I know, i know, it’s there for a good purpose, but it’s just funny to me how it shows in a slight way that a purpose of witnessing is to bring more people to “Our” church. It was funny to see that when I moved into our new house, I received a couple letters from churches stating, “come visit our bla bla bla church. . . we are a friendly people . . . bla bla bla.” Cold calls, mailing lists, and email marketing is what I learned to run a business in college, so that type of outreach kind of ruffles my feathers.

In closing, I wrote a poem called, “Why is God so Selfish“. It has a deeper meaning than just saying that God is selfish, so I would recommend you read it. But for now, here’s an excerpt:

“Why should I give to God’s missionary
When my own city is cold and hungry?
Why should I find God by going to church
As if God wanted me, but didn’t search?”

The Invisible Church

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Some recent thoughts about the availability and efficiency of the Church have prompted me to write a series titled, “The Invisible Church”. Make no mistake, I said “invisible” NOT “invincible”. This series has been prompted by my thoughts about how billions around the world are homeless, starving, or without proper health care. I would even love to write a book on this subject, because there is just so much to say.

We’ve made ourselves visible through our elaborate sanctuaries, energetic conferences, social alliances, political influence, catchy billboards, pop music groups, energetic websites, tag line t-shirts, bible verse tattoos, entertainment events, radio and TV broadcasts, Christian concert and cruises, and engraved jewelry; but our efforts have brought anything but tangible results. The above ways of “reaching out” have very little to do with actually reaching out. Advertising is not reaching out. Making sure our church sign is lite up at night is not reaching out. We have to be in the mindset that putting money towards any of these things could be considered an overhead cost, because they do almost nothing in performing the actual work of Jesus Christ.

Ok, Ok, so you get my point. I understand those things are not wrong. Well let’s look at this practically. I do not put a sign up at my house with spotlights saying, “i am a Christian”, just so everyone can know, that God is here, just in case you didn’t know. Ok, analogies are not perfect, but i want to show that actually reaching out is in contrast to advertising God. We should give them help when they need it. Give them food if we have extra. Mow their lawn if they are incapacitated. A house next door doesn’t show that there are any neighbors, just like a church building does not tangibly prove that there is a loving God. This is why you can have millions of dollars in real estate, top-notch church programs, energetic worship team, and thousands in attendance, but still fail miserably.

We have said enough about Jesus, written enough about Jesus, sang enough about Jesus, it’s about time we just be Jesus. The world doesn’t need anymore words, or pictorial reminders. They need real tangible help. The repetitiveness of Jesus name in public is not going to stop world hunger, cover the homeless, and bring back proper health care.

We pour so much money into displaying our God and our Church that we could easily pay for all the commercial spots available during the Superbowl! Are we afraid that people don’t know that we are here? Does God need a greater display than the heavens? Does He need a greater display than what nature gives us? Will our t-shirts, billboards, tattoos and jewelry make the Church tangible in any way? Will our humanistic efforts to display God make God more real to us or others?

People are over gorged with our Christian sub-culture. We are so accustomed to displaying Jesus, instead of being Jesus. Jesus laid simple principles of this in his teaching. He said,

“for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was 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? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

This is the first part of a series on this blog about the invisible Church. In the next couple of posts, our stewardship methods will be on trial; and hunger, poverty, and health care will be on the witness stand. My final question to you is, “Can a city on a hill be hidden?”