I’ve just tried to find a nice current link that would fit in with this. Within the church, and as followers of Christ, we are told to give to the poor and provide and visit them and care for the sick and visit those in prison. Those who are “the least of mine”. It is our duty.
But it can be hacked. There are those who deliberately engineer crises and accusations. The most recent diplomatic scandal in NZ has been linked back to a queer activist who ended up in a relationship with some poor Malaysian security guard. There is a crisis on the border of the USA with economic illegals that is a direct consequence of federal policy and another one in the EU which again is a result of policies in Brussels: Abbott has basically stopped the boat people problem in Australia by shipping them back to Indonesia.
We cannot stop those who are evil exploiting us, blaming us, accusing us, getting us into lawsuits. We have a duty to those of the faith, and to those who are around. But we should not pretend that everyone is genuine.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by 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 welcomed me, 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? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
(Matthew 25:31-46 ESV)
The problem is that when we read that one thinks when did I last do these things? I have, in various times, as part of my job, worked in prisons, but going there is something I avoid. I don’t work in the food centre. I do work in a hospital.
It is wiser to give to the church and let them coordinate. It’s also easier for the indigent: they have to go to one place not everyone’s homes. But my kirk does have agencies that do all these things. The food bank is run by the Anglicans, but collects from the Catholics, Presbyterians. When I was in Auckland the City Presbyterian (in the Fale was collecting clothes for the city mission — which was founded by Methodists.
And this is in a country which has had a welfare state for 120 years — we bought the basic network of pensions into being in the 1880s.
That is good, but there is another danger. We can become, as a church, part of the state welfare system: being paid for doing these things. We can accept monies for our schools, our missions, our homes for the elderly and the mad, and when we do that the state will demand control and regulation of our policies and actions.
And we will lose that very freedom to act which Christ died for. It is not merely the criminals who can distort and exploit our goodwill, but those lawmakers who enshrine a penumbra of legality over structural evil.
Perhaps this is why Christ told us to remain innocent as doves — but as crafty and wise as a snake. We may choose to let the indigent rip us off. The powerful do not have that right, nor should we allow such an evil.
Our church runs a food distribution center, gives out other food as a part of the benevolence ministry (you have to sit and chat with an elder to get benevolence, and there’s a scale of help), has a prison ministry, we get people rides to church and to the hospital and whatnot as much as we can. There are things that semi-mega-churches can get done that smaller churches can’t get done. I’ve had to deal with users as part of my ministry, and it sucks. You don’t want to shoo off a potential child of God, but at the same time you can’t let them abuse what others truly need.
One of the reasons for churches to do these things out of the office or a structure is because there is then backup — so if one of the deaconesses is working with someone who is ripping off or pressure is being put on some bloke can come in and help.
Or vice versa. Particularly, in these litigious days, women begging off elders… you need a witness in the room.
The bigger dingier is getting monies of the state of California ow whatever, and then having their bureaucrats telling you what ou can and cannot say. This is an error mainline churches incl. the Catholic fell into in NZ: the social agencies became funded by the state.
We are now losing those contacts, and it is probably for the best.
At the functional level, “State” money, while useful, isn’t charity. It’s tax money extracted by force from others. That’s the rub that Churches haven’t found a good way to deal with for nearing 200 years. (The changes in the nature of Governments from the 1850s on put the Church in a very different position) That’s what causes problems before the reality of “who controls the purse strings?” comes up.
At the practical level, “State” money is also horribly inefficiently used, so the System will be gamed & abused by its users. This is how the Welfare State easily arose. The State can shove more money at a “problem” than a Church can ever give time & money to. The State also operates to make those that it “helps” dependent upon the “help” they give, as it serves their interests. That interest? The Church is a competitor for Souls. Something to never be forgotten.
For the Church to operate in this environment, it ends up being “partnerships” that are formed. You’ve got to be very careful about money accepted, but you can easily meet “with” agencies or government organizations and coordinate activities. It normally helps to have church members within that government organization as well. It’s always important to perform outreach to those in power.
Our church takes a benevolence offering. When we need other stuff, we just ask, people leave it in a cart by the elevator. We don’t partner with the state. With Trader Joe’s? Yes. (We distribute the food they have left over as one of the food things – the other one is part of benevolence). But it’s a big church. (3000 members, 2000 or so show up regularly). We have the manpower, we should use it.
We are very careful – no ladies alone with gentlemen in our church, not for any reason. Learned our lessons from other churches doing faceplants.