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Do churches do enough for the poor?
A new survey found that 67 percent of Americans believe their churches are doing enough to help the poor. But according to Steve Haas, vice president for church relations at World Vision, Christians are only “scratching the surface”:
Pointing to the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics that show the national poverty level increased from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 13.3 percent in 2005, Haas highlighted the discrepancy between what Christians believe and what’s really happening.
The reason for the disconnect, he says, is ignorance and a level of fear.
“The definition of outreach typically of the church is proclamation. [But] outreach is my reaching out in some form of compassion that could be listening or an act of service,” Haas told The Christian Post. “Actions speak much louder than words.”
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being poor and 10 being excellent, how would you rank the job churches are doing in helping the poor? In what ways do you think churches could do a better job of reaching and helping this demographic?
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“Pointing to the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics that show the national poverty level increased from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 13.3 percent in 2005, Haas highlighted the discrepancy between what Christians believe and what’s really happening.”
Are you saying the churches are responsible for the increasing poverty level?
Anyway the problem I see is that most churches are made up of the people in the immediate area or neighborhood. Therefore you have big suburban churches in wealthy neighborhoods with one poor person and and you have little churches in rural areas where 6 out of ten members are fixed income widows and small urban churches where nearly everyone is poor. Everyone thinks they are either doing enough or the best they can because they are not looking beyond their own membership. Wouldn’t it be great if these big rich churches formed a sort of partnership or adoptions of these small poor churches. The poor church know the needs and the rich churches have the resources.
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Begin with the ability to recognize the poor within their own midst
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Spend some time at the US Census website — especially examining how they determine poverty and read the sections an alternative income determinations — remember this is a statistics and as such we can only make limited determinations from a single number. If Steve Haas really wants to make this claim, then he needs to perform a statistical survey of church mercy program giving in relation to the poverty in the churches immediate geographical area. Also, the US Census data does not discriminate geographically — thus it use a single fixed income rate (for family type) across the board, regardless of where you live.
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My main problem with this concept is: What is the definition of poverty? I know a lot of low-income people that are using food stamps, on medicaid for their children. They would probably be counted as those in poverty. However, they have color TVs, cable connections, cell phones, air conditioning, cars etc.
I have no problem feeding people who need the food even if they have squandered money on other things first. My daughter has a few friends like this. I have more than once emptied my cabinets so kids (and parents) could have a few meals. Most churchs in my area have food banks. They also advertise on their marquees the day that anyone can come by to get food and clothing.
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There are poor people in our midst and churches need to care (and do care) for them in practical and spiritual ways. But statistics about “the poor” in America are usually worse than worthless.
In many cases, people who statistically qualify for being “poor,” spend 2 to 3 times more money each year than they report as income.
Many older people who qualify for “poverty” status own their homes outright and live rather independently on a modest income.
To love them and help them whenever possible is a wonderful thing, but there is no need to categorize people statistically as a pretext for helping them.
Obesity is the number one health problem for those in “poverty” in America. And yes, it is indeed a problem that we should care about.
The quality of the life lived by the “poor” continues to rise in the USA (regardless of contrived statistics to elicit collective guilt) in terms of entertainment options, transportation resources, employment opportunities, consumption power, housing opportunities, communication resources and relational opportunities.
The “poor” have also been found to “eat out” more often than middle and upper class people (but it’s usually at fast food restaurants).
All that said, I would rate our church at about a 7 or 8 for benevolence and helping the poor, both locally and abroad. But we sure cannot help everyone who asks for it.
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Only ministers and church secretaries have the slightest idea how many pan-handlers and homeless or needy people (legit and illegit) will call or come to churches out of the blue with their hands out on almost a daily basis. And they keep coming.
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Most of the benevolence and outreach to the poor done by churches never gets reported or counted.
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This speaks to the larger question of, how does one be a Good Samaritan in the most prosperous nation that has ever existed? There ARE some truly needy people here, people who simply don’t have the personal gifts to be able to provide minimally for themselves without help. The pysically or mentally disabled, those despondent to the point of suicide, and neglected children. The state attempts to help all these to varying degrees, usually with poor success due to the complexity of the issues.
But these people do not cluster. It’s one person here, two people there. It’s not easy to find them. Other than just attempting to help when one runs across such people, what can one do?
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Also not reported is help by individual Christians not officially on behalf of the any Church.
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#6 I have some experience with church benevolence work. A church I knew in Austin was located on that city’s infamous “Drag”. The Drag is infamous for its homeless/vagrant population which students and locals derisively call “dragworms”.
These folks were all the time arriving at the church to ask for money. Many of course were/are mentally ill, with all manner of addictions to boot. The church actually installed surveillance cameras and a “buzz to let you in” gate which kept the beggars to a manageable minimum.
I think the real focus for benevolence ministries should be on intact families with small children instead of homeless winos whose autobiographical narratives are often suspect.
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Perhaps we could all learn much from the Mormons and their communal commodity storehouses. Do LDS churches have a big homeless problem??
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Just like defining deviancy down, we see poverty being defined upwards. While the rate of poverty as described by the Census Bureau might have gone up statistically, so has the rate of obesity, home, cable TV, computer, cell phone, and car ownership for those dwelling in poverty.
I’ve never known a church or been involved in one that did not have an active benevolence ministry.
Sawgunner, LDS wards and stakes take care of their own. Evangelicals provide relief for non LDS poor and homeless in Salt Lake City.
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I don’t know what our church does for the poor, statistically, though I know we have a monthly collection and we do pay utility bills and such for people who need it. But we support a local missionary who works with the poor (helping them learn financial skills, save to buy a house–matched dollar for dollar, etc.), support an after-school inner-city ministry (we send volunteers and funds), support a prison chaplain, and more. In December we are involved in MULTIPLE outreaches to the poor, and we’ve taken up special collections other times. For a church of under 100 people, I’d say we’re doing quite a bit, but I have no idea where we’d fit on a scale of 1 to 10.
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Joel is right in post 6
Kbells makes an excellent point post 9
No one knows all the money and food which is given out by Churches. It is unfair for anyone to run numbers and then announce they have accurate statistics. Private funds, private money, private help is given all the time and is not published.
Many Believers are NOT GOING to give out the money they give, either to their Church, Missions, Charity, OR private funds. It is no one’s business, it is between the giver and GOD.
This is what JESUS said, who are we to argue with GOD the Son?
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6
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My church (in Southern California) distributes food to the poor locally. The youth group builds homes in Mexico each spring, and there are mission trips to Africa and Latin America in the summer. I agree with many of Joel Mark’s comments about the state of the poor in America.
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At my church in Killeen we have a wide-range of incomes and jobs. A woman my wife knows has her grand-daughter living with her (or she had at one time. The girl’s mother is in and out of her and grandma’s life).
When this lady came and confided that she was unemployed and in dire straits, we prayed and decided it was appropriate to help her. We bought a pre-paid card for a local grocery chain. (Good for food, gas, beer, cigs etc). Eva [not her real name] used the card as long as she needed and then was good enough to pass it along to her daughter.
Being directly connected with someone’s improved financial lot is a real positive feeling.
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I’m impressed. It was not until post #4 that the thread turned to the latest repetition of the “the poor are lazy scum who don’t deserve help” song.
Joel Mark’s linking obesity among the poor to an imaginary abundance of food and not to the actual reality that non-nutritious, highly fattening food is all they can afford was particularly artful. (#5)
But the leader so far has to be Sawgunner in #10, who said, The church actually installed surveillance cameras and a “buzz to let you in” gate which kept the beggars to a manageable minimum.
Jesus would be so proud! Keep those beggars out!
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More seriously, Joel Mark at #5: All that said, I would rate our church at about a 7 or 8 for benevolence and helping the poor, both locally and abroad. But we sure cannot help everyone who asks for it.
And that is precisely why well-designed federal welfare programs are needed.
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To answer your question: I rate the church’s performance a 1. Of course every church does “something” to help the poor. But truthfully when you compare percentages, it’s a very small percentage of what they should do to help. Leadership Journal puts out a statistic of “normal” church giving that shows 86% of the giving is spent on buildings and staffing to meet the needs of the people giving the money! This is considered “normal” when compared to tradition. The Bible shows this is extremely self-serving. There is a way to do everything the church has been asked to do by God AND have 100% of the giving go out the door to 1. Reach all nations 2. Serve the poor. Another tragic statistic that is widely accepted is that that the average percentage of income believers give to their churches is 2.8%. This is also tragic. But then, why would the Holy Spirit convict believers to give more if 86% is going back to fund stuff for the givers – which isn’t giving in the first place. It’s pooling. Just as the Catholic church uses scripture to prove indulgences, Pope finery, etc, protestants use twisted scripture to justify devoting 86% of the giving to make the institutionalized system of church work.
The real poor of this world are largely outside our country. Most (but not all) of the poor in our country are not poor at all, they just have less than some others. The press and liberals always want to expand the definition of the poor to justify bashing conservative presidents. When a liberal is in the white house the poverty problem is swept under the rug. Everything is rosy with the poor.
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Thanks Steve you saved me the trouble.
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Tima – 19
This is not true of all Churches, or Church groups. Grouping everyone together with such flmsy facts in not fair or truthful.
See post 14, many do not give out information regarding their giving, so you nor anyone else would know what they did.
I have been affiliated with Churches which never spent money on their own buildings, never mind new ones. Most ALL the funds went to mission work, helping the poor in many countries.
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Tima,
This is only a suggestion, …. it would be much easier to read your posts if you would use paragraphs.
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SteveG-
Previously, I worote; “But we sure cannot help everyone who asks for it.”
SteveG responded, “And that is precisely why well-designed federal welfare programs are needed.”
I agree that some welfare programs are needed. We see a functional equivilent to some welfare in the Bible. But my statement had nothing to do with any reason for why such programs are allegedly needed.
My statement (at least my intended meaning) had more to do with the fact that it often hurts some needy people irreparably to give them money. More to the point, it is often harmful to give people what they ask for. There are different ways of helping people besides doing what they ask. And when our church cannot or does not comply with a request, often idividual members do. Sometimes, the request is found not to be legit.
But there will always be needs and churches are responsible to help people RESPONSIBLY, and that means evaluating the real needs as opposed to the felt needs.
But my statement had no bearing on what the gov’t does or needs to do. I think that when our government is excessive in their welfare programs, it may do more harm than good with such programs. Such programs need more oversight and personal (local) attention. Checks from the feds create unhealthy dependency and actually adds to the poverty problem. To create dependency on the federal gov’t in able-bodied people is to do more harm that good over all.
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SteveG at 17 wrote; “It was not until post #4 that the thread turned to the latest repetition of the ‘the poor are lazy scum who don’t deserve help’ song.”
SteveG, you have misrepresented the comments of #4. Rather than addressing the issues raised, you just twisted and distorted what was said in the first place. That’s disingenuous.
Remember a previous thread where your name-calling was pointed out and you denied the obvious? Your use of the word “scum” mis-represented anything #4 wrote and it was an example of hypothetical name-calling and it was unfair. I will say again, as long as you deny your problem with name-calling, you will not overcome it.
And I never said or implied anything about an “imaginary abundance of food” for the poor who have an obesity problem. Where did you get that? I merely pointed out that it was a problem and we should care. Please deal with what I said, not what you distort from what I said.
Here’s what I wrote; “Obesity is the number one health problem for those in “poverty” in America. And yes, it is indeed a problem that we should care about.”
And you have no idea whether those who eat”highly fattening food” do so because they cannot afford other types. Your presumptions are not facts.
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Just like the killing and murdering of millions in the world through our inaction and lack of doing, the poor also suffer needlessly because of our inaction and lack of action.
The sin of omission is much more prevelant than that of commisssion – in most things. Doing makes all the difference
I’m glad someone or fine group like the World Vision agrees with my tested assumptions on these matters.
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Joel Mark, this is what PWoodall said in #4: I know a lot of low-income people that are using food stamps, on medicaid for their children. They would probably be counted as those in poverty. However, they have color TVs, cable connections, cell phones, air conditioning, cars etc.
I have no problem feeding people who need the food even if they have squandered money on other things first.
Now it is true that I recapitulated that in starker terms, and I do so deliberately because I was not speaking solely of this comment; I was pointing out that every single time the issue of helping the poor is raised on WoW, a dependable cadre of participants quickly come in to tell us how the poor are really not doing that badly and are wasting the money they do have on frivolous things. Now what is the point of saying that at all if it’s not to imply that they are lazy, irresponsible people with a hand out?
“Scum” may not be a word anybody’s used, but it’s definitely the subtext I get from some of you.
I mean, they have color TVs! They have CARS! What wasteful spenders they are! But PWoodall wants to make sure we know that even though “they” are such wasters, PWoodall is so very kindhearted that he or she will give them some charity anyway, and we should all know how good PWoodall is.
Puh-leeze.
And I never said or implied anything about an “imaginary abundance of food” for the poor who have an obesity problem. Where did you get that? I merely pointed out that it was a problem and we should care. Please deal with what I said, not what you distort from what I said.
It is and we should, but again, I am not sure of the point. It seemed very much to me that you were saying that if they eat enough to get fat, they must not be short on food.
Wheras the real reason they get fat that is that high-calorie, starchy food, fatty meats, processed snack cakes and chips are a lot less expensive than fresh fruits, vegetables, healthy breads and dairy.
So again, if I did misread your intent then I apologize, but I don’t see how obesity is the most serious or immediate problem to address when they’re struggling to feed families (with whatever food they can afford) and keep the rent paid.
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SteveG,
There is nothing wrong about anything PWOODALL wrote at #4. In your post at #17, you accused PWOODALL of conveying that “the poor are lazy scum who don’t deserve help.” YOU MADE THAT COMPLETELY UP to distort and even smear his statement incorrectly.
PWOODALL made some valid points that shows a realistic and helpful attitude toward needy people, some of whom he personally knows and has helped.
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Joel Mark:
I’m sure you believe that (#27), just as I’m sure you have believed it at other times when you’ve accused me of distorting what people have said, name-calling, etc.
But I am reading what you all are writing, and I can tell you that as an observer I see a lot of judgment and only a smidgen of charity — usually grudging or proud — reflected the words of the dependable cadre of participants I mentioned in #26.
You can dismiss my critique if you like, but I can assure you that if I am seeing it — and I am a reasonably sympathetic critic — it’s a sure bet that others see it too.
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More to the point, it is often harmful to give people what they ask for. There are different ways of helping people besides doing what they ask. And when our church cannot or does not comply with a request, often individual members do. Sometimes, the request is found not to be legit.
Quick summary — Joel doesn’t trust the poor.
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