Last night at my gig I said something about how we’re saved to bring the kingdom to earth, to fix what’s broken, and part of that is caring for the poor. I pointed out that 80% of American pastors say they’ve never spoken about the poor, though there are more verses in the bible concerning the poor than there are concerning heaven and hell – and there’s no shortage of talk about those two places.
It was a different kind of gig for me. A pastor was supposed to pontificate between my songs and the audience was supposed to ask questions. There wasn’t a whole lot of either – which was fine – but after my bit about poverty and the silence of pastors one audience member did ask a hard question. “Why don’t we hear more about the kingdom and poverty in church?”
I looked at the pastor to see if he wanted to take a stab at that and he nodded me on. And I went on. If I had another shot at answering I could be more coherent and complete I think. My rambling answer’s been bugging me all night long. So, here’s another attempt.
THREE REASONS
In my experience, when a pastor explains to me why he won’t allow me to speak about poverty at his church, it is because of one of three reasons.
ONE PROBLEM
So, in the end, I think the main reason pastors I’ve encountered are reluctant or unwilling to talk about poverty in church is because they are uninformed, not because they are unloving. The central role of the needy in the story of the kingdom come, and the present tense right-now nature of the kingdom, was not taught to them or impressed deeply enough while the necessity to administrate a church as a CEO/CFO does has been deeply pressed into them. So their own “needs” supersede, at times, the needs of the poor and the coming of the kingdom – The greatest need of the CEO/CFO/pastor sometimes being to please the congregation.
As the Church Administration Handbook taught to me in Baylor University’s religion department states, a pastor has the “need to budget, subscribe the budget, and use the funds from this limited resource in keeping with the wishes of the congregation.”
SPEAKING TO SPIRITUAL PEOPLE
The reality is though, I’ve experienced over and over again, that the congregation is not upset when asked to help the poor. It is not against their wishes.
Ezekiel tells us it’s the Spirit of God who moves us to obey God’s commands and so anyone with the Spirit in them is not immovably opposed to the will of God or the words written down under the guidance of the Spirit. The task for the person speaking about the poor (pastor, blogger or whatever) is to frame the discussion spiritually, not politically or in purely humanitarian or financial terms – to illustrate persuasively that caring for the poor is deeply inseparably Christian. And, I’ve found, when that’s done, spiritual people the pastor assumed would resent an “ask” are quick to respond to the need they’ve been presented with. The wishes of the congregation, I’ve found, are very much in line with the wishes of God when the values and plan of God are simply explained to them.
Does your pastor ever talk about poverty and the kingdom? If not, kindly ask them why not and let us know what they say. I’m curious if the pastors I’ve known are representative of pastor on the whole.
Shaun,
Thank you for sharing this. Your writings on poverty have been instrumental in awakening me to my duty as a christian to help the poor above a lot of other things I busy myself with. It is interesting that you should post this today since earlier I read something on this very subject which, to me, seemed very much at the opposite end of the spectrum on this particular question. It’s from the Midwest Christian Outreach weekly piece called The Crux, a usually pretty opinionated column which you might already read yourself:
http://midwestoutreach.org/blogs/114/who-shall-rule
I will gladly admit the very likely possibility that I misunderstood the author’s (Don Veinot) point but I was struck but the following passage in particular:
“Rick Warren seems very comfortable and enamored with the political left. He is dedicated to the idea that contrary to Jesus’ claims that we would always have the poor (Matt. 26:11; Mk. 14:7; Jn. 12:8), we humans can eliminate poverty, hunger and sickness from the face of the earth.”
I kind of don’t know what to make of this, particularly when placed against what your opinion seems to be, and with which I agree. What gives? Does Don have a valid point here? If so what does it mean?
I can’t speak for Rick Warren, but I personally don’t believe we can wipe poverty from the face of the earth. We will always have the poor.
I do no help the poor because I believe I can help them all. I do it because Jesus helped me, because I’m compelled to, because it displays the character and priorities of God, because no one else can do it as efficaciously as the church, because I’m commanded to, because it’s satisfying, because I can, because they ask us too, because I have to do something with all the resources I’ve been given.
Also, we will also always have atheists. And we’ll always have pastors who want to be paid. And we’ll always have political corruption. And we’ll always have war. I never hear anyone mention these things we’ll always have as an excuse not to tell others about Jesus, pass the offering plates, elect so-and-so or attack such-and-such dictator.
Christians advocate doing a great many things to combat problems we’ll always have. Why is poverty any different?
Gaby, I don’t believe that when Jesus said we’d always have the poor with us that he meant for that to be a reason to not act. If you take Christ’s message concerning the poor as a whole, Christians are clearly called to do all we can to alleviate suffering wherever it is. Matthew 25 makes it clear that how we treat the poor is somehow tied up with our salvation.
Shaun, great post. One of my biggest frustrations is the American church’s unrelenting financial focus on itself. I wish more pastors would go to places where they see what God still does when there are no fancy facilities, sound systems, or even lights.
Shaun, I really like that you say we need to frame this conversation spiritually.
I probably get asked for money anywhere from 2-4 times daily, whether it be at the gas station or in my mail. I think there’s a certain fatigue that comes with that, that hardens our hearts just a little to the next cause presented to us. When I tell people about my sponsored children, they often get this glint in their eyes, like…”you sucker” b/c they think I’m a bleeding heart and sending money to line someone wealthy’s pockets. I explain to them that I have researched Compassion, but they don’t always believe.
The churches I have been visiting lately do talk about the poor, but not in the…”this is a priority command” sort of way, but rather, this is what we do with 3% of the budget.
It’s really a radical change in lifestyle required to really cling to this and not all believe it is necessary.
Wow….great thoughts and well said. I want to read this again later and think about it more. My husband and I have been having and ongoing dialogue about our increasing distaste for the general prosperity gospel theology that is so prevelant in our American churches….and how little that seems to actually do with the KINGDOM…which Jesus talked about more than any other topic during his ministry….
you did a great job last night, seriously. chris and i talked about what you said at that point in the night after we left. you communicated clearly. fosho.
i feel like i’m in surreal land because i am part of a church who was built around helping the poor. the building we lease is to help a church that is struggling. our other campus is all the way out in dickson, which as you know, isn’t exactly williamson county.
currently 10% of our budget goes to mission opportunity AND education – getting people involved. and i have a very strong feeling that percentage will continue to increase as time goes by.
but this is an anomaly. and that is sad. heart breaking, actually.
Hope in truth.
“I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy…”
The pastors I have known were either ignorant of the subject or felt pressure from the congregation to live up to the 3 B’s of pastoring a church- baptisms, buildings, and budgets. In my eagerness to make broad, sweeping generalizations, I’ve decided that most pastors like comfort too much to preach on uncomfortable things. There is no room for preaching how we should live when comfort is a priority.
One pastor told us that feeding the hungry and clothing the naked is not our focus- but we should be telling people about Jesus. When he said “tell people about Jesus,” what I think he meant was invite them to church so they can nod agreement with a few basic beliefs, get baptized, and begin tithing. Or maybe I’m just cynical.
I’m amazed when I reflect upon how many sermons I’ve heard and how most of those sermons are based loosely around the same 20-30 scriptures.
Shaun, Texas In Africa, thank you for your clarification and taking the time to enunciate them. I think I knew all this already and just needed reminding, reinforcement. Thank God for teachers in the Body of Christ!
My pastor in West Michigan does speak about the poor on occasion, but our church also partners with community organizations. At this time, there is a campaign to buy backpacks and school supplies for children that cannot otherwise have these new items. There is also food pantry donations that are gathered for the local food pantry. With the unemployment rates at an all-time high in Michigan, there are more needy families to feed and clothe. Our congregation seems to respond well to these types of campaigns.
Shaun, well articulated. Maybe this post should have been titled “You Can’t Handle The Truth”? Or at least subtitled.
I am grateful to be a part of a church community that values giving and service. We have recently decided to dedicate 60% of our budget to local and foreign missions (50% to local and foreign efforts to feed, heal, clothe, and train, and 10% to other gospel-centered church plants and ministries). We’ll be “living” on 40% of our offerings, and we’re excited about it.
I actually think more and more pastors are talking about the poor and about the kingdom, but I obviously don’t have the exposure to as many and as often as you do, Shaun, so I admit my perception may be skewed.
I’m thankful for your ministry. It’s the biblical kind of prophetic the evangelical church needs.
It’s hard to tell a prophet from a pain in the ass. I’m not so sure about the prophetic thing, but thanks for the encouragement anyway.
There are LOADS of churches and pastors caring about and for the poor which is why most of the posts I do about church and poverty are complimentary – highlighting the good examples out there. Thanks for sharing your good stories with us here too, everybody.
While Michigan may currently have the highest unemployment rate in the country, it is still below 10%. Thus I doubt it is an all time high. I’ll wager it was higher at the end of the Carter administration and certainly it was higher during the depression. That said:
I guess I have been lucky. I have only briefly been a member of a church which did not have a food closet and a benevolent fund and a Sunday set aside as “Bread Basket Sunday” (or something similar). That brief membership was in a very conservative and fundamentalist Baptist church. My point is that there are benevolent churches out there. My advice would be that if yours isn’t either change it from within or change churches.
Charlie Mac
One encouraging story I know of – there’s a megachurch in the Minneapolis area that has a partnership with a hospital in a city in the Congo where I do research. I met the pastor over there a few years ago and asked what they were doing. He said, “Well, it’s our church’s 50th anniversary, and we’re growing, and we need a new building, so we raised the money for that. But we decided that since it’s our jubilee anniversary, we should give that money away to mission projects all over the world.” Long story short, they donated the only machine in the region that can do appropriate blood counts for HIV/AIDS patients (which is hundreds of thousands of dollars), and constructed a building where Congolese doctors can receive training and other community outreach work can be done – by local Christians. That, to me, is what church should be. And it seems that God is still able to work just fine in the building they already had.
AWESOME! Thanks for telling that story, TIA.
If you know me at all (and I think at least you do of those here Shaun), you know I’m a huge advocate of Compassion and the poor in general. Our oldest son is preparing to serve in the mission field in Zambia next spring. I don’t think the church in general is doing enough to be THE CHURCH where the poor are concerned. Yes, there are many, many churches doing a heck of a lot, but there’s always more to be done; that’s for sure.
I would caution however that it should never be an “either/or” choice. I’m NOT implying that it is in the situations here either (no hate mail please!).
While we should and could certainly be doing more to demonstrate the kingdom here on earth and to carry out Christ’s commands, etc. wherever He leads; we cannot do it at the expense of sharing the gospel.
If we as Christians do not share the gospel intently and intentionally at EVERY opportunity, then it will be harder to get the church to care, feed and clothe the poor; or anyone else for that matter.
A very interesting movie I watched showed this very well. It’s called “Time Changer.” It’s about a seminary professor that is submitting work to his fellows for publication. Parts of the work are challenged by one of them as not being strong enough and clear enough on the authority of God. This challenger is mostly seen by the others as “past his prime”, etc. He challenges this younger man to really seek Biblical authority in EVERYTHING he does and then, using a “time machine,” sends him ahead in time 100 years.
This man, besides seeing a very different culture (cars, movies, etc.) he becomes very aware that a huge shift has occurred. While there are plenty of rules, etc. the AUTHORITY with which they are given has been lost. Example: a child steals this man’s hot dog. When he catches her, he tells her it’s wrong to steal. She asks him why. He doesn’t say “because you’ll get in trouble.” Rather he says “because God says it’s wrong. Jesus is our authority and example in all we do.” She had no idea WHO Jesus was.
He saw for himself how in the name of “freedom from religion,” the authority of Christ had been removed from society. Because the authority was gone, so was the joy that comes from obedience to Christ and His commands.
I may not be explaining it very well (not my strong sight), but suffice it to say that if we don’t have the gospel first and foremost, then nothing else Christ taught matters. All of what He taught, in one way or another, is matters of the heart. If our heart’s don’t belong to Him nothing will.
Beth
I thought your answer Wednesday night was great, and this one adds very nicely to it. Thanks for a great night.
Shaun,
Great post. Didn’t Jesus teach us to pray “Thy Kingdom come, here on earth, as it is in heaven”.
I just discovered “Blog Action Day”, coming up 10/15 … this year it’s on poverty. I’ve registered, and will be mentioning it today, and linking there, and to your entry here.
For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon
http://www.fredmckinnon.com
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com
I appreciate everything about this post and the comments. Living in a place where there are few visibly poor people, that same avenue of outreach can seem daunting. People here are ‘spiritually’ poor – it is hard to reach out to a community that feels all it’s needs are met(in the physical sense).
Thus, Compassion has been a great outlet to teach our girls about the girls we sponsor and why it makes a difference.
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, Will also cry himself and not be heard. (Proverbs 21:13).