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| Emergency food for Liberian orphans, Feb 2004 |
The Early Church was radical in serving the needy (Acts
2:45-46; 4:32-37) in an emergency situation. Generosity has always been
encouraged, but not required or imposed (Acts 5:4; 2 Cor. 9:7) because it is a
matter of the heart. “Doing good and sharing with others” (Heb. 13:17) as Jesus
had done (Acts 10:38) was a natural act of servanthood for early Christians
whom Jesus had sent out (John 20:21).
Before
the advent of the welfare state, churches saw it as part of their ministry to
care for the poor, sick, and needy. Christians today still provide the majority
of volunteer and financial support for most of the good work done in our
country. Evangelicals who are faithful in church attendance give more to their
churches than do nominal members (or even members of liberal and mainline
churches), and they also give more to secular charities than non-believers.
Evangelicals are more likely to volunteer time, and they give more blood than
anyone else. “Non-religious” sociologist Ram C. Cnaan of the University of
Pennsylvania studied 12 churches in Philadelphia alone and found that each
church, on average, provided $476,663.24 of services in 2009 to their
surrounding communities. First Baptist Church, Philadelphia[1]
alone provided in 2009 over $6.1 million of services to the community (nearly
10 times its annual budget).[2]
Some
evangelicals are hesitant to affirm the value of social ministry, fearing
repetition of the error of some liberal Christians in substituting social
ministry for the preaching of the Gospel (the so-called “Social Gospel”). But
social ministry and gospel ministry are not an either/or. They are a both/and
partnership. Both are valid expressions of Christ’s love. For many
non-believers, the emphasis on serving the community, the poor, the sick and
the needy is a validation of the Gospel message which we offer. While receiving
service ministry should never be made conditional upon one’s reception of the
Gospel, the reality is that social ministry opens doors to hearts and builds
bridges to communities and people’s hearts by which the Gospel can be
communicated effectively. When we demonstrate Christ’s love, non-believers see
and appreciate that our faith is real and vital.
The
new generation of churches and leaders who call themselves “missional” do not
see a dichotomy between social ministry and gospel ministry. They are fused
together as one validates the other through a genuine desire to serve. The
danger for them is repeating the mistakes of the early 20th century
of doctrinal drift from the exclusivity of Christ and an historic evangelical
position to a more classical liberal mindset. That drift has become evident in
some groups who have quite conservative theological roots. Why? When a staff
member is needed who specializes in the social aspect of ministry, they often
overlook the staff member’s doctrinal accuracy in favor of her or his expertise
in social ministry. Thus the drift begins. The safety factor is to teach those
with a high view of Scripture and the exclusivity of Christ the importance of ministry
to society in Jesus’ Name and the dangers of enclosing one’s church in a
fortress mentality to fight against the world. Jesus said that the gates of
Hell would not prevail against the church, not the other way around (Matt.
16:19).
I am indebted to John Hammett at Southeastern Seminary for much of this material.
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