The Shadow of Poverty

Every day in United Sates, there are literally millions of people who are living in poverty in the shadow of our nation's great wealth. Hunger and poverty are quickly becoming a serious epidemic in U.S. Every month close to twenty million Americans go hungry. According to the census, over 35 million people live below the poverty line. Most of our nation's poor are children or elderly. There are over 50,000 orphans in America. Many more people nationwide are homeless and can't fill their basic needs for food and clothing. Drugs, domestic violence, and illiteracy are also harsh realities for many people. Who are these people in need? Where can we find them? They are in our cities, communities, and small towns. They are our neighbors, fellow church members, and even family members. They are not numbers or statistics; they have names, faces, and feelings. Government organizations alone cannot reform or solve the problem. The problem usually has a spiritual root, and the church is already equipped with the answer. We are called by Jesus Christ to minister to a lost and hurting world with love and compassion.

Think Outside the Box

There are a number of ways that you can do effective community ministry. The key is thinking outside of the box. We need to think of new ways to reach our communities for Christ. Depending upon the need in your community, your church can start a food pantry, serve meals to the elderly, offer literacy training, start an after-school program for at-risk youth, or start an art ministry to reach local artists. Our church began an art-mentoring program that has reached hundreds of at-risk youth in our community and in South America. Community ministry shows people in the community that you care.

Meeting the Needs of the Community

We will never know what our community needs until we begin to get outside of the church building. It is amazing how little church people actually interact with non-churchgoers. Matthew 9:35 tells us when Jesus went out into all the cities and villages he saw that the multitudes were weary and had compassion on them. As Jesus went into the community he saw the needs of the people. Get into the community and start assessing the needs of your town or city. Make a personal inventory of the needs, and then you will be able to begin meeting them.

Following God's Heart For the Needy

I think that God is bringing about a renewed awareness for social ministries in the church. For too long the church has focused solely on numerical conversions, forgetting about the need to minister to the whole person. In the past, social ministry has been looked at as something that only liberal Christians do because they lack the spiritual aspect of the Christian faith. There may have been some abuse, but that is no excuse for us to neglect social ministry altogether. God is concerned about the needy, destitute, hurting, poor, and orphans of the world. The word of the Lord tells us that we are commissioned to care for those around us who cannot care for themselves. Too long we've tried to stick band-aids on wounds that will not heal overnight. Being missional is going into places where the world doesn't want to go. Ministry is very dirty. If we are going to make a difference, we must roll up our sleeves and join in the work of Jesus among the poor and disenfranchised of this world. Find the needs of your community and begin to fill them by being a missionary to your city and community.