The Church and the Poor

I came across this article from our paper over the weekend about the church, the gospel, and the connection to the poor. The piece is well-written in its articulation about the clear connection that ought to exist between followers of Jesus and those who are poor. The issue is gaining momentum throughout the American church, as Leadership Journal and Outreach Magazine both featured the issue in their most recent publications. I am sure by now that more and more followers of Jesus are being convinced of the importance of connecting the gospel with those are most under-resourced, whether in our own communities or throughout the world; in other words, there don't seem to be that many 'why' questions when it comes to the gospel and poverty. There are, however, many 'how' questions, in terms of what churches ought to be doing and how they go about accomplishing it.

A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to a helpful model that brings clarity to the 'how' questions churches seeking to connect with the poor are asking. The model consists of five stages, with stage one being the easiest and also the least impactful and rising in terms of both difficulty and impact until you reach stage five:

• Referral (Stage 1): most churches do well here. How this practically works is someone either calls the church or physically drops in with a need, and church staff or people know where to refer them to: a mission, a thrift store, a food pantry, a soup kitchen. A person's needs are met, we've done something to help, but the impact is fairly minimal. For most of my life, this is what we've always done in the churches that I've been a part of.
• Direct Service (Stage 2): a bit more difficult and a bit more impactful, churches here actually serve the people with the needs. This includes much of what we do on a Wednesday night and also anytime a church participates in serving at a soup kitchen, a thrift store, a mission, etc. It's a bit more challenging and a little more impactful, but still not much being done in terms of breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

After stage, the progress becomes much more difficult, but also much more impacting. Most churches stop at stage two whereas the current movement invites churches to continue to explore the remaining three stages:

• Education (Stage 3): this is where a church or a group from the church participates in the education process of someone who is poor. When you read Ruby Payne you understand that in order for people to make it out of generational poverty, they need to have relationships with people from the middle class in order to learn the 'rules' that we take for granted (things like meal planning, basic parenting, budgeting, the ins and out of the educational system, etc). In stage 3, churches become the mentor for the working poor attempting to help provide some education to help break this cycle. In Sioux Falls, one such initiative is the Genesis Project, led by the Community Outreach, which Hillcrest will begin participating in next month.
• Advocacy (Stage 4): here the church begins to systematically address issues connected with the working poor, whether its transportation (a big issue in Sioux Falls as public transit ends at 7 or 7:30 leaving people without public transit for late shift jobs), housing, etc.
• Organizing and development (stage 5): where the church is a centerpiece along with the school and other service agencies to holistically address the needs of the poor within a community.

The 'how' questions will continue to persist but this model at least gives churches a platform to consider for how to live out the truths of the gospel.