Morning Star Baptist Church is getting its hands dirty.
I'm glad many churches have been quick to consider how they might contribute financially, but I sense in my own heart that, for me at least, writing a check is an easy way out—a simple, relatively painless way to salve my conscience.
The Morning Star approach is more radical. It strikes me as more like following Christ—not just contributing to His ministry.
2 comments:
Very kind; thanks.
Let me say that, while your point is more than valid -- sometimes a check can be an easy way out -- a financial gift may very well be the most efficient way of helping in this kind of a crisis. It's right up there with housing and transportation, which both actually require significant funds, too. Gas is liquid gold these days, and overpopulation is a problem in the camps and domes. While we've had an encouraging and enthusiastic response (for which we're grateful) for some transportation and housing, we could definitely use financial support from outside of our small congregation to be able to continue doing what we are striving to do, with wise stewardship and discretion.
That being said (I'm not trying to contradict you!), our local body has corporately been studying the ministry of "stranger love"/hospitality, so this hits us at an obviously providentially-timed juncture. There is something about hospitality (especially open-ended hospitality with a lot of unknowns and shown to strangers rather than friends) that is way out of our comfort zone. Like you said, Jesus demonstrated it -- a love that lays down life (metaphorically, in our case) for the sake of His own glory and for man's best ultimate good. If we can do this cup-of-cold-water-giving thing to whatever degree becomes necessary, we're showing God's strength to use us in spite of our natural inhibitions and selfishness. It's tangible fruit of the spirit. For some of us, like you say, just writing a check could be passing up an opportunity to force open "our" arms and "our" homes for the sake of Christ's Gospel.
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