Forget About Poverty But Not the Poor
Jesus never commanded us to eradicate poverty. As a matter of fact, he told us that we would always have the poor with us (John 12:8). And since it’s all relative, it is actually impossible to end poverty. However, it’s a human impulse to try and fix problems, and there is something in many of us that would just like to find a way to fix the problem of poverty, but that is not our calling. That is not what Jesus has commanded us to do.
But what he did call us to do is to spend time with the poor (Luke 14:13); share the good news with the poor (Luke 4:18); and give to the poor (Luke 12:33). Serving the poor, loving the poor, even giving to the poor will probably not remove the problem of poverty in a person’s life, but that should not stop us from doing those things anyway. We serve, love and give in order to honor and obey Jesus. In fact, by doing this for the poor we are actually serving, loving and giving to Jesus himself (Matt. 25:35).
So here are a few ways that you can answer God’s call to serve the poor with us:
My Father’s House is a place here in Lake Charles for guys to go who are trying to get back on their feet spiritually. Many of these guys have lost or given up everything, and have both physical and spiritual needs. To help the ministry of My Father’s House you could donate money, you could sponsor one of the guys who live there and spend time with him, or you could donate food or cooked meals occasionally; the opportunities are many.
We have missionaries in the countries of Mexico and Japan that we financially support. You could call the church or go to the church website and get their contact info and send them care packages, cards or money; you could pray for them that God would take care of their needs and strengthen their efforts to build the Kingdom of God in their countries.
We also support a network of Vineyard churches in small villages in the mountains of the Philippines. This winter we plan to ship some care packages to our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in these villages. Right now you could begin to collect things that you think a poor family in the mountains might need to send to them in December.
Finally, we also support a growing network of Vineyard Churches in Nicaragua. We are involved in this country (the second poorest in the western hemisphere) in a number of ways: We financially support the Vineyard Nicaragua Partnership; we support and encourage individual churches in Nicaragua; we send missionary teams every spring to visit and encourage the churches, to serve through outreaches, build roofs, bring ministry supplies, etc…; and then there is Arms of Love Children’s Home. Whenever we travel to Nicaragua we spend lots of time with these wonderful kids and the committed people who run this ministry.
If you want to serve the poor in Nicaragua there are several options. You could go to the website for Arms of Love and sponsor a child, you could collect and donate ministry supplies in the spring as we prepare for our trip, but I believe the best thing you can do is… to go and visit. I would like to challenge you to pray now about going with us this spring. It does cost money and time and resources, lots of them, but it is worth it!