Don’t Forget the Poor: A Biblical Approach to Addressing Poverty

 

A Key Role of the Local Church in Countering Poverty: Building Relational Resources

A fourth step in the biblical approach to alleviating poverty is for the local church to build the social capital or relational resources that it is uniquely capable of producing. This results from the promotion of Spirit-inspired koinonia (Christian love, unity, togetherness, and mutual support) and of biblical responsibility for the weak, isolated, disabled, and suffering. Miller and Yamamori illustrate the growth of social capital that global Pentecostal churches promote. Pentecostalism creates commitment to community, a family orientation, and a respect for differences among peoples that transcends gender, race, and social class.

The Jerusalem church practiced a community-oriented lifestyle and mutual support of one another, which assured that no one among them had need (Acts 2:43–47). They also learned that they needed to create a corps of Spirit-filled leaders to take care of the welfare of the widows (Acts 6). These deacons were the forerunners of today’s social work profession; they were ordained (set aside for special service) to care for the poor. When they took over this task, this freed the apostles to proclaim the gospel. In turn, this enabled the first church growth movement ever to develop in Jerusalem (Acts 6:6–7).

In Paul’s epistles, we get a clearer picture of this diaconal or servant role of the local church. In Galatians, we see that the church should not shirk its social responsibility to address poverty and need in the world, but that it should prioritize those who “belong to the family of believers” (6:10). When the Bible talks about taking care of our family, this differs significantly from the Western understanding of single families living in their own dwellings. God’s people are our family, and we have a sacred responsibility to care for them.

In Paul’s instructions to Timothy, this also comes out clearly. As previously stated, Paul emphasizes that the family assumes the primary responsibility for caring for their own family members. However, he insists that widows need to be honored (1 Tim. 5:3). The church needs to create a register of believers who require special care (v. 9), so that when the members in their immediate family cannot provide the necessary care for their needy family members, the church can fill the gap (5:16).

In local churches, we need to foster this sense of community that extends beyond spiritual activities. We have a divine social responsibility to ensure that the widow, the orphan, and the stranger in our midst do not experience social distress, hunger, or need. James says that this is the essence of “pure and faultless” religion ( James 1:27). To simply outsource this responsibility to professional social welfare interventions of the state would not do justice to the power of creating social capital that only the local church can offer.

One of the best examples of the power of the local church to promote social capital happened in my own family. When I was ten years old, my family lost our legal status to be in the United States because my father dropped out of college after just one semester. A secretarial job offer to my mother from the South African embassy rescued our legal status and my dad returned to the industry that he knew well, selling pianos for a company in Washington, D.C.

In an economic downturn two years earlier in South Africa, my father had lost two retail music shops and a piano factory. Now he was anxious to restore everything he had lost for his wife and five children. He became an active member and expert soul winner in the Arlington Assemblies of God and flourished spiritually and occupationally. One of the businessmen at church recognized his flair for business and entrepreneurship and offered to lend him the $10,000 he would need to start his own business in Arlington.

Tags: addressing, approach, Biblical, featured, forget, poor, poverty

Category: Living the Faith, Summer 2016