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 I
serve as director of care ministries at a large suburban congregation, mobilizing
ministry resources to meet needs. In this role, I hear about the needs of members
in our church and people in the community, and often they are heart-wrenching stories.
But what also tugs my heart is how challenged our church can be to meet all these
needs. Let me share some examples
A family of five who attended our congregation experienced an apartment
fire. Their furniture was ruined, all of their clothing was smoke damaged, and their
apartment was unlivable. The family had no financial reserves. Both parents worked
full time and would be unable to drive their children to school if temporary housing
was off the children's school bus route. They turned to our church for assistance.
Their need was legitimate and we knew them.
My administrative team of three mobilized to arrange temporary housing, find clothing,
and coordinate the children's transportation. We have many ministries, but only
two were readily available to meet their complex needs: our food pantry and our
benevolence fund. We had no system for immediately addressing the other issues the
family was facing, short of dropping all other responsibilities and responding.
If more than one family simultaneously had needs of a similar nature, we would be
maxed out. We did what we could and put many other ministry responsibilities aside
until we had ministered to this family.
A family with three children in the back seat of their car appeared
at our church claiming homelessness and needing many resources: a place to live,
jobs, gas money and food. We had no way to verify their need and we did not know
them. Again the only ministries available to meet their needs were our food pantry
and benevolence fund.
We helped a woman with a gift of cash from our benevolence fund
who was later convicted and imprisoned for defrauding multiple churches for thousands
of dollars. We had no way to verify the need and we did not know her.
These are just three stories of many we've encountered over the years in our church's
care ministry department. Your church may have similar stories. They range from
needs that are legitimate that we can barely meet with our own resources, to a seemingly
valid request that we don't know how to verify, to outright fraudulent activity.
How do we function as a Christ-centered church with compassion and accountability
in meeting the material needs of those who appeal to the church for help?
The answer is in uniting as the Body of Christ to be what each church cannot be
by itself. But how can this coming together happen?
As I pondered and prayed about a solution to this dilemma, I uncovered a booklet
published by Crown Ministries on Benevolence Ministry in Your Church. The booklet
clearly stated that a benevolence fund was a poor ministry approach to those in
financial distress. Such a fund assuages the church's conscience concerning Christ's
mandate to help the sick and the poor, but is little different than the governmental
hand out programs via welfare, which has generally failed. Why? The government cannot
give love. No relationships are formed, no love is attached, and no accountability
to move into independence is provided. Over the years our benevolence fund was the
main source of our local outreach to the needy, yet it unfortunately paralleled
the secular governmental approach to those in need. Ouch. The Church is to be salt
and light, not a carbon copy of the world's methodologies
The Crown Ministry brochure gave an answer, however. It explained how a well-established,
28-year-old ministry called Love In the Name of Christ (Love INC) addresses these
issues through its structure of mobilizing the Body of Christ, providing accountability
through verifying needs, building relationships, offering love-based outreach, utilizing
vast resource of abilities and talents of people in the pews, and being the Church
in action. I knew this was the answer to the dilemma in our care ministries department.
I called the 800 telephone number in the Crown Ministry brochure and requested resources
about the Love INC approach. When I asked where the ministry headquarters was located,
to my surprise I learned it was in our Twin Cities metropolitan area!
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I began the process described in the materials the Love INC National Headquarters
provided to form a development committee for establishing our non-profit 501(c)3
affiliate. I learned that it was best to keep the activities of our affiliate geographically
contained in a workable area for those needing help. Churches offering ministry
could not be counties apart, as those receiving ministry could not realistically
drive long distances.
Even with the clear descriptions of the Love INC model from the materials, I did
not yet have the experiential sense of what a fully-functioning Love INC looked
like. Is it just like a parachurch organization? Is it like a social service organization?
Can't the church just tap into what is already in the community and refer the needy
to them? Why invent another structure to serve the poor? The jet-liner took off
and I spent a 24-hour whirl wind "vision trip" to two mature, functioning Love INC
affiliates in the Grand Rapids area to answer these questions.
What I saw and experienced was bigger and more comprehensive than I had imagined
from the written materials about Love INC. I saw church-connected volunteers from
many denominations with love in their eyes and hearts, energized to make a difference
in the lives of people in need whom they cared about and with whom they were committed
to stay the course. Norma Berens, the executive director of the Love INC in Hudsonville,
MI, showed us how they were offering a "hand up" out of poverty and financial crisis,
rather than a "hand out" with continued failure afterwards, I saw people in compassion
ministry modeled by Jesus.
Eric Morgan, the executive director of Love INC of the Tri-Cities in Grand Haven,
MI, shared a common occurrence in the single mom ministry that touched my heart.
Every single mom in that community who needs a crib gets one free. As the female
volunteer makes the delivery, she asks the single mom if she could take her out
for coffee in a few days just to talk. Invariably, the single mom breaks down in
tears because someone wants to connect with her relationally and not just be a do-gooder
pushing an item at her for a feel good experience for the volunteer. Relationships
are formed and mentoring in Jesus can unfold.
Eric said that he has a waiting list of volunteers. Those who are currently active
guard their shifts. (If they go on vacation, they make it clear the substitutes
will step aside when they return!) The volunteers I met were obviously fulfilled,
have a sense of belonging, and see they are making a difference in people's
lives. They are taking time to connect with people to develop relationships, rather
than merely giving a box of food or a bed or a car and having no further contact.
It is all about relationships, souls, and Jesus Christ-not only about things.
One church I met on our "vision trip" had declining numbers involved in ministry
until Love INC was instituted. Due to the relational component of Love INC, the
church experienced a dramatic increase of members involved not only in Love INC,
but in the other ministries of the church.
The Michigan Love INCs were utilizing the talents and gifts of believers who never
believed their assets could be used for the Lord. Typical volunteer slots in churches
utilize musicians, ushers, Sunday School teachers, bulletin stuffers, small group
leaders, lay counselors, nursery attendants, greeters, etc. How about using the
following roles for Christ in direct ministry: butchers, hair stylists, retail store
display designers, gas station owners, accountants, computer "geeks," bicycle technicians,
watchmakers, shoemakers, warehouse owners, tax preparers, and many, many more? People
with these talents and resources are directly in service to Christ as they contribute
to Love INC ministry and touch the needy in their midst. This provides a natural
platform for sharing the reason why they are serving, which is to be Jesus to them,
to introduce them to Him, and to invite them into the church community. I saw this
in action in Michigan.
Can this be done here in the Greater Twin Cities? Of course, if our vision is as
big as God's and as big as Love INC's track record with the Lord at the helm. What
is keeping us back? We are limited because we don't have a Kingdom vision. We as
churches go great work within our own circumscribed boundaries. However, the Lord's
work is community wide, nationwide, worldwide. It knows no boundaries. As we unite
in the name of Jesus to offer what we can in ministry involving the bigger whole
of the Body of Christ, we are embracing the Lord's Kingdom vision and will move
mountains. We can keep some of our boundaries, but we will invite the community
of Christ into the totality that is greater than what we can each do on our own.
This is Love In the Name of Christ.
Having witnessed the vitality of the mature Love INCs in Michigan, I yearn for this
in our Greater Twin Cities area. I yearn not because I want more social impact programs
but because I want to model Jesus, to present Jesus as Lord and Savior to
those we reach, and to enfold them into healthy church communities where they can
receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Love INC is not a humanist good works program,
but an outreach in the name of Jesus Christ that models His love.
Julie Zuehlke
- Development Committee Chair For Love INC Twin Cities West
Central -
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