The Unique Role Of The Church In Social Action

There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right.
Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of the community…No other organisation on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close.’

This quote from Bill Hybels’ book Courageous Leadership (Zondervan) encapsulates the reason why the church provides the ideal vehicle and context for reaching the poor with the gospel and for bringing transformational change. No other organisation, whether Non-Governmental Organisation or para-church, has available the same breadth of gifting nor the ability to integrate with the community as does the church.

Some years ago a secular NGO in the Cameroons installed taps in a village to save the women from having to walk several kilometres in the heat of the day to collect water. Photos were taken and the NGO left. When they returned six months later they were astonished to find that the taps were overgrown and not being used. On enquiring about the reason they were told that the women enjoyed walking to the river; it provided an opportunity to hear the local gossip. Why had this not been known before the project was carried out? Because no-one had asked the locals what they wanted! That NGO never integrated with the community; they brought an attitude of ‘we know it, you need it, we’ll do it to you’. The church must be different! Being an integral part of the community the church can be the instrument of relevant change and transformation.

Something that the secular NGO cannot offer
The kingdom manifesto of Isaiah 61 shows that the commission to Jesus and His body, the church, is to bring the good news of the gospel to the poor. Clearly this refers primarily to salvation, something that the secular NGO cannot offer. So, mercy ministries expressed through the church carry ‘added value’ about which the world is ignorant. The fruit of the good news is seen in the next part of the kingdom manifesto, ‘to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim release for the captives’, and so on. The church is not called just to do good works, important as they are, but to get involved with people in their time of need. The church does not walk away when the going gets tough nor when the project has been completed. Because the church is an integral part of the community we are there for the long haul, identifying with the community through good times and hard times.

In Church of Christ the King, Brighton, UK there is a vibrant ministry among children from neighbourhoods with a high level of deprivation. One leading couple, Stephen and Emma, have come to know many of the parents, often single mothers, and have stood with them as they have faced many challenges, including attending court with them when they have been on trial. Recently Stephen and Emma needed to move house and chose to go to live in the area where these children live. Why? ‘Because that is where our friends live.’ Despite the high-risk environment, often characterised by alcohol and drug abuse, they decided they wanted to identify with the community they had grown to love and serve rather than to take the easy and more comfortable option of moving to a relatively safe area.

An apostolic initiative
In Zimbabwe, the impact of Farming God’s Way has been remarkable (see Newfrontiers Magazine, June 2005). This God-given farming technique is defined as ‘an apostolic initiative for the preaching of the gospel, planting and strengthening churches, and extending the Kingdom of God with emphasis on sustainable agriculture and transformation of poorer communities’. Through the Farming God’s Way programme farmers are discipled in Christian attitudes and practice while learning to farm in a way that will feed their families and, through the sale of surplus, allow them to pay for school fees and so on.

Without the Christian discipleship, which includes teaching diligent working, attention to detail and an understanding of God’s timely provision of rain, sun and the seasons, the technique has been shown to fail. However, with due recognition of these God-given principles harvest yields of at least three-fold the normal expectation are regularly enjoyed. One farmer I met, who was also a Baptist pastor, showed me the significant changes brought about as a result of learning to farm God’s way over the past five years; a new home, cattle of his own and the ability to church plant without worrying about survival. Indeed, he boasted how he now went preaching the gospel and church planting ‘with a Bible in one hand and a hoe in the other’.

The ability to disciple beneficiaries of the church’s outreach through social action can be seen in many situations. In Newcastle, UK many asylum seekers have become Christians through the practical expressions of compassion extended to them by the church. In Russia and South Africa released prisoners have been rehabilitated into society because people were willing not only to meet their practical needs but also to address the needs of their souls, resulting in transformed lives.

Not relying on charitable handouts
What are some of the practical ways in which such people have been helped? In Clarens, on South Africa’s border with Lesotho, Steve Oliver reports that he employed men who were living in the local township to build the new church building. Through their being discipled ‘on the job’ they have now become part of the church and been able to set up their own building company. Thus they are well set to live sustainable lives, not relying on charitable handouts. In Zimbabwe, Scott Marques has developed a ‘Business God’s Way’ programme for training church leaders and potential church planters to run a business according to Biblical principles. This enables them to support themselves in an economy in which support from tithes and offerings is almost impossible.
Each church is unique in incorporating a diverse group of people with a variety of gifts. In God’s economy I believe that each church is equipped to carry out those ministries which are needed to make a transforming impact in the local community. Holy Spirit-led leadership is charged with the responsibility of mobilising those gifts to reach out into the community with the gospel in both word and deed. By helping to usher in the Kingdom, where God rules and reigns, the church can thus have a far greater and more permanent effect on a community than any competent and well-meaning charity or NGO who can, at best, contribute to addressing only the physical and mental needs of the community. We are called to achieve so much more! The fruit of ‘preaching good news to the poor’ and bringing practical releasing ministry, as prophesied in Isaiah 61:1-3, is that those planted by the Lord (ie called and chosen) become ‘oaks of righteousness’ (v3b). Further, we can expect to see people become men and women of influence in their local communities and beyond, even touching the nations, who will have offspring who are known as those whom the Lord has blessed (Isa. 61:9).

What a commission! What a privileged people we are to be entrusted with such good news! In Church of Christ the King, Brighton the Supported Housing Unit seeks to enable and equip those who had been living on the street to become independent, to be employed and to live a self-sustained life. This requires them to engage in a daily programme which addresses matters related to life skills, employment and so on. The Christian ethos of the unit pervades every aspect of living and learning. The support staff are all Christian and the work of the house is part of the life of the local church. The success rate, measured in terms of people who transition to independence in any given time period, is higher than any other equivalent programme in the city. This is because solid Christian foundations are built into their lives.

Let us be diligent in fulfilling the commission entrusted to us, and be exemplary and a provocation to those in the charitable and NGO sectors by being the best at whatever we give ourselves to, that He may be glorified.

The Unique Role Of The Church In Social Action

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