Church Growth God's Way 6: Giving to Needs

In an unexpected twist, Pastor Trevor suggests that if we want our Benevolence ministries to grow our church, we should focus it on our own people, not on outsiders. This challenges the typical church strategy of showing love by providing goods and services to the wider community. But Jesus wants the world to know us by our love of one another (Jn. 13:35). Trying to meet the physical hunger of the spiritually starving is like putting food in a grocery bag with no bottom. The brokenness needs to be address first, or at least simultaneously. Our churches may certainly offer to help families in our community with food IF those families are willing to be involved in church life, but if they flatly reject our God and our faith, and their spiritual emptiness, our Benevolence neither solves their poverty, builds the church, nor glorifies God. So we must address NEEDS strategically.