THE CHURCH AND POVERTY

There are three steps to alleviating poverty. Relief, rehabilitation, and development. Relief is one step in the process, but so often churches stop there.

When we respond to a chronic issue as if it were a new crisis we can do far more harm than good. Why do we persist in giving away free stuff when we know it creates dependency? Because it’s easier, it takes less time and money. And it’s just enough to feel good about serving the poor without being involved in complicated relationships.

Relief serves a purpose, it is there to help someone through an immediate crisis. But the moment that need is met, we need to move into the rehabilitation step.

The problem is, that takes commitment. A hungry person can be fed in a matter of minutes, even sent along their way with bags of groceries. But to move forward with rehabilitation is a time commitment most people avoid. Even to broach the subject of how someone got into their predicament in the first place, can be an hours-long conversation.

This is the true story of an experience we had at 431 Ministries.

Does your church have a line item named the “benevolence fund?” Most churches do, and those who have learned to take advantage of churches, know it.

A woman with a 10-year-old child was referred to our ministry. We will call her Clara. Clara had reached out to a local church partner with some very specific questions. She started the conversation by asking directly if the church had a benevolence fund, and how the balance of that account was looking. The church was caught off guard and answered the question thinking this was perhaps an unknown member of their congregation interested in making a special gift.

No sooner had the church answered, when Clara changed her tone. She began to share a sad, heart wrenching, and presumably true story about her predicament. Ultimately commencing in the final request: “I am staying in a hotel, I don’t have any money, and I don’t have a place to stay tonight. Would you pay for a few more weeks?”

The church had the financial resources available to pay for a hotel room, but recognized they lacked the resources, specifically man-hours, that were necessary to ensure Clara would not be in the same predicament when those extra nights ran out. Rather than choosing the quick and easy option of calling the hotel with debit card in hand, they explained to Clara that they not only wanted to make sure she had a roof over her head, but wanted to make sure that all of her other needs were met as well. They gave Clara the phone number for us at 431 Ministries and asked her to call and explain her situation.

Later that morning, the church called us directly to see if we had heard from Clara. We hadn’t but explained we would check voicemail to see if we had missed anything. It turns out we had missed a call that morning, but it was from another church Clara had reached out to. The voicemail explained that they were uncomfortable with the details of her story and thought it may be a scam. They also left us with her name and phone number.

A little while later she reached out to us directly and we explained that we had heard of her situation, and would be happy to see how we could come alongside her and help her to get back on her feet. We set up a time to meet in person later that afternoon as we needed to get a better idea of the big picture.

When Clara sat down at our kitchen table, we began what would turn into an 8-hour investment of our time into that one conversation. She shared a well-recited story of all the sorrows, trials, and hardships she had faced in her life. To this day we believe that most of her story was true. But something very peculiar to us stood out in that conversation. We had seen chronic poverty time and time again—people who repeatedly made the same choices that held them back from any chance of progress. But her story avoided all references to a timeline. We began to dig a little bit deeper, asking when these things happened, and how long she had been in the hotel. Her entire story had taken place 15 to 30 years in her past, stemming back to her childhood. She had experienced no real crisis in recent years, remaining stagnant with no progression in her life. She also shared that she was nearing one year in this particular hotel, but that she had had long-term stays elsewhere as well.

As she continued to share more details of her living arrangements, it came to light that she had spent 9 years living in hotels, and that her 10-year-old child had never been placed in school, and even had no recollection of ever living outside the four walls of a hotel room. For NINE YEARS, churches and ministries had paid for those hotels. She would call one church after the other, and over and over again they would pay for a few days, a few weeks, and sometimes even months. When she finally burned all of her bridges in one area, she would pick up, move to another state, and start the process over. Each time she spent between two and four years in a single location.

We were shocked, but after countless conversations with other shocking backstories, we knew better than to show our surprise.

We told her we wanted a better future for her and her child. That we had a host family available ready to take them in and provide them with shelter. But not just shelter, they would be treated as part of the family, taking part in meals, activities, devotions, and would be equipped with the resources necessary to live an independent life. We shared with her connections to childcare, employment, budgeting, and any other infrastructure she would need to be successful. She appeared grateful, and even enthusiastic. But she said she had a few more days in the hotel so would get back to us to finalize arrangements.

One of the requirements for the women we work with is that they find employment and maintain it.

Seeing that her chronic lifestyle of living off the “generosity” of churches was coming to an end, she applied for, interviewed with, and received a job offer with a local restaurant. Although she could have started immediately, she postponed her start date to the day after she would have to leave the hotel. She explained that with the stress of moving, she wouldn’t be able to give her all at work.

Two days later we received a phone call, and it broke our hearts. She had continued to call churches after leaving us that day and was calling to share what she saw as a great victory. “You won’t believe it,” she said. “The Lord has blessed me yet again. Another church has paid for two more months in this hotel. And I have a few other churches that are making arrangements to do the same. I’m so grateful; I don’t need to take that job.”

We don’t know who made those payments, or how much of her story they listened to before doing so. But in the name of relief, the opportunity for rehabilitation and development was severed. Someone with good intentions had once again postponed the opportunity for Clara to live a life of dignity. They had once again pushed her back into her chronic poverty. And once again, they added to the months or possibly years that child would spend in a hotel room watching a mother chose to beg over moving forward to an independent life.

We were at a loss, there was nothing more we could do. We prayed with and for her, and hoped that when the money ran out, she would choose a life of independence. On occasion, we still get calls from other ministries and churches asking if we can help her. Each time we ask them to give her our contact info and to let her know that when she’s ready, we are here to help her make a plan.

Hearing this story, you are faced with a choice. You can be a church that continues to enable in the name of love, or you can decide to be the change. We even came up with a handy little guide on how do so!

Be the CHANGE

C - commit to partnering with more than just relief organizations. YES, those are important, but if that’s all your church does, you are missing a huge opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
H - Honor the calling that God has given the church, remembering that “those who do not work do not eat.” Give people the dignity of working for their own future.
A - Always ask more questions. Dig into their life, their story. Sometimes that push for a connection literally makes the difference between life and death for a person in need.
N - Never be afraid to say no. Sometimes that’s the healthiest answer for that person and they need to hit the valley to be able to start climbing towards the peak.
G - Give other resources. Offer time and talent. Push into the reasons behind the need and address those issues rather than putting a bandaid on the obvious symptom.
E - Evangelize everyone. Point every single person back to Christ as you work through a solution.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you. Not everyone will get it. Deuteronomy says that there will always be poor in the land and it’s our duty to serve them. So today, we’re asking you to choose to CHANGE. Be the difference in your community and support those who are doing the same.