Kindness Isn’t Always Compassionate

[Reimagine Curator]

Kindness Isn’t Always Compassionate The primary focus of our Drop The Stone movement is to urge Christians to temper their rhetoric on social media over parties, politicians, and policies during this election season.  Raising our voices presumes we still have a voice, but we strained our vocal cords during prior elections.  Listening, learning, and loving better reflects the approach of the King we worship.  Association with less humble political figures (as dual citizens of a democracy) misrepresents the nature of our faith and Lord. Drop The Stone’s mission of replacing inflammatory posts with stories about acts of kindness makes us consider whether it’s possible to “throw stones” even in how we serve (or don’t serve) the materially poor by… 1. Not Doing Enough… The Greatest of All identified Himself with the “least of these”.  Jesus’ empathy for the materially poor is reflected in His entry into our poverty.  Jesus’ economy flips ours on its head – rich is poor and poor is rich.  He modeled healing and feeding to open ears before disclosing who He is (i.e. the Gospel).  The implication of Jesus’ parables of the Good Samaritan, Sheep and Goats, and Rich Man and Lazarus is clear – no genuine Christ-follower will ignore the (materially) poor.  Christ goes so far as to command His followers to care for the poor as proof of our love for Him.  The focus of His mission statement was indisputable – “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” For roughly 1,900 years, local churches took Jesus’ example and commandments seriously.  They served globally as the food bank and homeless shelter, the first place the destitute went for help.  Churches were the spiritual, social, and charitable center of town, integral and integrated.  Few disputed the right of Christians to speak up on issues of importance to a community or culture.  In their eyes, we’d earned the right to do so. Yet over the past century, churches gradually abdicated the front lines of poverty alleviation in America.  Few churches and Christians today make serving the materially poor a commensurate priority, considering the emphasis Jesus placed on it.  Justifications vary but include the failure of the Social Gospel movement and a misunderstanding of the odds stacked against “broken” people trapped in cycles of generational poverty by “broken” systems and practices. How to #DropMyStone If we saw the poor through Jesus’ eyes for just one second, we would instantly drop our stones.  Like Jesus, our love would be unconditional and continual, not occasional and at arm’s length.  Every human being is in some form of poverty, so our compassion would be heartfelt and humble.  We would eschew division and cross cultural lines, like the hero in Jesus’ famous compassion story – the reviled Samaritan.  We would help them restore the broken relationships (with God, themselves, others, and creation) that lie at the root of poverty. It’s far easier to love our church friends than those who don’t look, act or maybe believe like we do.  However, our work with the materially poor must be relational, not outreach events at the holiday season to “check the box”.  It’s much easier to maintain a safe distance, but the solution is proximity.  We must drop stones rather than lobbing handouts and accusations over the wall, as if the poor are getting only what they deserve.  The requisite level of engagement in poverty alleviation far exceeds the appetites of most Christians in our consumer-driven culture.  No church concerned about numerical growth would entertain the budget reallocation required. 2. Helping in Ways that Hurt… While Jesus treated those He healed and fed with dignity, most churches conduct local missions transactionally and paternalistically.  There’s no love without dignity and there’s no dignity in dependence.  Church “outreach” events typically do more harm than good.  If we cared as much as Jesus about the poor, our efforts to alleviate poverty wouldn’t perpetuate it.  We would be more interested in the person than their poverty.  Each time we fail to acknowledge and leverage someone’s capabilities, their sense of entitlement grows and our sense of pride swells.  To quote the book Toxic Charity, “You should never do for someone what they can do for themselves.” Many poverty alleviation programs enable entitlement, believing “unconditional” love entails giving away whatever the poor need and asking (or expecting) nothing of them.  However, while practicing Agape the way Jesus modeled doesn’t involve conditions, it does come with expectations.  Nothing in the Great Commandment absolves anyone of accountability for their role in working their way out of poverty.  In fact, handouts have been used by nations strategically as a tool to shift trust and allegiance from God to government – repositioning itself as savior and provider. Churches and Christians occasionally volunteer to serve at a local ministry but rarely do those involve direct interaction with those “less fortunate”.  Local Missions Directors, a role typically only found at megachurches, carry little clout in staff meetings.  Pastors request compassion projects be convenient or comfortable for members.  Most plan schedules and investments to avoid conflicts with weekend services, church activities, or building projects.  Churchgoers follow suit with conditional, transactional compassion subject to career and family availability. How to #DropMyStone Dropping our stones with the poor means eliminating the imaginary gap between the servant and those served.  Confessing our poverty (which we each suffer, emotionally or spiritually, if not materially) positions us as equals, not the false dichotomy of the “wealthy” helping the “poor”.  Building that relational bridge sets the stage for compassion that transforms both the giver and recipient.  A lack of authentic connections causes and keeps people in poverty.  Dropping our stones creates and restores relationships.  The most effective charity solutions include the following non-negotiables: Dignity – Respect inherent value of every human being, made in God’s image Reciprocity – Avoid perceptions of superiority through mutual exchanges Discipleship – Don’t just meet material needs, but pursue spiritual growth Advocacy – Equip mentors to help families navigate pathways out of poverty Unity – Rally the entire community around our neighbors in Jesus’ name Ministries like Chalmers, Link2Hope, True Charity, Friendship House, The Open Table, and Table2024 exemplify those principles. 3. Ignoring Our Own… Never in history have so many Christians worldwide suffered high levels of persecution – over 360 million in 2022.  That estimate rose by 20 million and the number of Christians killed for their faith was up 20% from 2021 to 2022.  Meanwhile, the American Church’s silence on persecution is deafening.  How must the persecuted feel, facing such dire prospects alone, knowing the vast resources that professed believers in our nation possess?  Most collections taken up for the poor in the New Testament were for persecuted Christians.  A common form of persecution is the inability to work to earn income and/or denial of assistance.  Matthew 25 also speaks of visiting prisoners as proof of our faith because they were imprisoned for theirs. The Bible says generosity should begin with the household of faith.  When we fail to support our brothers and sisters suffering overseas, we’re passively throwing stones at our own family members.  A survey revealed that of the 150 largest churches and 20 largest Christian denominations in the U.S., only 3 churches and 2 denominations indicated that supporting the persecuted was a high priority.  Contemporary church growth models divert a high percentage of resources to weekend services, programs, facilities, and staff – leaving little to bless persecuted believers. How to #DropMyStone America’s inward-focused church growth paradigm is so well entrenched that it may take persecution to dismantle its constructs and priorities.  Ignoring persecution abroad is accelerating its arrival here.  When public worship is eventually restricted and Christians disperse, only faithful followers will remain and reform into discipleship-driven, evangelistic cell groups.  As with the first century Church, decentralization, infiltration, and empowerment always leads to rapid multiplication. If our churches were more compassionate with the poor in America and overseas, they’d possibly have the clout to convince our government to do what churches cannot – invoke economic, political, diplomatic, or other measures against nations that persecute Christians.  If we made helping our persecuted siblings a higher priority, investing more IN them and advocating more FOR them, our nation would awaken to the dangers awaiting us one day.  If Christ-followers were more united as a global Church family, our nation would be less divided as well.