Look at Everyday Ministry
If the average North American congregation were to bill its community for the social services it provides, the tab would run about $184,000 per year. We've known that congregations help the needy. Now—thanks to a social-science study—we know just how much they do. (Note: This is from congregations of around 100 persons.)
The source of this and other surprising findings is a study spearheaded by Ram A. Cnaan, published in his book The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare (New York University Press, 2002). Cnaan, an Israeli-born secular Jew, is professor of social work and founding director of the Program for the Study of Organized Religion and Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania.
In a Christianity Today article, Cnaan says:
The biggest surprise is that it's really a norm for a congregation in America to provide social services. It took me awhile to find out how pervasive this norm is. The respondents said, "Of course, we're a congregation, so we [care for the needy]." No one even questions it. Sometimes they apologized to me. "You know, we're just a young congregation. We just started. We don't do much. We should have done more."
Half the time they would ask me, "Can you tell me how we can do more of what we are doing?" And I would look at them and I would think, "You are asking me?" Nobody told me, "No, we cannot do it" or "It's not our job."
It's a major power for our society. We don't know exactly how many congregations there are nationwide, but even if you take a conservative number of 300,000, then there are 300,000 groups that assume that it's their responsibility to help people.
On the first anniversary of Katrina we saw tens of thousands of churches, groups and Christians pitched in to clean up, tear down, serve food and nurture the victims. I saw the same kind of compassionate volunteering at Ground Zero. Almost every group and volunteer was a Christian or representing a church group.
This is our most basic and normal activity. We ought not get great kudos for doing that which Jesus called us to, but it does show that we are still trying to show the love of God to a hurting world.
posted by Gary Sweeten @ Wednesday, August 30, 2006
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