From time to time over the last decade or so people have come to my church and called my church. People call asking for money, work and lodging. I am intrigued by their motivation in calling my church and wondering why they choose churches in general and Cornerstone specifically.
Reading through the book of Acts, it is clear that church people help church people. Everyone brought their money and put it in common, not to feed the entire country but to feed those in the church. Yet there are those today who believe that if they pick up a phone book and start calling random churches, people will give money, houses, clothing and employment. The way people speak to me indicates that they feel I owe them something, like they are entitled.
My belief is that people that call or visit my church are also calling every other church in the phonebook. For them it must be some sort of lottery. Every church I know in the area does not help anyone that is not a member. There are programs where churches go out and feed the hungry, but individuals that come to or call a church are not helped.
A recent example of the type of call I get happened late last week. A woman called and said her son was getting out of prison. He was going to be on parole and he needed a place to stay. This, for me was a very strange request. I am not sure what she wanted me to do? Have someone in my church open their home to her son? Maybe she wanted me to turn a Sunday school room into a dorm room for her son. I said that we do not do that and hung up. 30 minutes later she called back and said that she had “misrepresented” her situation. Her son was not getting out of prison and he did not need a place to stay. Instead, her son had a motorhome and he needed a place to park it, long term and he needed a job. So now, this woman wanted me to section off a part of my parking lot for her son to park his RV, without electricity or pluming hookups. My guess is that those requests would come next. Also, she wanted me to do some magic and find her son a job, in the economy. Once again I declined.
I am not sure what sort of world this woman lives in, because even if we had an entire committee dedicated to helping her, it would be very expensive and time consuming and no church could do it. But this is not extraordinary, this is normal. I get calls asking for all sorts of help, and I have to decline saying that we do not have the manpower or resources. We do not give money, pay rent, loan cars, give lodging, provide work, give airline tickets or anything else that people want.
Lastly, I want to make it clear. I pay a great deal in taxes and so do most people I know. Our government, at every level says that they will take care of everyone. These people need to go to the local welfare office, or better yet, go to the governor’s mansion and demand what they have been promising for years and years. Churches have been moved out of the space of helping people, and the government does that now. Of course, if we have a member in good standing who needs anything, we bend over backwards to make it happen. But people who just call and demand something, get nothing but the gospel.
Reading through the book of Acts, it is clear that church people help church people. Everyone brought their money and put it in common, not to feed the entire country but to feed those in the church. Yet there are those today who believe that if they pick up a phone book and start calling random churches, people will give money, houses, clothing and employment. The way people speak to me indicates that they feel I owe them something, like they are entitled.
My belief is that people that call or visit my church are also calling every other church in the phonebook. For them it must be some sort of lottery. Every church I know in the area does not help anyone that is not a member. There are programs where churches go out and feed the hungry, but individuals that come to or call a church are not helped.A recent example of the type of call I get happened late last week. A woman called and said her son was getting out of prison. He was going to be on parole and he needed a place to stay. This, for me was a very strange request. I am not sure what she wanted me to do? Have someone in my church open their home to her son? Maybe she wanted me to turn a Sunday school room into a dorm room for her son. I said that we do not do that and hung up. 30 minutes later she called back and said that she had “misrepresented” her situation. Her son was not getting out of prison and he did not need a place to stay. Instead, her son had a motorhome and he needed a place to park it, long term and he needed a job. So now, this woman wanted me to section off a part of my parking lot for her son to park his RV, without electricity or pluming hookups. My guess is that those requests would come next. Also, she wanted me to do some magic and find her son a job, in the economy. Once again I declined.
I am not sure what sort of world this woman lives in, because even if we had an entire committee dedicated to helping her, it would be very expensive and time consuming and no church could do it. But this is not extraordinary, this is normal. I get calls asking for all sorts of help, and I have to decline saying that we do not have the manpower or resources. We do not give money, pay rent, loan cars, give lodging, provide work, give airline tickets or anything else that people want.
Lastly, I want to make it clear. I pay a great deal in taxes and so do most people I know. Our government, at every level says that they will take care of everyone. These people need to go to the local welfare office, or better yet, go to the governor’s mansion and demand what they have been promising for years and years. Churches have been moved out of the space of helping people, and the government does that now. Of course, if we have a member in good standing who needs anything, we bend over backwards to make it happen. But people who just call and demand something, get nothing but the gospel.
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