Christians, Why Aren't Our Churches Giving Food and Shelter to Our Hungry?

Question

Sure, they support missionaries in foreign lands or send some help to an Inner City Mission. But the truth is, many U.S. citizens are hungry and driven to the brink of desperation with financial problems, joblessness, lack of insurance. Yet the churches that offer free meals to the Hungry are few and far between. Most are building on, filled with well-dressed, prosperous Congregations, with little thought for those in need. Few churches have opened up their kitchens to the needy! Few churches have opened up their doors as shelters for the homeless! Yet they receive thousands of dollars in Faith Based Charity. We do have one Catholic Church that puts on a meal every Tuesday. This helps, but is not sufficient. My question is....where are our tax-supported Faith Based Charity dollars going? Why is there no accountability for these funds? When every community in the U.S. has people in need, shouldn't a Church be actively helping them with food, shelter and medical costs?

Answer 1

I am totally with you!! I believe we need to help our own first!! Not that I am against helping other countries!!

I do not think enough churches are doing what they should! I will stand up for a lot of churches in my area who are reaching out to people! There is one church here who gives out groceries every Tuesday to anyone who needs it. Then there is one that gives out once a month and then there is also a church who gives out clothes any time you need it, no questions asked. You just go in and fill up a bag with whatever you need!

But I do think we could be doing more! A lot of churches, sadly only want to help their members! There are so many in bad shape out there, I know the Lord is not pleased!!

Answer 2

I don't know about the tax supported part, what I am familiar with are churches that struggle just to pay the bills.
Not all churches are huge or prosperous.
You do make a good point though, and yes we all ought to be about doing the business God would have us do.
I hate to put it this way, but the fact of the matter is, if there were more people in the church, there would be more money. More could be done.
This must NEVER be the reason why we try to get people to come to church though. It is not the right reason.
As far as opening their doors as a shelter for the homeless, where I am, there are zoning and code laws which forbids it. We could not legally do it.

Answer 3

I don't know what kind of church you attend, but the Catholic parishes in my community operate a food pantry for the less fortunate and a soup kitchen for the homeless. They are also active in the local shelter network, both in helping place people in the shelters and in supplying them with donated clothing, linens, toiletries, etc. There are also volunteer programs for people to visit older folks on fixed incomes to make sure they have sufficient heat/electricity and food. There are ministries where retired parishioners transport people who can't afford to own a vehicle to the grocery store, doctor's appointments, and the like. Parish nurses volunteer their time and visit folks dealing with chronic illness just to make sure they're doing okay. That's a start; the list goes on.

As has always been the case, works of charity like the ones you describe are alive and well in the Catholic Church. The only thing that you list that I have not seen done is the church building, itself, serving as shelter for the homeless. And even then, it's not because the Church doesn't want to shelter the homeless, just that most church buildings are not constructed to safely house (and feed and provide sanitary facilities for) large numbers of people on a long-term basis.

I'm not aware of anything specific that the Protestant churches in my community do in the way of charity to the less fortunate. I'm sure there must be something, even if it's giving money to other charities. I just don't happen to know what they do.

Just as a side note, I can't figure out why some folks seem to think that Catholics are going to hell because we do things like this. We're not keeping score or trying to figure out how many good things we must do to "earn our way" to Heaven. That's not even possible. All of us, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, are saved by grace through faith. Good works are a part of active faith, and I challenge any Catholic basher out there to demonstrate how feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless are inconsistent with Christianity in general.

Answer 4

Dear Me, Too,

Thanks for that very good question! But first, please, don't generalize because not all Christian churches aren't giving food and shelter to our hungry. There maybe just some or a few...And the very simple and possible answer why those churches that you knew aren't feeding and sheltering our hungry and homeless is because the people operating behind those churches are not really and truly Christians deep in their thoughts, words and deeds.They are just Christians in names (or pretending as Christians) but not in their hearts and souls...But if they are genuine or true Christians, the most possible and reasonable answer is probably because they are just self-sufficient (or may even be not at all!) and don't have the capacity, extra money, funds and facilities to do the feeding and sheltering ( though they can create or make funds if they just highly and strongly desire and choose to take actions at the right time...)

Answer 5

My parents' church has a food pantry that serves something like 1,500 homeless and poor people. They are struggling to fund it, but they're getting it done. But here's their problem:

Somehow, they are NOT eligible for these faith-based initiative funds (I have no idea why) and they are on the boarder of 2 states. The state they are actually in will give them $, but only to help the people from their state BUT 90% of the people they help come from across the state line from the other state, which won't help them because they are in another state.

I'd love to know where those faith bvased charity dollars are going if not to a program like this.

Answer 6

Look around more I am willing to bet more is being done than you realize. You are correct though that more needs to be done. My parish church is small and in a rather small town but we provide food help twice a week through our St. Vincent De Paul Society. We also help with clothing, bills, housing, and yes there is a local Christian free clinic here monthly that ALL of the local churches help with. In this small town there is another "Christians In Action" ministry that is interdenominational, several other Christian based charities such as shelters for homeless and for abused women and children. There is also the usual Salvation Army and a Pregnancy Care Center to help women with pregnancy. There is far more below the surface than you see. Still we need to do more.

Answer 7

You are absolutely right, of course.
Unfortunately, the visible, organized church seems to be more interested in fleecing the flock, than feeding it.
That doesn't make Jesus wrong, but it does mean that the church has a problem. Many seem to have forgotten how He stormed into the Temple, kicking over money tables and chasing the merchants who were cheating the people out into the streets with a whip, crying out that His House is a House of Prayer, and not a Den of Thieves. They seem to have forgotten that they are to LOVE one another...as Jesus COMMANDED (note, a command is not the same thing as a suggestion), and they seem to have forgotten that Jesus considers LOVE to be an action verb...not a pretty Christian term. What we do (or don't do) for these people you speak of, we do (or don't do) for Him.
Most of all, they seem to have forgotten the apostle's warning:
"Judgment BEGINS in the House of God"...

Conclusion: Yes, my friend, you are absolutely right. The Church is NOT doing her job.
However, that does not make Jesus, or Christianity, wrong. It DOES, however, make the leaders of these churches responsible to their Lord and their God.
Ironic, that they are spending so much time telling other people all about how they are going to hell, without ever realizing how close to the fire they are, themselves!!

Answer 8

Our little church is only about 50 people, but I'm sure most churches are like us--we have a fund to support people in need (which we use for members and visitors--because it's easier to tell over time if people are being genuine about their requests or whether it's a scam. We have paid rent, mortgages, electricity bills, food, counselling visits, etc. I don't say this to say that we are doing anything exceptional. I'm fairly sure that most churches across the board regardless of denomination or belief (I'm not singling out christian even) help people in need.

It usually though isn't run through some national organizaiton it's a local effort done by the individual church itself.

Answer 9

Ummm... where the heck have all of you been? All of you are just inventing and supposing this supposed lack of charity just to back up your pre-existing viewpoints.

I know PLENTLY of churches that stock pile on food and give it away for free to the needy. Go in about any church's basement and when you see that stock-pile of food, that's probably what it's for.

And look at these other comments. Clearly giving help to the needy is a nation-wide long-running trend among churches.

You don't know about it because you are fortunate enough to not have needed it, or you are an atheist that has no business talking about things of which you have no knowledge or never looked into.

I hope all of you who are answering like no church has ever helped anyone will get their facts straight in the future and stop making judgments based on NO INFORMATION.

Answer 10

There are several churches in my town that DO THIS.

Your question makes it sound as if very few of them do this.
I have a great idea. Why don't YOU get a program started to solve this problem?

Actions speak louder than words.