Summer kid’s lunches-Kids offer breakfast, however, there is no school in summer. Some parents don’t have from poor families can get free lunches at school and some schools even sufficient funds for meals, though food stamps are usually readily available. Some parents might not want to apply or are not eligible for some reason. More often the reason is due to the parent not being able to plan good meals or is just lazy. The parent may work and children are left alone to fend for themselves and do not know how to prepare adequate meals, or do not want to bother. As a result, the children suffer. School meals provide their only truly nutritious meals. When school is out, they do not get adequate nutrition. The government has money for meal programs in the summer but needs someone to handle the program since the schools are closed. Community organizations can contract for the funds and provide the meals. Churches can and often do contract to provide the meals but cannot include religious training during the meal because it uses government funds. However, there is nothing to stop the church from having the meal at noon and having a Children’s Bible Club at 1 PM and inviting the kids to stay, though they cannot be required to stay. Some churches have Children’s Bible Clubs on Wednesday evenings and provide a meal so parents aren’t rushed getting home and preparing a meal for the kids before the Bible Club.
Posts Tagged ‘Church & Society’
Church and Society-O
The government spends large amounts of money to help people and they think they are better off because of all the services the government provides them. They send their money to Washington and are happy for all the government does for them. However, they don’t realize that for every dollar they send, they only get a quarter in services so they are really seventy five cents poorer since government bureaucracy absorbs three out of every four dollars paid in. In addition, the government can’t really solve the problems, it can only make them invisible so it appears they are solved. In spite of all the money the government has poured into helping the poor, the number of poor continues to grow because it isn’t helping people get back to work, it is only providing food and housing so the people no longer feel the need to work. Since they have food and shelter, people think they aren’t poor anymore. Yet if the government money ends, they will be worse off then before because many gave up low paying jobs to get government assistance because they can make more off welfare than many low paying jobs. While the government has finally realized that and put term limits on welfare, it continues to support people in other ways. If taxes were cut, we could save the four dollars and use part of it to meet our own needs and use the rest to help others in need.
Church and Society-N
Down through history Christians have reached out to those in need and helped them. As a result, the church has always been highly respected in the community, even among unbelievers. However in recent years, the church has turned that over to the government which now distributes the vast amount of aid to those in need and new programs are being developed constantly. As a result, people feel the government is the solution to all their problems and many people, including Christians vote in people like President Obama who used government money to provide services to people to get them to vote for them. People see all the gifts and services they get from the government and think it can solve all their problems but forget that that is our money it is giving to us. For every dollar we give to the government, we only get a quarter back. Meanwhile Christians say they care about those in need, but when people turn to the church for help, the church often sends them to the government to get help. It is no wonder that people, including Christians, turn to the government in times of need and many non-Christians despise the churches who say they care but who won’t help them when they need it.
Church and Society-M
People wonder why Christians are so hated today. Part of it is the way many act, who call themselves Christians. I have seen many leave the church because of lying, cheating, and stealing by church leaders. That is regrettable, but it is more than that, it is the way Christians are seen by unbelievers. Part of it is that liberals engage is trying to smear the reputations of Christians by spreading lies but people wouldn’t believe the lies if they really knew Christians. Today many people isolate themselves and only communicate as needed. Unfortunately many Christians do also, so unbelievers never really get to know them. As a result unbelievers are willing to believe the lies. However, a big part of it is the image we project. In the 1970’s, Russia and the U.S. were fighting for the hearts of the African and South American nations. Russia supplied the governments with guns and tanks to oppress the people while the U.S. supplied them with food, yet the people of those nations rioted in the streets calling for the Americans to leave. It was found that the U.S. sent the food but it sat on the docks because the governments couldn’t distribute it so the Russians delivered it. As a result, the people thought the Russians were supplying it. The Russians told the people that Americans were rich but would not share with them. The people believed them because they saw the Russians helping them but didn’t really see the Americans helping them. As a result, the people hated the Americans and wanted them to leave. When the Americans started to deliver the food themselves, the people turned on the Russians and threw them out. The church has turned social services over to the government. People see the government helping but they feel the church doesn’t care.
Fourth Sunday of Pentecost-June 14
Meeting A Need-If there is a need in your area and there is no one meeting that need, you may consider organizing a ministry through your church or in your community. The small groups may check to see if there are nearby residents needing lawns cut, snow shoveling of simple repairs. If the group doesn’t have anyone available, they can ask neighboring groups. Some needs may be beyond the resources of the local small group. Churches often claim they don’t have the resources. In the mid-1970’s, I belonged to a house church consisting of only six families. They became concerned about the large number of suicides in the area after I told them about the hour, I had spent the previous week on a railroad bridge with a teenage girl who could not decide whether to jump. They set out to organize a crisis hotline and contacted Contact International and with their help laid plans for a crisis phone line for the county. In only 12 months, the members of that church gathered 129 volunteer phone workers and trained them, and secured enough voluntary contributions to support a phone bill of almost $1500 a month, plus cover utilities and rent for an office, to provide a place where people could call toll-free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the county. They went on the phones only a year after I sat on the railroad bridge with the girl. They provided continuous phone service 24 hours a day and seven days a week for 49 years with no government funds. They drastically cut the suicide rate in their area. If a church of only six families can do that, what can a church of 100 or more families do?
Church and Society-L
After President Bush, we had President Obama who showed us how far from Christian values our nation has drifted. Many younger voters have no church experience and get their values from the secular press. President Obama openly attacked the value of life by promoting abortion, attacked the value of law by pushing to defund the police, and attacked the value of the family by pushing Gay privilege and gender confusion. He also attacked the church and tried to suppress Christians who sought to promote Christian values. They thought they had control of the elections and could remain in power, but were shocked at the response of the voters who elected Donald Trump to restore Christian values. He sought to remove programs that violated the value of life, the rule of law, and the family, but he was hampered because he remained within the law and would not make laws through executive order and did not have the support of Congress who could make the laws. However, he repealed many of President Obama’s executive orders that violated the law and undercut moral values. The voters apparently forgot how bad things were under President Obama and believed Joe Biden when he said he would restore America. However, he followed the same destructive path as President Obama. Americans have shown that they still have some support for moral values by reelecting President Trump. He now has a Republican dominated Senate and House but unlike Democrats who are united in tearing down moral values, Republicans are not united in supporting them. While Democratic party leaders pressure their representatives to support the party policies, regardless of what their voters want, Republicans still seem interested in listening to the voice of the people, so it is important for voters to be informed on the issues and let their representatives know how they want them to vote. While laws can prevent actions, like killing, stealing, and divorce, the church must teach values and lead people to Christ to help people really understand and believe the moral values, which can eliminate the hatred and greed that lead to the killing and stealing. Presidents like President Bush and President Trump can open the door to allow the church to teach moral values, or Presidents like President Obama and President Biden can close the door and prevent the church from teaching them. That is why it is important who we elect. For a full understanding of Christian values, see my series of lectures on Christian values vs manmade values.
Church and Society-K
In 2001, terrorists struck the twin towers. I believe God allowed that to tell us that He would no longer protect us unless we turned back to Him. It was Rosh Hosanna, the Jewish holiday reminding them of the coming judgement where God would judge men and they blew the trumpets to sound the warning and read the Scripture that told that if God’s people would turn from their wicked ways and pray, God would hear their cry and would heal their land. They did not know that God allowed it to serve as a wakeup call. Unfortunately America did not listen. They rushed back to church for a little while, but did not change their ways and many soon drifted away from church again. George W. Bush was in office and trying to maintain the values that made America great but laws can only control evil when they are enforced and then they can only control actions, they cannot control feelings. It can stop a lot of killing but it cannot control the hatred that causes it. Unless people value life, they will find a way to kill. Unless people value the law, they will not obey it if they feel they can get away with it. Unless people value marriage, they will not preserve it. Many churches no longer teach the value of life, the value of law, and the value of marriage and many in church have gotten their values from the world.
Church and Society-J
While people tend to become absorbed in the present, they fail to see the long term changes. When I started ministry in 1970, Christian values prevailed in this country. They were taught in the churches which led to them being taught in the schools and on the media, and enforced in our courts. Even most of those who did not believe in God held them in theory, if not always in practice. People would tell you killing was wrong and the law applied to everyone equally. The courts ruled on the application of laws as written. The family was sacred and divorce was frowned on. Women were to be protected by keeping men out of their bathrooms and showers. While not always true, it was what people sought. Since then we have been in a struggle between the powers of life and the powers of death. Liberals have been pushing man-centered values. The churches have fallen silent allowing liberal teachings to infiltrate our schools and our media, and even our churches. They teach that life is only valuable if it benefits you. They have pushed abortion, assisted suicide, and euthanasia (mercy-killing). They have used the courts to benefit themselves and their friends and threaten their opponents. They act like laws are guidelines to be ignored if they get in your way. They look down on marriage and push for easy divorce, and push their Gay agenda, teaching it to children, and teaching them that they can be any gender they want, encouraging them to destroy their bodies with sex altering drugs and surgery. While liberals call for the complete separation of church and State, they are seeking to destroy the church or at least prevent it from interfering with their plans to take control of the country. The separation of church and State was intended to prevent the government from interfering with the church in teaching Christian values but liberals are using the government to prevent the church from teaching values, so they can spread their own values.
Additional note on Epiphany Feb 18
Building Community– When My wife and I first moved into a trailer park, trailers were still small and very mobile. Few people got to know their neighbors because they were basically bedroom communities where people slept, but they worked and shopped elsewhere. Similar conditions existed in many of the cheaper apartment complexes. In addition, people were very mobile. It was easy to hook up a trailer and move it somewhere else, or move out of an apartment, so your neighbors didn’t stay very long. Many of the families had problems with alcoholism and drug abuse, spouse and child abuse, and crime. Very few had any church connection. I began visiting the families there and in nearby apartments to minister to any needs and start Bible studies for those who were interested. Most of those who lived in houses in stable neighborhoods owned their homes and knew many of their neighbors. Stable neighborhoods were much safer. People did not move frequently and home ownership was preferred over renting. Trailers and apartments were for the people who were mobile or those not able to afford to purchase. Since then, people have become very mobile and that includes many who own their own homes. It is not unusual for someone to sell a house and purchase a new one in their new location when they move to another area. In addition, there has been a big shift from owning to renting. In many places, more people live in trailers, apartments, and rental homes than in homes that they own. People are far less likely to live long-term in the same place. As a result, the people are far less likely to get to know each other so the same problems that prevailed in trailer parks and apartment buildings, have moved into more settled communities. In addition, businesses have moved away from residential areas so even stable neighborhoods have become bedroom communities. Christian families can become a catalyst for restoring a sense of community in their neighborhoods as they get to know their neighbors and help them get to know each other.