• Church Ministries
• Community Compassion
• International Missions

- Overview by Jane Williams

• “The Lord watches over the stranger. He relieves the fatherless and the widow.” Ps 146:9
• “The poor and needy seek water but there is none; their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord will hear them; I, the Lord God of Israel will not forsake them.” Isa 41:17
• “He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy; and He will break in pieces the oppressor.” Ps 72:4
• In John 13:29, when Jesus said to Judas, ‘What you do, do quickly,’ some thought, “because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, ‘Buy these things that we need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor.’” Clearly, giving to the poor was a common practice for Jesus.

• Matt 25:31-46 makes it clear that serving the poor is serving Jesus. “Inasmuch as you did it for the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
• “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and He will pay back what he has given.” Prov 19:17
• "Nobody gets into heaven without a letter of reference from the poor." Reverend James Forbes via Ann Lamott Plan B

• “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest and you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger; I am the Lord.” Lev 19:9-10
• “Execute true justice; show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.” Zech 7:5

• "Is this not the fast I have chosen to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is is not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor that are cast out; when you see the naked that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?" Is 58:6-7
• "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings, I will not accept them. Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." Amos 5:21-24
• Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my bodya for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Mic 6:7-8
• "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Hos 6:6

• “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought; and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a well watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” Isa 58:10-11
• “Blessed is the man who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive. He will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.” Ps 41:1
• A man who gives to the poor will not lack.” Prov 28:27
• Immediately after the appointing of deacons to take care of widows in need, we read: “Then the word of the Lord spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.” Acts 6:7

• “And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.” Gal 2:9-10
• “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” Acts 2:44-45
• In Don’t Waste Your Life (p 67), by John Piper, the Roman Emperor Julian (A. D. 332-363) is quoted as writing the following words to describe his frustration over the advance of Christianity over Roman pagan religion: “Atheism (i.e., Christian faith) has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead.It is a scandal there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

• In Acts 6, Philip and Stephen were among those selected to take care of the widows who were being overlooked. Following their acceptance of this role, they were used in other ways. Philip became an evangelist who experienced such supernatural things as being translated from one place to another. Stephen became an anointed preacher and one who was given a glorious vision of God.
• The Apostle John heard, “Behold, your mother (John 19:27),” long before he heard, “Behold, the vision…” John’s assignment to care for a grieving widow came before the supernatural encounters with God that led to his writing the Book of Revelation.
• Cornelius was chosen to be the first Gentile to receive the gospel. He is described as a man who “gave alms generously to the people (Acts 10:1).” When Paul described why he had come to him, he said, “Your prayer has been heard and your alms remembered in the sight of God (Acts 10:31).” God offers it as a way back from a path of sin.

• "Break off your sins by being righteous and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.” Dan 4:27
• John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus. After he had preached to the people, they asked, “What shall we do?” His response focused on acts of charity and justice. “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise… collect no more (taxes) than what is appointed to you… do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely.” Luke 3:8-14

• “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” I John 3:17
• “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:18
• “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and keep oneself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27 “Visit” here is the proactive Greek word episkeptomai: to go to see, look out for, relieve.

• Matt 25:31-46 is the only place in the NT where a guideline for determining eternal destiny is given. How are the “sheep and the goats” separated according to this passage? By their response to the hungry, naked, imprisoned, and stranger.
• “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom; she and her sister had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the poor and needy.” Eze 16:49
• “He who hides his eyes (from the poor) will have many curses.” Prov 28:27

• When the annual Feast of Purim was established to commemorate God’s salvation of the Jews in Esther’s day, it included, “sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.” Est 9:22
• When Nehemiah came on the scene to rebuild Jerusalem, he insisted that usury stop and that restoration of “lands, vineyards, olive groves, houses and money” be made to those who had suffered loss because they had been charged interest. Neh 5:1-14
• Acts 2 (giving to all who had need) and Acts 6 (appointing of deacons to care for the widows) in particular show that when the Spirit comes, He opens men’s hearts to give to the poor.
• Every awakening/revival season in church history has included an increase in ministry to the poor. Many of the charitable organizations that exist today were birthed out of spiritual revivals.

• Jesus' first public declaration of His ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the ppor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Lk 4:18-19
• Jesus' response to John the Baptist's question, 'Are You the One?': Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard; that the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them." Lk7:22
• What we can expect: "He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth." Is 42:4 Let's join Him in His work. Let's see the high calling He has laid out for us!