Outreach to the Poor in the Book of Acts

One of the things the Lord is working into the new church we are a part of is a heart for the needy and broken in Colorado Springs. As a result, I’ve been thinking about church outreach to the poor and needy and wondering what the early church in Acts did regarding the poor and needy in the community. The Book of Acts is one of my favorite books in the Bible. I’ve taught parts of it from the pulpit in a previous church, and have taught the first half of it with a group of students in one of our internship classes at the school for the last two years.

One of the things that has continually come up in our various studies of the church in Acts 1-6 is their community and how they lived that out. This very idea came to my mind as I pondered the early church’s response to the needy in the community. Here’s what I found:

• Alms Giving: The early church followed the Jewish pattern (which seems to have been confirmed by Jesus) of giving alms to the poor. This practice is incidentally seen in the narrative. In Galatians 2:10, Paul mentions that in one of his initial visits to Jerusalem to verify the Gospel he has been preaching, that the only thing James, Peter, and John stressed to him was to make sure that he remembered the poor.
• The Poor in the Church: Besides alms giving, I don’t find anything that specifically points to them having programs to the poor in the city. It seems however, that one of the notable things about the early church was that there was no poverty within the church. In nearly every study of the early church that I’ve had with my students, this idea (and its semblance to Communism) has become a matter of discussion. This issue of Communism versus Community sounds like a great topic of another debate or blog. In almost everyone of the places in Acts where it describes what the first church looked like, these phrases or ideas are presented:

• “the believers were together” or “were of one mind” (Acts 1:14; 2:12:44; 4:32; 5:12)

  “they had everything in common” (Acts 2:44; 4:32)

  there are people selling their possessions (Acts 2:45; 4:34-37)

  “there was not a need person among them” (Acts 4:24)

• I also found a number of things about their distribution of resources to the needy:
  o The believers gave their money directly to those who are in need (Acts 2:42-47).
  o The believers gave their money to the Apostles (church leaders) to be distributed to those in need (Acts 4:32-5:11).
  o The church (under the direction of the Apostles, then later the deacons), distributed food and resources to the widows in the church on a regular and systematic basis (Acts 6:1-7).
  o The believers took up offerings (apparently on the first day of the week), gave it to the church elders who sent it to other congregations who were in need (Acts 11:27-30; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8-9).

So, the summary of what I think the local church should do about the poor and needy in the community is:

Paul said: “so then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10 ESV). Following this pattern, I believe that outreach to the poor and needy begins in the church. It is clear that the early church focused the attention of their giving to the needy on those within their midst. Likewise today, no one in our churches should go with their needs unmet. It is my perspective that this is a short coming of the American church. If we focus on the needy, it’s usually the needy in the community. I believe that we should focus on those who are needy in our churches first. Our focus needs to flow from community and relationship with each other. Our help for the needy in the church should not be punitive, but compassionate and generous. Self-help training through small groups and courses on financial stability are great, but should not necessarily be prerequisites to receiving financial help, but should be part of generally helping to create financial stable congregations. If helping the poor within our churches becomes normal and expected and done well, then it will have the following byproducts:

1. The reputation of the church will become one of being a caring, generous, loving group of people. This will be in contrast to the condemning reputation of Republican and Conservative Christians today whose message is “you’re poor because you are lazy or have done something wrong”.
2. The reputation of the generous church will be one of the church’s greatest advertizing and recruiting points. I believe that second to the wooing and conviction of the Holy Spirit, the community and oneness of the early church was their greatest drawing point. People were attracted to the church because they loved and took care of each other.
3. As a secondary point: if the Christian church took care of their own as the Bible describes and if they cared for the poor and outcast as the Bible also talks about, American wouldn’t need to be a welfare state. After all, the care for the poor, broken, needy, and outcast in the community really is the job of the church not the government.

Should churches have community outreach programs…yes! However, I the best biblical precedent is to care for the poor in the church, then take care of others as a second priority.