What would you do?
A couple walks into the door of the church on a Tuesday afternoon. Their clothes are worn. The look cold. And tired. They approach you and ask if you can help them. Apparently they have been going from place to place looking for help and finally they have reached your church. You ask them “can I help you with something?” The woman begins to tell you how she was laid off from work last month at the same time as their home went into foreclosure. For the past two weeks they have been living in a hotel. Her husband then explains how they have been living off of their savings and now their money has run out. Tonight is their last in the hotel before they can no longer pay for a place to sleep and are forced to leave. They just want to know if you could help them. The wife then continues to tell you that they have a 9 year old daughter who is at school at the moment and they must be at her school at 3:30pm to pick her up. Once they pick her up, they will return to their last night at the hotel before they will be living in their car. They are hungry, tired, poor, and asking for help.
Are they telling the truth? Are there flaws in their story? Is their situation a result of their own irresponsibility? Aren’t we all living in a tough time? Are they Christians? Didn’t the last people you helped turn out to be lying? These questions and more fly through your head. They look down at the floor and around at the layout of your church - then their eyes return to meet yours.
What would you do?
practice hospitality
Matthew 25:31-46
Hebrews 13:2
In the above scenario, I would be convicted to follow these Scriptures.
I think for me, it is a much different scenario if it is one person all alone asking for “gas money” than a husband and wife who had just lost their jobs and need a place to stay. I would feel much more comfortable inviting them to stay with me for a few days and helping them to find new jobs than I would giving them cash.
This is a good hypothetical question/situation. Perhaps most of the time we automatically have some sense of empathy kick in and want to help others in need. But simultaneously we may think that by giving money we could put our own selves in financial peril (especially in these unsettling times). However the larger, more troubling thought is always – am I being told the truth – is it really going to what I’m being told?
Well in the given scenario here you have a family coming into a church and asking for help. If this isn’t one of the responsibilities of the church (to help your fellow man in times of need), I don’t know what would be.
If I was the person approached in this scenario then I would get the church as an organization involved. As a collective of members everyone could (and should) easily pitch in to offer the family assistance. Plus getting others involved to work with these people, their background(s) (and validity of their story/situation) can be more effectively assertained.
Maybe your church has a school or afternoon daycare that could look after the 9 year old in the afternoon while the husband & wife look for work. Maybe the church could help with the job search. Certainly the church could contact local businesses and extended contacts for cheap or free living accomodations until they can get back on their feet. Also the church could offer assistance in the form of food and clothing donations from its members.
The bottom line is that there are MANY things that could be done to help people in this type of situation. And a group/collective of people can bring much more assistance to bear than just one of us by ourselves. It just takes action on our part as individuals to get others we know involved in the support of a cause. In other words – would you step up and get the ball rolling?
I would help them get into a shelter nearby the child’s school and help them get a job. Because if you don’t know them there is really no way to tell if they are telling the truth and times are very hard now to just give someone money when you have a family to support and you cant be to sure to let strangers live in your home esp. if you have children yourself. I would also help any way I could with transportation and also ask other people to help.