poverty in the US (just a thought)

[Full Quiver]

We seem to always find it easy, fashionable, and Christian like to meet the needs of the poor overseas while in our own cities we have starving kids. When will the Church meet this need? Believe me I have sent money overseas and spent many hours raising funds for such needs. It just kills me sometimes that we are surrounded by this and yet we seem to not see it. Some of us may very well even attend service with hungry kids or live next door to hungry kids. Third world countries are filled with them but so is the US. Wouldn't the Western Church be better served to help those in our front yard first? I mean it almost looks hypocritical when we send our money elsewhere.

The Bible does tell us that we will always have the poor with us.

[EagerBeaver]

We seem to always find it easy, fashionable, and Christian like to meet the needs of the poor overseas while in our own cities we have starving kids. When will the Church meet this need? Believe me I have sent money overseas and spent many hours raising funds for such needs. It just kills me sometimes that we are surrounded by this and yet we seem to not see it. Some of us may very well even attend service with hungry kids or live next door to hungry kids. Third world countries are filled with them but so is the US. Wouldn't the Western Church be better served to help those in our front yard first? I mean it almost looks hypocritical when we send our money elsewhere.

The Bible does tell us that we will always have the poor with us.

I always wondered the same thing.

Back in Kelso, WA, we had major drives to send money overseas yet the church was smack-dab in the middle of a drug-addled, poverty-stricken, bleak neighborhood that needed our help.

[Pastor Gary]

We seem to always find it easy, fashionable, and Christian like to meet the needs of the poor overseas while in our own cities we have starving kids. When will the Church meet this need? Believe me I have sent money overseas and spent many hours raising funds for such needs. It just kills me sometimes that we are surrounded by this and yet we seem to not see it. Some of us may very well even attend service with hungry kids or live next door to hungry kids. Third world countries are filled with them but so is the US. Wouldn't the Western Church be better served to help those in our front yard first? I mean it almost looks hypocritical when we send our money elsewhere.

I mean no offense, but if you really believe American poverty is on any kind of par with the kind of poverty that exists in 3rd world countries, you need a trip overseas.

Poverty is not just a lack of food or clothing -- it's a lack of OPTIONS. The poor in America have options; shelters, soup kitchens, government assistance programs that provide safety nets, legally guaranteed emergency health care... and the list goes on. Poor people in most parts of the world simply don't have those options.

The Bible does tell us that we will always have the poor with us.

Uhhhhh... that verse is not intended to excuse poverty by saying "oh, well... nothing we can do anyway, since the Bible says those pesky poor people will always be part of the landscape." The verse, in context, is a response to criticism of a woman who anointed him with costly perfume. The disciples criticized the woman for "wasting" the perfume in worship to the Lord, when it could have been sold to provide for the poor.

Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

[Gerald Creasy]

Poverty is not just a lack of food or clothing -- it's a lack of OPTIONS. The poor in America have options; shelters, soup kitchens, government assistance programs that provide safety nets, legally guaranteed emergency health care... and the list goes on. Poor people in most parts of the world simply don't have those options.

Have you heard of Appalachia?

Living in Kentucky I am aware that the options you describe are NOT available in certain sections of the country as in Appalachia where Doctors and dentists form charity "service trips" -just like the do for the "real" third world poor- because none is available in the area.

[Pastor Gary]

Poverty is not just a lack of food or clothing -- it's a lack of OPTIONS. The poor in America have options; shelters, soup kitchens, government assistance programs that provide safety nets, legally guaranteed emergency health care... and the list goes on. Poor people in most parts of the world simply don't have those options.

Have you heard of Appalachia?

Living in Kentucky I am aware that the options you describe are NOT available in certain sections of the country as in Appalachia where Doctors and dentists form charity "service trips" -just like the do for the "real" third world poor- because none is available in the area.

Gerald -- those in poverty in appalachia still have options unavailable to the 3rd world poor. Mobility, for one. They can leave appalachia, even if on foot, and go to an area where there are jobs, safety nets, and more options. Where does a poor person in Tanzania go, even if they were allowed to leave?

[Full Quiver]

I'd beg to differ PG. 3rd world poor folks have countless missionary programs running to their aid while as Gerald pointed out the poor in America are left wanting because as you say "they have options". What are the options for the drug addicted children and mothers in Eastern Kentucky?

I mean no disrespect and believe me I admire the work you are doing. My question is will we be held accountable for disregarding our neighbors needs if we go overseas and meet a need? If we meet the needs here at home and get these folks some real help, healing, and options then they will be in a position to help overseas.

[Pastor Gary]

I'd beg to differ PG. 3rd world poor folks have countless missionary programs running to their aid while as Gerald pointed out the poor in America are left wanting because as you say "they have options". What are the options for the drug addicted children and mothers in Eastern Kentucky?

I mean no disrespect and believe me I admire the work you are doing. My question is will we be held accountable for disregarding our neighbors needs if we go overseas and meet a need? If we meet the needs here at home and get these folks some real help, healing, and options then they will be in a position to help overseas.

I don't want to put words into your mouth, but it seems that you are suggesting it is "either/or" -- either help the poor folks in the Kentucky hills, or the poor folks in the squatters' slums of Manila. I'd suggest it is "and/also" - we are called to help the poor close to home and also not ignore the needs of those in distant lands.

[one love]

I'd beg to differ PG. 3rd world poor folks have countless missionary programs running to their aid while as Gerald pointed out the poor in America are left wanting because as you say "they have options". What are the options for the drug addicted children and mothers in Eastern Kentucky?

I mean no disrespect and believe me I admire the work you are doing. My question is will we be held accountable for disregarding our neighbors needs if we go overseas and meet a need? If we meet the needs here at home and get these folks some real help, healing, and options then they will be in a position to help overseas.

AMEN!!!! Yes PG is doing a AWESOME thing and I commend him for it!!! But there are starving Americans at home that we should not forget.
FQ is not taking away from the work PG or others are doing but just making a point that many have said for years,

"why dont we take care of our own?"

Here is the dilemma we are saying they have options yet then when liberals want to help we complain, however the church groups are not helping the ones at home much at all.
What about those that are children, poor and as FQ mentioned parents are addicts?
There are many living in America below the poverty level. There are many in America that are starving and I agree we should not forget them.

I thank the Lord for each one that is helping those children overseas and commend you for it. I do wish churches would do more to feed our own as well. Matter of fact many Baptist churches have food banks and shelters for the homeless, I know of a big one in Norfolk.

[TW]

Gary, Danny,
You both have good points. The reality of poverty is not any different for the malnourished child in the Philippines than it is for the malnourished child in Appalachia. The children have no options, they are where they are through no choice of their own.

Gary, I have been overseas, and I have seen 3rd world poverty first hand. The only difference that I can see is just how pervasive it is in the 3rd world. Here in America we have the "great middle class." Most of the world lacks a middle class, or at best that middle class is extremely small and often flirting with poverty themselves. The American middle class has allowed us to reduce the over-all poverty level in the country, but there are still pockets of grinding, abject poverty to be found. The American church has failed to address both the global need, and the domestic need. The children of the 3rd world do need our help, and so do the children in this country that go to bed hungry.

I praise God for anyone that "adopts" a child in a poverty ridden country, I also praise God for those that do the same for a poor child in this country. I have two hands, can I not extend one to that precious child in the Philippines, while at the same time extend the other to a child in Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, or Western Pennsylvania? I pray that the American church realizes that they have more than one hand.


TW

[paul]

I'd beg to differ PG. 3rd world poor folks have countless missionary programs running to their aid while as Gerald pointed out the poor in America are left wanting because as you say "they have options". What are the options for the drug addicted children and mothers in Eastern Kentucky?

I mean no disrespect and believe me I admire the work you are doing. My question is will we be held accountable for disregarding our neighbors needs if we go overseas and meet a need? If we meet the needs here at home and get these folks some real help, healing, and options then they will be in a position to help overseas.

AMEN!!!! Yes PG is doing a AWESOME thing and I commend him for it!!! But there are starving Americans at home that we should not forget.
FQ is not taking away from the work PG or others are doing but just making a point that many have said for years,

"why dont we take care of our own?"

Here is the dilemma we are saying they have options yet then when liberals want to help we complain, however the church groups are not helping the ones at home much at all.
What about those that are children, poor and as FQ mentioned parents are addicts?
There are many living in America below the poverty level. There are many in America that are starving and I agree we should not forget them.

I thank the Lord for each one that is helping those children overseas and commend you for it. I do wish churches would do more to feed our own as well. Matter of fact many Baptist churches have food banks and shelters for the homeless, I know of a big one in Norfolk.

Years of observation....on the field

Those who generally do not see the need to respond to the needs overseas are also the same group that do not see the need to respond to the needs at home.

Those who are the most active in overseas giving are the ones that generally give the most to the needs at home and around them. As PG has said it is not either/or but also.

Why? because it is a heart attitude. Also aid groups are very active in both arenas. I just meet a leader of an NGO group that compelted a program in Iraq with Larry Jones "Feed the Children." He is not a christian but told me he was overwhelmed at the heart and the program the Larry Jones had. you might also know that "Feed the Children is very active in feeding and sponsoring children in the appliacian areas also.

You mention all the missionary aid groups that run to the children oversees. Let me share that all the groups together will not even add up to a drop in the bucket of what is needed.

In developing countries it is estimated that around the world, some 26,500 children die every day. Most from bad water and starvation. That is almost 10 million children every year. The term children is used to identify those under the age of 5.

Options: No matter the poverty here in our country or western countries, some form of help and assistance is by far more readly available to the majority of those in need. I will say, that it is possible that some pockets might get by passed. But if you know of these pockets that are being overlooked. Do something.
These photos are from my camera.

[JohnDB]

I am going to agree with those that have gone abroad and seen firsthand what they have related here.

We in America have some of the richest poor in the world. There are none that go naked. Hunger and homelessness is usually a matter of chemical dependancy and/or mental illness...not anything else. I have worked with and ministered to the homeless here in America and know only full well that for most of them it is simply a choice. They are homeless for a variety of reasons...but mostly it boils down to choice...theirs as to why they are where they are...not any other reason. Granted they can usually tell some colorful and heart wrenching stories here in America...but the truth is something different than the stories they tell.

AND as far as giving money t the poor is concerned being a biblical mandate...it really isn't. One of the principles Jesus in the Bible passage that Pastor Gary was kind enough to post was that giving money to the poor doesn't help the poor except at the moment. The poor are usually poor for logical and good reasons. Giving them money will not change their position in life. (Many lottery winners usually end up right back where they were before their winnings except in worse shape than before)
Giving to the poor is a way of disposing of income...it will not change or help anyone in any real sense...except possibly in a third world country and usually then it really is never enough due to the fact that it is spread so thin due to dire need that it is ineffectual for any one person or family.

The love of money or the things that money can provide is a powerful driving thing for many many people. A quick survey of many people's bank statements tell the tale of the tape as to where most have or believe their treasure to be...which is usually in themselves. Giving empowers a person to have control over themselves...to really evaluate why and how a person has come to this money that they have earned...and to be grateful to the Maker of all money and life in general.

These days when bankruptcies and foreclosures are skyrocketing and people are seeking out the Dave Ramsey's or Crown Financial services or consolodation loans for their debts...the trite obvious answers are generally true. Not always or anyone specific but most live up to the extent of their income regularly instead of being able to live off of less than they earn.

[Full Quiver]

For thousands of American kids it is not choice period! That thought is insane!

Guys, this is the height of judgment. Preachers who depend upon God aka God's people to give should be very cautious in this economy making such judgments. It seems that the line is drawn that the poor American and the addict American has choices and is actually rich in the world's eyes and so we shall move onto the "3rd" world. I'm sorry, but I drove through downtown Nashville today and saw 3rd world. Post all the pics you want, it does not change the fact of the matter.

[EagerBeaver]

For thousands of American kids it is not choice period! That thought is insane!

Guys, this is the height of judgment. Preachers who depend upon God aka God's people to give should be very cautious in this economy making such judgments. It seems that the line is drawn that the poor American and the addict American has choices and is actually rich in the world's eyes and so we shall move onto the "3rd" world. I'm sorry, but I drove through downtown Nashville today and saw 3rd world. Post all the pics you want, it does not change the fact of the matter.

Amen and amen, you can see it in most major cities in America.

[rough_rider]

I have a question to those who seem to have a heart felt burden for the work here in America... What are you personally and your local church doing to feed the hungry here?
To neglect 3rd world counties would be shameful, PG is right, if we do not help them no one will. Those hungry here in America have a goverment that offers some help and plenty of churches that could step up to the plate if the burden is there. There are men, women and children starving in places like W. Va and Ky hills, even in the city streets from LA to NYC. Wanna make a difference? Get your local church involved in food banks, food drives, community outreaches, ect. What are you doing to make America a better place to live?

[Pastor Gary]

...the poor American and the addict American has choices and is actually rich in the world's eyes and so we shall move onto the "3rd" world. I'm sorry, but I drove through downtown Nashville today and saw 3rd world. Post all the pics you want, it does not change the fact of the matter.

Do you make $25,000+ annually? If so, you are in the 10th percentile of the world's population... 90% of the world lives on far less.

Nashville? 3rd world? Danny, I hate to hear you make such statements that make others think you foolish. There are flush toilets in Nashville, even available to the poor. There are rescue missions, social welfare agencies, ambulances that will take the indigent to Vandy ER for FREE treatment (Federal Law), and a hundred other things that give the Nashville poor advantages over 3rd world poor. The "poor" in Nashville eat better out of dumpsters than the poor in Calcutta eat period. You don't get it, because you think "America first." I say America AND the 3rd world poor.