Evangelism and Social Concern

by Gregorio Landero

Social Concern I was once invited to a church to help solve some problems. A few minutes after I had arrived the pastor's wife said to me, "Brother, come and eat." Of course, I was hungry, having traveled all morning. I pulled up to the table and saw an egg and two pieces of manioc root, which was fine with me because I am accustomed to eating that. I bowed my head to give thanks to God. When I opened my eyes, I saw five children standing around the table with their hands on their hips. "Have you already eaten?" I asked them. Their mother answered, "Don't worry about them, brother. I'll get them something."

I bowed by head again and began to pray. Do you think I could eat that meal? No. I divided the food among those children, and again I bowed my head to pray, saying, "Lord, what would you do with this family right now?" I could not contain myself. Then the woman said, "Brother Landero, the problem you have been invited to this church to help solve is my fault. The problem is I never attend any of the church services. But the brethren just don't understand my situation. Do you think it's right for me to attend church in these clothes, which are the only ones I have?" She had two knots tied in her dress as repairs. This moved my heart deeply. I began to think and to study the situation of the churches and my Christian brethren.

Plagued by Poverty

I soon realized that most of the people who had come to know the Lord were poor people who had been lifted out of sin, vice, immorality and sickness, but still were plagued and outraged by poverty. Some of them migrate into the jungles looking for a way to eke out their daily bread. Others leave their homes and go off to seek work in Venezuela, a neighboring country. Many pastors remain without work, without salary, with families and without hope. Many of them lose their vision for the pastorate.

Those who could survive in this situation continued to suffer great calamities. They complained to me with extreme sadness: "Brother, what can we do? Help us." And I asked myself, "What would Jesus do for these people? Is it that they lack teaching on stewardship? Or do they lack a total commitment to the Lord?" I began to hold short courses on stewardship and emphasized the need for complete consecration. The brethren were rejoicing and weeping for joy, but this was not the solution. Then I realized that total stewardship of a Christian's life has to do with every aspect of his life, both spiritual and physical. Social Concern

Shortly, guerrilla warfare broke out in that section of the country, and many of the brethren migrated into the cities and nearby towns. Widows and orphans came to the Lord, but they continued to seek help for their physical needs. How could I
help them? I meditated and studied the Bible more and prayed to the Lord, that he would illuminate my mind and help them.
I read Matthew 14:16, where Jesus was dividing up the bread among 5,000 people. I realized that Jesus said, "Give you them to eat." I could not understand this. I began to send letters to missionaries, asking them how they could help us. I received from them some money, medicine and clothing. Project Hope was a great help to us. When I had gotten all I could, I began to distribute it to many who needed it. This was a great blessing, but it was not the solution either.

The Example of Jesus

Every moment I was getting letters saying, "Brother Landero, help us. We're living in terrible situations." So every day I studied and meditated more in the Scriptures on the life of Jesus Christ. I noticed that Jesus did not only forgive people's sins. He did not just teach them the Word of God, the way of the truth of Christ; he also healed the sick and gave bread to the hungry. During this period of meditation and Bible study, I stopped for a while in Matthew:

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from them in a boat to a lonely place apart ... As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
(Matthew 14:13-21)

I noticed in this passage seven things:

The multitudes followed Jesus - the sick, the diseased and the hungry.
Jesus was full of compassion. He healed everybody, of every kind of sickness they had.
In another Gospel it says that he taught them from the morning.
He solved the problem of hunger.
The disciples were worried about the people.
The disciples offered Jesus some possible solutions - that the crowds should be dismissed, that the people should solve their own problems - and some excuses - they lacked money, they were tired, they had very little. This demonstrates hu- man justice and human thoughts; the disciples believed that in this way they would escape their own duty. But Jesus said to them, "You give them something to eat." Hallelujah!
Jesus commanded, "Bring to me what little you have [here we could think of our talents, money or whatever we might have], organize them and I'll do the miracle." This is something precious to me.

This is the example we find in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we might follow in his footsteps. This is a necessity in Latin America.

This story should teach us something: It is one thing to sit with the Pharisees, scribes, priests and doctors of the law in Jerusalem, but it is quite another to be out in the arid, dry country in the heat of the day sitting on hard rocks by the side of the sea listening to Jesus - sitting before the hungry, thirsty, unclothed, sick multitude, who are without shelter and without hope; ready to forget the tiredness, the privileges of the feasts in Jerusalem, the friends and relatives; prepared to serve the sick, naked, hungry, confused multitudes. Nations, cities, villages, families and individuals are living today with great needs. I pray that God will send disciples from this conference to save multitudes that want to follow Jesus, not treating them as beggars, not serving them as orphans, but as co-inheritors of the kingdom of God, as participants in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Example of the Early Church

In Acts 2 we see how the Holy Spirit was spilled out over the church. And the apostles were filled with optimism because of the power that they had received, so that they seemed able to dominate all the difficulties. Here we can make another list, of values and capacities they received:

power to testify (which is very important),
power to heal (God works today as he did before),
power to govern,
abundant love,
complete submission to doctrine and
courage and faith. (The Pharisee's persecution did not bother them. The church went right on growing.)

But later the economic problem began to face them and this put the brakes on the growth of the church and the apostolic freedom to testify. It caused the death of Ananias and Sapphira. Crisis and murmurings of the Greeks against the Hebrews grew worse because of the discrimination that existed between the two groups, all because of the economic problems.

This was a difficult situation for the apostles. They could not continue without straightening out the problem, but they themselves took the initiative to solve these economic matters, not the government nor agronomy institutes nor food distribution centers.

They did not say, "We are apostles and we can't get ourselves involved in problems like this." No. They considered the economic matters so important that they did not leave these responsibilities to just any person, but they chose extraordinary people to handle these problems, listing specific requirements for this work. They considered teaching to be precious, but the administration for the whole man was necessary.

What can we learn from this? First, we must be careful as disciples of Christ that nothing interfere with the preaching of the Word of God. Second, daily administration of needs is a holy obligation among the saints to a humanity which is waiting. Third, the human race cannot get along just on spiritual ministry; we must minister to the material needs also, that which is necessary for daily life.

The Association for United Action

We have experienced these things in our own flesh, and the success which God has given us in evangelism is fantastic. But in some sense we have felt hindered in being able to continue preaching by the cries of woe coming from those who are hungry and without clothing. From this, the Association for United Action (Associacion Accion Unida) was started, a group of capable professional people, whom God has chosen to help the needy, instructing them about their relationship with God and also their duty to work.

Here is a small illustration. It is said there are two electrical currents - one positive, the other negative. But it is the two of them together that give light to any bulb. Imagine a person who does not know that both wires are necessary. He plugs in one wire, hoping that the light will come on, but nothing happens. So he takes out this one and puts in the other, with the idea of getting light, and again nothing happens. He says, "I hear that one is negative, the other positive. Which is the positive one? Neither one gives any light." Then somebody tells him, "Put the two of them together." He puts the two wires together and the light comes right on. His problem is solved.

This is what is happening in our work. We have learned that the spiritual work is positive and that the social work is negative, that is, something secondary; but these two things are indispensable in the life of any person. Spirit, life, all of our personality - this is the way God has made us for this world.

For example: There were two organized groups that had dismissed their pastors because they could not support them. Then the two groups got together to support one pastor, but they had such difficulty meeting their budget that they agreed to dismiss this pastor. Two of them attended a short course where we were speaking on "The Church and the Economic Problem." They returned with joy to their church and said, "Now God has given us the solution. It is not necessary for us to leave this place. Let's invite Brother Landero so that he can orient us."

I paid them a visit and spoke on total stewardship in the Christian life. They began a work plan suggested by an agronomist, and the result has been a shout of praise to God and a reorganization of the church. The crops are abundant, and the people themselves have taken charge of the evangelization, with joy and enthusiasm. This is the way our God works.

Listen to me, brethren. The work of our Lord Jesus Christ is for the whole world, and problems of this type are universal problems. You are a very important person in this world. It is logical that you should serve the Lord in any part of it. This is the mission that God has placed into our hands, that we should be lights and channels for the salvation of this world.

Comments

Be the first one to add a comment.

To post a comment, please login or register

Evangelism and Social Concern

God's Word

Urbana Stories

36 days until

December 27-31, 2009