CHRISTIAN CHARITY: A Call for a Return to Missional Stewardship - Part 2

CHRISTIAN CHARITY: A Call for a Return to Missional Stewardship - Part 2

~ © by Rev. Jim Lewis 2012

Missional Stewardship THROUGH Charity

—A BRIEF HISTORY OF Christian Charity

Following the pattern of Old Testament directives to Israel with regard to hospitality toward strangers, examples of New Testament charity focused primarily upon hospitality within the church, such as the Apostle Paul directing the believers to “welcome one another” as was modeled by Christ. (Romans 15:7) On the surface, it would seem there is little evidence of direction to the church toward charitable outreach to the world beyond the Great Commission and making disciples—which may have been the lack of impetus for outreach beyond basic evangelism. However, throughout history, the people of God have involved themselves in numerous forms of charity and hospitality toward others.

In the majority of New Testament texts, hospitality refers to serving other believers in need of assistance. In some texts it is not clear if there is a distinguishing between serving believers and those in the community, although it seems clear that a believer’s responsibility was outward as well. (Gal 6:10; 1 Thes 3:12) In her book Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, Christine Pohl quotes the Emperor Julian (a.d. 362), who provides evidence of an external ministry of Christian charity, and who directs those of his own religion to “imitate Christian concern for strangers.” (Pohl 1999:44)

For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious [Christians] support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us. Teach those of the Hellenic faith to contribute to public service of this sort. (1)

Reformation brought a rebirth of charity and hospitality, as it once again began to be seen as a response to a moral or ethical “duty” to share one’s increase with those less fortunate. John Calvin commented upon what he saw as the “demise of ancient hospitality,” (Pohl 1999:36)

This office of humanity has . . . nearly ceased to be properly observed among men; for the ancient hospitality celebrated in histories, in unknown to us, and inns now supply the place of accommodations for strangers.” He warned that the increasing dependence on inns rather than on personal hospitality was an expression of human depravity. (3)

Subsequent to Christianity becoming the accepted religion of Constantine’s empire, “government” resources began to support public assistance as well the church. Care for the needy developed into what is now considered “public service” or “general welfare.” It was during this period that these services became institutionalized and specialized as “social service.” What had been considered personal hospitality in the early church became separated and distant from the church and the home. Charity became so far removed from the church that in the fourth and fifth centuries John Chrysostom challenged that “hospitality remained a personal, individual responsibility as well,” urging them to make a place for the needy in their homes to serve “the maimed, the beggars, and the homeless.” (2) (Pohl 1999:45)

Similarly, the Second Great Awakening changed how missions and charity were viewed in various movements of the day. Differing paths either separated or combined secular and spiritual interests. In Transforming Mission, David Bosch explains these divergent views: “The Wesleyan revival also meant that secular and spiritual interests had parted company; Methodists were concentrating on the salvation of souls. Societal change was viewed as a result rather than an accompaniment of soul-saving.” (Bosch 2005:278) Bosch points out that many Evangelicals were becoming quite involved in aggressive advocacy for societal change as part of faith (e.g. Wilberforce and Carey):

At the same time these evangelicals had no doubt that soteriological emphasis had to take precedence, that they were not proclaiming mere temporal improvement of conditions, but new life in the fullest sense of the word.” . . . “by the end of the nineteenth century the rift between the conservative (or fundamentalists) mission advocates on one hand and liberals (or social gospelers) on the other was becoming even wider.” (Bosch 2005:281, 297)

We then see a shift within some mission movements from evangelism to social concern, which indicates the change in the interest from individual to society. “The new secular social disciplines revealed that each individual was profoundly influenced and shaped by her or his environment and that it made little sense to attempt to change individuals yet leave their context untouched.” (Bosch 2005:323) Along with this shift came a change in environmental concerns within society as it moved away from agrarian (familial) to an urban (corporate) society, as land ownership became coalesced by a few, exploitation of workers, and a growing need for welfare for the growing urban poor. James Okoye explains in Israel and the Nations, “The traditional kinship values that ensured the welfare of the poor were under pressure from the market economy.” (Okoye 2006:74) An industrial economy would change the landscape of charity; charity and social services would move towards centralization and federalization supported through taxation of the general public.

Although the industrial age has been considered a major contributor to poverty, and thus, an increase in the need for charity, a number of industrialists such as Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie considered it their responsibility to address these concerns. Ford made new inroads to the hiring, treatment and accommodation of those in need—or charity, as it was viewed in that day. He created factory jobs specifically for the disabled so that they could make a living wage. Ford’s view of poverty was to “fix the train tracks first” and then help people help themselves. (Guinness 2001:232) Andrew Carnegie believed it wrong to die rich, and purposed to live within a set means and endeavored to give away the balance of his income. Both men are considered founders of the modern philanthropic movement. From this point we see a growing philosophy for a corporate, or central, responsibility for society rather than the local community or the church. General welfare, once supplied via the church, is now seen as the duty of agencies, corporations, and governments—and funded primarily through taxation.

1. The Works of the Emperor Julian, LCL, vol. 3, pp. 67-71.
2. Chrysostom, Homily 45 on Acts, NPNF1, vol. 11, p. 277.
3. John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 340.