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Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable

I live in the richest county in the richest state of the country. What 90210 is to the zip codes of America, Fairfield COunty is to the counties of America. A good friend has a calling to the poor. He leads annual mission trips to India, Haiti, and Mexico City to expose students to the stark realities of life. He also pastors a church of 400 people that meets under a bridge in Waco, TX. According to a Your Church article from earlier this year, my church ranks in the top four percent of all churches, not based on our size (we average around 350 people) but because our budget is over one million dollars. I joke with my friend that God called him to work with the poor, but God called me to work with the affluent.

Charles Spurgeon preached in 1857 that Christians are to "comfort the afflicted." From that, a trustworthy maxim for ministry has become "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

Comfort the Afflicted

Over three hundred years ago Richard Baxter wrote in The Reformed Pastor, "Lastly, if God enable you, extend your charity to those of the poorest sort..." More importantly, Paul wrote, "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." (Gal 2:10)

Service projects are mandatory. If you want hit and miss results, then start with a hit and run approach to service projects. We all know what we should do, but are we doing it regularly and with eagerness? Establish partnerships with relief ministries. Our partnership is with a local rescue mission where we lead a chapel service once a month.

Some practical steps are:

• Adopt a child through Compassion International or World Vision.
• Serve in a soup kitchen.
• Collect shoes, jackets, or blankets for a homeless shelter.
• Shoe box ministry: fill each box with sample sizes of shaving cream, shampoo, and toothpaste, three dollars, a gospel of John, etc. These can be given to a ministry or directly to those in need.

Afflect the Comfortable

Have two goals in this area, afflict the comfortable and keep your job. Although, Mike Yaconelli might advise that if you're not fired at least once in youth ministry, you played it too safe.

Some practical steps are:

• 30-hour famine or your own "Help the Hungry" event. You can direct half the money toward a local rescue mission and the other half toward an international need.
• Host a "One Homeless Night Poverty Simulation" by Mission Waco in Waco, TX.
• Take kids on mission trips
• Read at least one book this month about urban ministry or poverty, then teach a short series based on that book.
• Write your own series based on these and other verses (Proverbs 11:4, 14:31, 29:7, Isaiah 58, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 12:15, Galations 2:10, Philippians 4:11-13). We honor God by being kind to the needy.
• Teach and model contentment to your students. Contentment is a heart issue, not a paycheck issue, and the easiest way to get what you want is to want less.

Over the last few months some of our students have gotten to know some of the men at the rescue mission. They've discovered that these men don't always fit their stereotypical assumptions. My students are beginning to be transformed through being afflicted and not comforted. "Compassionate Conservatism" has been in the news, but our desire is not conservatism or liberalism, it's compassion in our students.