From my studies I believe we can conclude that the church helped widows and those in need among their number. But I'm not so sure if they attempted to help outsiders as much. Certainly outsiders would be welcomed into the fellowship and be helped...but I'm not sure if the church focused on helping those Romans merely wanting a hand out.
One thing I would like to bring up though...we often bring up that verse that says that we have the poor with us always...but we sometimes bring it up like it's a justification for inaction (not saying that you are). But here's the verse in it's entirety...
Mark 14:7
For ye have the poor with you always,
and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
I think Christ is saying that we do well to help the poor...but we must keep worship and faithfulness to him central to our life's focus. Often those involved in relieving the poor get consumed with the mission and loose focus.
I believe the church should work to help those in need...however...if there is a struggling church member or church family...the household of faith should come first.
Here's a personal experience I had with a church I used to attend. It was a very large church and held an outreach program in which they gave away prizes...including a car that was donated to the church for the giveaway. They brought in quite a crowd, all of them hoping to win the car no doubt. And yes, a woman who was visiting won the car. She attended for a couple weeks...and then vanished. But my heart couldn't help going out to a faithful woman who struggled to find transportation. She had a car, but it would break down and being on a fixed income she didn't have the money to repair it so it sits in her driveway. She has often ridden the bus to church in incliment weather, taking the time for transfers downtown. I wondered why couldn't they have given her the car? This woman was faithful. When I asked about it they said it was specifically donated for the outreach event. When I suggested that maybe we take up an offering to get her car fixed I was essentially told that they didn't want her to become "dependent" on the church. But she was faithful. On a fixed income she gave money she surely could have used. I know there are two sides to every story and maybe I'm not privy to all the details. But my heart was greived over it.
I think we should focus on those among us who struggle and help outsiders as we can. I also think it would be a good thing for a church to focus on supporting a local charity, shelter, soup kitchen, or children's hospital. A church cannot be all things to all people. I personally think it's best to focus on an area or charity and be known as being faithful with that cause than to try to do everything.
But that's just me. I'm rambling.
God bless.
I've slowed down on getting rid of them so fast, but I used to buy a different car every few months, just for the fun of it. Right now I have a GMC van and a Chevy Celebrity, along with a Neon. I gave $600 for the Celebrity and $700 for the van. They both run great. The heat works in both of them and the radios work. The a/c doesn't work in them, but 60mph and a couple of rolled down windows and y'ad never know the difference. The Neon is a good car too, but I gave more for it than the other two.
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