Some church welfare programs produce ducks instead of disciples. Read on for the full story…

[The day after Jesus fed perhaps 20,000 people, walked on water and calmed the storm] …the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”

Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled”. (John 6:24-26 NASB)

This passage reminds me of a woman who visited our church and said “Next week I’m going to X church because they give out food parcels”: like the crowd that followed Jesus, this woman’s interest was focused on her flesh and she did not care about the spiritual qualities of that which she was following. The similarity to ducks is uncanny…

When you visit a duck pond and the ducks see you carrying bread they will waddle towards you at full speed in order to get some of that bread. Their only interest is their belly, they do not establish a lasting relationship with you, and as soon as the bread is gone so are your followers.

Many church welfare programmes produce ducks because they give charity to anyone who asks for it, just as we give bread to any duck that asks for it. These programmes usually run by sincere, well-meaning people who have an unbiblical left-wing view of poverty, i.e. they believe that all the poor are poor through no fault of their own and therefore deserve hand outs. My observation is that in Western countries the vast majority of poor people are poor because they are experiencing the consequences of their actions, and that charity without criteria (giving to anyone who asks) does such people more harm than good because it reduces the discomfort that would otherwise encourage them to learn a better way of living. Such charity can also lead people to the final death in Gehenna because it gives them a false understanding of God and his Church.

When he gave the Great Commission Jesus told us to go and make disciples (so godly husbands say ‘Honey, would you like to go and make a disciple?’), and in the verses after those quoted above we see Jesus telling the crowd to ignore their flesh and showing them how to start on the road of discipleship:

[Jesus said] “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal”.

Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. (John 6:27-29 NASB)

Jesus wanted people to be disciples rather than ducks, so we should have the same desire. How can church welfare programmes make disciples instead of ducks? The full answer to that would take a book or three, but let’s start the short answer by looking at three passages:

1. When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the LORD your God. (Lev 23:22 NASB)
2. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. (2Thess 3:7-10 NASB)
3. A widow is to be put on the list [of those receiving charitable support from the church] only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, having a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work. (1Tim 5:9-10 NASB)

What do these passages tell us about christian charity? Here’s two points:

1. Although the unharvested grain was a gift to the poor, the poor had to go into the fields and do the work of picking it: they did not sit beside the fields waiting for the farmer to hand over some grain. Similarly, God feeds the birds, but the birds have to go and find their food.
2. Charity was only given to people of good character, and a willingness to work is part of godly character.

Back to the question: how can church welfare programmes make disciples instead of ducks? One answer is that those programmes should reward work and good character. For example, a church might start a garden and give each person a patch of dirt to work, along with access to the necessary materials, tools and education: that’s the charitable part, much like not reaping to the corners of the field. Those poor people who are willing to work (that’s the character part) will receive food in return, much like those who were willing to glean the fields received food as a reward for their work.

There would be at least two additional benefits from such a scheme: (1) people who have learnt new skills and learnt how to work are more likely to find a paid job, and (2) people who have fully engaged in such a scheme will have seen a glimmer of a biblical world view (i.e. work is the way to food), which gives great potential for evangelism and the making of disciples.

God wants us to make disciples, not ducks.

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