Several years ago—before I was a teacher—I travelled to Cambodia with Wayne Shepherd, Kim Phillips and another couple from interstate. While there, we saw many different ministries, charities and NGOs at work, and it is instructive to consider some key differences between them. One charity I remember well was run solely by an Australian man, supporting the locals in the area where he lived.
We watched as he drove around and essentially threw food and clothing at the people as we passed. He was certainly meeting their physical needs, but seemed to do nothing for their spiritual needs.
Another Australian we met ran a very different kind of operation, which involved providing relief aid, similar to the first man I mentioned. But they also worked with their beneficiaries by providing them with job skills, as well as running Bible studies and prayer sessions. Not only were the people’s physical needs being met, but so were their spiritual needs.
While there were no groups that aimed to provide for people’s spiritual needs without also meeting their physical needs, we know that such organisations are out there. These are those people who will tell a starving person that they need Jesus, and then go home, ignoring the hunger they see before them.
As we see in Mark 6:30-44, Jesus was deeply concerned with meeting people’s physical and spiritual needs. He loved the whole person, not neglecting one part in favour of another. And He calls us to do the same. To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, and support the fatherless, AND
the Good News, call people to repent and believe, speak Godly wisdom and tell of God’s love, justice, faithfulness, mercy and grace. How can we as a church and as individual believers live out Jesus’ mission to love those around us—the whole person? This is the challenge that God is calling us to today.