By Jennifer Johnson
There are so many “least of these.”
We devote countless hours and dollars to serving the homeless, the fatherless, and the hungry. We do everything we can for single moms (soapbox alert: when was the last time you saw a ministry to single dads?). We rally around ending poverty in Haiti and AIDS in Africa and contaminated water everywhere.
But stories like the ones featured this month from First Christian Church (Canton, OH) and Kentucky Christian University remind us there are other groups who need our help, “hidden” communities that may be surviving but not thriving, and who need to know God.
Ryan Wolfe“s example challenges me. Although he and his wife had no connection to the disability community, no child or sibling of their own who needed help, they spent years serving and loving local families dealing with these issues.
“A national survey revealed that the percentage of disabled and their families who want to go to church is the same as the rest of the population””about 57 percent,” he told me. “But only about 44 percent of that group actually attend. So we decided to meet them where they”re at.”
In his case that was a local ball field (and, now, a new ball field built especially for the disabled on the church campus). For Jeff Metcalf it”s the high school students of Appalachia, kids who enjoy learning and have dreams for the future but think they could never consider a private Christian college. KCU is giving away dozens of tuition-free educations to these kids at a time when some faith-based schools are struggling to keep their doors open.
We certainly need to help the homeless and the sick. We need to make sure everyone on the planet has access to clean water and adequate food. But other groups need us, too: the working poor, the immigrant communities, the lonely and family-less, those dealing with chronic pain, single dads with primary custody of two kids who did great on their own for five years before meeting someone wonderful 800 miles away. You get the idea.
As we allocate our dollars and our attention, let”s not forget the groups who don”t get the press but still need our presence. It”s the least we can do.
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