Do you know why the reports of the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH) and Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) usually follow one another on most associational programs?” asked Joe Godfrey, executive director of ALCAP. “It is because we both deal with the same problems. The Children’s Homes deals with the results of bad situations, and ALCAP works to prevent those situations.”
Messengers to this particular associational meeting had just heard a report of ways the ABCH intervenes in children’s lives with hands-on ministry. Godfrey followed by describing how ALCAP works with the state Legislature to craft public policies that protect families and laws that build community.
It was a perfect example of what some have referred to as the “two feet of ministry.”
The first foot is direct ministry. That is the ABCH’s primary role. Again and again, Jesus commended direct ministry. In Luke 10:25–37, Jesus illustrated the importance of helping the hurting with the story of the good Samaritan. In Matthew 25:45, our Lord taught that how we respond to hungry, hurting people reveals whether God’s love is in us because what is done to the “least of these” is done also to God Himself.
The second foot is institutional change. This is ALCAP’s work. The goal is to influence policies and laws adopted by the state Legislature in ways that are helpful to families and to change those structures and systems that are harmful.
Both the foot of direct ministry and the foot of institutional change are based on Christian love. It is God’s love that causes the believer to reach a helping hand toward a hurting child through the ABCH. It is that same love that causes ALCAP and its volunteers to work for policies and laws that help people or oppose policies and laws that tear down family values.
In Alabama, of all places, the relationship between love, justice and laws should be obvious to all. That lesson is an important part of our history.
Overlooked sometimes is the need each foot has for the other. On the positive side, direct ministry informs institutional change about the impact of policies and laws on people. Without this information, institutional change can be as erratic and ineffective as trying to follow a lightening bug. Institutional change, on the other hand, provides hope for direct ministry so that the future will not always be just like the present. Change is possible.
On the negative side, if only direct ministry is provided, then one can create a dependency that reinforces a pattern of brokenness for an individual or a generation. On the other hand, if only institutional change is offered, then policies and laws may have little relationship to the realities with which people live.
Everyone understands that to walk, one needs two feet. Similarly, to work effectively with human hurts and maintain balance for the ministry journey, both feet of ministry are necessary.
While both are necessary, both are not equally attractive in terms of personal involvement. Direct ministry provides immediate fulfillment. One can see the impact of his or her effort. Institutional change provides only delayed rewards. Changing a policy or adopting a law can take years. Direct ministry provides personal involvement with the recipient. Institutional change provides relationship to an idea to be incorporated into a policy or law. For these and other reasons, direct ministry wins most every time.
Who would not prefer to help a child through the ABCH rather than talk to a lawmaker about some public policy related to foster care being worked by ALCAP?
Helping balance the attractiveness of direct ministry is the impact of institutional change. Direct ministry usually impacts one situation at a time. Institutional change impacts everyone.
In the next few weeks, the attractiveness of direct involvement will be illustrated as Alabama Baptists minister to others during the Christmas season. Practically every church will adopt at least one family in its community who needs a helping hand. Children will receive presents instead of finding the Christmas tree bare. Families will have a special Christmas meal instead of doing without. Joy will replace gloom during the season of our Savior’s birth because Alabama Baptists will be involved in direct ministry to families in need.
This is good and should be celebrated. These are modern-day examples of the principles Jesus taught in Luke 10 and Matthew 25.
But when the Christmas season is past, how many Alabama Baptist churches will encourage members to help shape policies related to the state’s food banks that provide resources for hurting families year-round? How many Alabama Baptists will pay attention to the congressional debate on the upcoming farm bill even though it will have more impact on the nation’s food policies than any other single piece of legislation?
According to an August report by the Food Research and Action Center titled Food Hardship in America, 32 percent of Alabama households with children said they were unable to afford enough food for the family during 2010. That is the second-highest percentage among the 50 states. Considering all Alabama households, 25.2 percent lacked funds to provide adequate food for members of the household sometime during 2010, the report found.
Responding to this kind of need requires the two feet of ministry. It requires emergency help through direct ministry and institutional change to alter the circumstances that resulted in this situation.
Godfrey was right when he pointed out the ABCH and ALCAP work from different ends on the same type of problems. One works through direct ministry. The other works for institutional change. Together they provide Alabama Baptists an example of the importance of the two feet of ministry.
Maybe the day will come in our churches when members are as involved and supportive of the foot of institutional change as they are of the foot of direct ministry because both are necessary.
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