Paul Davis: Faith-based initiatives with foundations

What in the world is a church doing building houses for the poor, paying utility bills, putting on new roofs, adding a toilet to a house? I mean millions of dollars.

Isn’t the federal government supposed to be doing this? What has this country come to, anyway? Where is FEMA when you need that agency? Next thing you know, the church will be feeding the hungry and clothing the naked when such work is surely the responsibility of the federal government. Use that bailout money, for goodness sake.

Church folks are supposed to go to church, have an opening prayer, sing songs, listen to the preacher for 32 minutes, take communion, have a closing prayer and head home. Isn’t that the scriptural way?

Well, our friends at First Presbyterian Church came up with another plan some 40 years ago and launched the Community Ministry. A few dozen members signed up and pledged $10 each per month to establish a pool of money for worthy projects. They even asked the national ministries committee of the East Alabama Presbytery to join in with an annual pledge, but those church leaders said they couldn’t do that because the organization made no mention of “saving souls.”

For most organizations, that would have been a bubble buster, but the hearty souls at First Presbyterian Church were not a faint-hearted lot. They’ve been collecting their nickels, dimes and dollars for 40 years now. The founder of the effort and former minister, Dr. Wallace Alston, will be here for a special lectureship Feb. 14 and 15 and will stay around for a Monday, Feb. 16, celebration of the Community Ministry’s anniversary.

That little band of kind souls at First Presbyterian, first headed by Bill Sherling couldn’t possibly have accomplished so much good for so many without an ample, continuing blessing from Heaven. Neil Davis, my mentor in the newspaper business, served much of his adult life as treasurer of the group.

The first year’s budget was less than $22,000. But the seeds had been planted and boy did they grow. Today, scores of homes have been built, hundreds of repairs have been made and millions of dollars have been spent. The money has poured into projects all over Auburn, Opelika and Lee County.

But I also think of the church fathers who said the articles of incorporation didn’t include anything about “saving souls.” Is there a better way than meeting basic needs? I’ve always liked the Salvation Army’s mantra: Soap, Soup and Salvation. Did they have the order reversed? Did the good Lord go about it wrong in feeding the throngs that gathered around him?

The East Alabama Presbytery felt the folks at the Auburn were a bit too liberal. Know what that word means? You don’t if you listen only to Rush Limbaugh. Liberal means open-minded, generous, a person who favors tolerance. It’s good to be a liberal. Jesus was one of the world’s greatest liberals. Can a church be involved with a community’s social problems? It not only can, it must. The best way to save a soul is to first save a life, then give it purpose, a warm place to sleep, food to eat and clothes to wear. The Presbyterians have shown us an excellent way to get involved with the problems that plague the “least of these.”

But they didn’t invent the program. They are not do-gooders, but servants. They found out what they were supposed to do as Christians by reading from the second chapter of James. Listen to what they read, what they heard and witness what they did as a result.

James 2: 15-17 : “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill.’ And yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

Now thats a real faith-based initiative. Think I’ll renew my membership.

Paul Davis writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News. You may contact him at Paul_Davis@charter.net