the whole gospel

"It would be worthless to have an economic liberation in which all the poor had their own house, their own money, but were all sinners, their hearts estranged from God, what good would it be?
There are nations at present that are economically and socially quite advanced, for example those of northern Europe, and yet how much vice and excess.  The church will always have its word to say:  conversion.  Progress will not be completed even if we organize ideally the economy and the political and social orders of our people.  It won't be entire with that.  That will be the basis so that it can be completed by what the church pursues and proclaims; God adored by all, Christ acknowledged as only savior, deep joy of Spirit in being at peace with God and with our brothers and sisters."  --Bishop Oscar Romero.



The church that focuses on the spiritual needs of people, while neglecting their physical needs rejects the incarnation of God in the poor flesh of Jesus.  The church that focuses on the physical needs of people, while neglecting their spiritual needs rejects the transfigured, risen, and ascended Jesus.   To witness the whole gospel, to encounter the God-man Jesus, the church must love the world so much that we lift our neighbors out of both physical and spiritual poverty by our words and our actions. When Jesus addresses a paralytic he does both; offering the forgiveness of sins and ordering him to take up the mat to walk freely away praising God.  Jesus offers physical and spiritual freedom to a world in bondage to sin and death. The church's mission is to do likewise.  There are church's that major in forgiveness, but fail to feed the hungry.  Wedsntern Christendom's prominent was to offer spiritual care of souls.  Government and other civic organizations were left to handle physical care of citizens.  That arrangement has bankrupted the soul of physical ministry in the U.S. and relegated the church to the role of praying chaplain to the real agents of relief and community-building.   The missional church seeks to reorient this imbalance, to take back the work of salvation that includes care of bodies and souls.  We cannot love our neighbors and refuse to give them what they need, by narrowly defining salvation as forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus.
I suggest we can do both.  We can offer them life in Jesus' name, as the early church did in Acts.  We can share in the life of Jesus Christ, His body and blood, His spirit and resurrection.  Feeding people and telling them about Jesus go hand-in-hand in a missional context.  So, find ways to engage your community by seeking the welfare of your neighbors--offering physical and spiritual relief.