Is the Church Responsible for the World’s Poor?

I serve with a Christian international organization that seeks to minister holistically among very need people in 11 countries around the world. While we are not dependent on government funds provided through agencies like USAID, our friends, partner organizations, and many of those suffering from poverty have benefitted from their support. Sadly, with the shuttering of USAID, the infrastructure of support has largely collapsed, leaving needy people even more vulnerable. I also volunteer with a U.S. organization that provides food and material support to elderly, disabled, and other disadvantaged folk in the town we currently live in. Because of government cutbacks in 2025, those we serve are already feeling the pinch. When SNAP (food stamps) is frozen in November, people we know will go hungry.

Those, often with Libertarian leanings, who advocate for “small” government and/or for decreasing progressive income taxes claim that “it has always been the responsibility of individual Christians or the church and not the government to take care of the poor.” While there is some truth in this claim, in what follows, I want to briefly refute it.

Let me begin by noting some examples from the Old Testament that call for the leadership of a nation to care for the poor. We begin with Israel. God calls the leaders of Israel to “seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow” (Is. 1:17). God judges the leaders for exploiting the poor (Is. 3:13-15; 10:1-4; Mic: 3:1-4; Jer 23:1-2). While different from a modern democratic context, these texts explicitly call for political leadership to protect the poor.

And this mandate is not only for the leaders of Israel. We can glance at a few examples in the Old Testament where the leaders of other nations are called to care for the poor. Egypt serves as a paradigm. Pharoah has exploited the people – particularly the Israelites. God sees their affliction and hears their cries (Ex. 3:7). God comes to deliver the people and judge Pharoah for failing to care. But it is not only the cries of the poor Israelites that God hears. The language is similar in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God hears the great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah and judges the cities (Gen 18:20). With harsh words, Ezekiel compare Sodom to Israel, saying that her sin was pride, gluttony, prosperous ease, and not aiding the poor and needy (Ek. 16:49). We see it again in Jonah where God threatens judgment on Ninevah. Just as in Sodom and in Egypt, the wickedness (i.e. oppression of the poor) of Ninevah comes before God. These are just three incidences in the Old Testament where God judges nations (not only the people of God) for their governments’ lack of care for the poor. What is the implication for us today? Biblical revelation asserts that God calls not only leaders of God’s people to care for the poor, but also leaders of all nations to protect the poor.

Now, let us note the truth in the claim: we do affirm that the Church should care for the poor. Jesus comes to “preach good news to the poor” (Lk 4:14-22). Jesus identifies with the poor and says that we will be judged by how we treat the poor (Mt. 25:31-46). Paul says that the sign of Christian mission is concern for the poor (Gal. 2:10). James says that faith is demonstrated by care for the poor (2:5). I could go on and on. Followers of Jesus should care for the poor.

If this is true, then, was it the job of the Church to care for the world’s poor in the first few centuries? Yes and no. The early church was growing but still small. It could not care for all of society’s poor or do so in societies where there was no church. The early church understood that the tithe (which had been given to the Levites) was to be given to the poor (See Ray Mayhew’s Embezzlement: The Corporate Sin of Contemporary Christianity? and Justo L. González Faith and Wealth). This meant that every Christian (and not only the very rich) could imitate God in generosity toward the needy and encounter God in meeting the needs of the “least of these.” The philanthropic activity of the early church was attested to by their enemies. For example, the emperor Julian the Apostate (331-363 AD) wanted to re-paganize the Roman Empire. Trying to motivate his fellow pagan devotees to care for the poor, he said that the Galileans (aka Christians) “support not only their own poor but ours as well.” If we are to extrapolate to our contemporary context, we can say that Christians are called to care for the poor and that this is what early Christians were known for. The generosity of the early Christians was evangelistic, drawing many to the church (see Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity.) That said, the church did not have the capacity, due to numbers and government opposition, to care for all of the poor in their own society, let alone in the world.

What about the Church’s role in caring for the poor after Constantine? In the Greco-Roman context of the early Church, it was the civic duty of the wealthy to “do good,” which meant caring for the well-being of society, which included the poor – though they were seen as having little or no value on the scale of human beings. According to the historian Peter Brown, as Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Bishops (among whom St. Basil is preeminent) were invested with the social significance and resources from the state to care for the poor. Because of the new  and immense value that the poor held for the salvation of those who aided them, Brown says that the Bishops “invented the poor” (See Peter Brown Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire). Looking at the early history of the Church, we can see that they understood their mandate for philanthropy to those in need, created institutional support for the poor, and advocated for government funds to care for the poor through the Church.

With the fall of Christendom, the Church has continued to advocate for government programs that care for the poor. It was Christians that led abolitionist movements (though admittedly in the face of Christian opposition as well), established hospitals, and created shelters and food programs (for example, the Clapham Sect, the Methodists, the Salvation Army, etc.) Christians were also at the forefront of movements for women’s rights, civil rights for marginalized races and ethnicities, hospitality for immigrants, and combating social problems caused by industrialization. Catholic Social Teaching and the “Social Gospel Movement” articulated theologies for governmental responsibility for its society’s most vulnerable members. It was through a Christian framework that universal declarations on human rights were articulated and ratified. Thankfully, we have ample examples of faithful Christian involvement in moving their governments to secure care for the poor.

As Christians, we not only need to articulate the biblical, theological, and historical rationale for calling our governments to care for the poor; we also need to unmask Libertarianism for the idol that it is. Libertarians believe that markets are “natural, spontaneous, self-regulating, efficient, and neutral mechanisms that best enable freedom of choice and the equal distribution of resources” (Bretherton, Christ and the Common Life). By simply looking at the vast disparity of wealth that our society enables, we see that Libertarian beliefs are not true. Furthermore, while resisting the state’s involvement in social justice and welfare provision for all citizens, Libertarians need the state to guarantee property rights. Here is a contradiction of convenience. Those with property seek government involvement to protect their interests but denounce government programs that stand to primarily benefit others.

While Libertarians and those like them believe that it is not the responsibility of governments to care for the poor, followers of Jesus should see it differently. The Bible is rich with stories of God calling to account leaders of nations for their treatment of the poor. Likewise, the history of the Church provides models for the church to direct governments to care for the poor. May our Story and our History inspire us in our care for those suffering in poverty and move us to lobby our government leaders to provide systems of protection for our society’s most vulnerable. We hold to the promise that when we do it to the most needy, we do it to Jesus.