If churches don’t help people with their spiritual needs, then who will?

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A few years ago, I was on the south bank in London, near Waterloo station, and I got talking with a homeless man called Richard who had approached me asking for money.

He was in a bad state. As we spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and trousers to show me the worst open wounds on his arms and legs that I have ever seen. Richard was a drug addict and his wounds were caused by injecting sites which had got seriously infected.

Resigned

I told him what he already knew: these wounds were life-threatening. I urged him to go to the nearby St Thomas’ Hospital and offered to go with him, but he was not interested. He seemed resigned to his fate.

But, even after he knew I would not give him any money, he did want to talk. And he proceeded to tell me about his family background and the abuse he experienced which had triggered his life falling apart, and his descent onto the street.

Forgiveness

Quite out of the blue, he asked me starkly:

‘How do I find forgiveness?’

I explained what I believe about God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus, which is available for everyone, whatever they had done and whatever the situation. And then he asked me to pray for him.

So sitting on a wall by a busy pavement, I prayed the Lord’s Prayer with him.

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”

‘The right words’

After I finished the prayer, Richard mumbled Amen. But then there was a further request: he asked me to write down the words of the prayer for him, as he put it

“so that I have the right words to say”.

I ripped a page out of my notebook and wrote down these ancient words in block capitals as neatly as I could. I handed it to Richard and he folded it and put it in his pocket. We shook hands, said goodbye and after a final plea from me for him to go to hospital, he shuffled off.

Spiritual needs

I don’t know what happened to Richard. But I’ll never forget that conversation.

What struck me forcibly was that as well as his desperate physical and medical needs, Richard had such deep spiritual needs. He was seeking a form of restoration that social and health services alone could not provide.

He was seeking grace. Something which could bring him consolation and forgiveness in his overwhelming grief and lostness.

Conviction

And, along with many other experiences, that encounter influenced my conviction ever since to integrate the practical and spiritual aspects of care, and to resist the secularising trajectory of so much social action. 

It was this belief that took me to work for Hope into Action where we overtly aim to embody both professional excellence and spiritual passion in everything we do as we work with churches to house people who have been homeless.

Last week

And just last week, I was reminded again of the importance of this at the community meal we run at my church each Wednesday evening called The Vine.

It had been a busy evening. Some volunteers got held up, the oven was not heating up properly, the meal was delayed and there were a few hassles to deal with. And towards the end of the evening, a man came in (I’ll call him Tony) who we know well but who we have not seen for ages.

Heaviness

Tony loitered at the entrance, looking a bit embarrassed and apologetic. We welcomed him in and served him one of the last meals.

As we sat together, he explained some of the health and relationships difficulties he was facing. You could sense the heaviness of what he was dealing with, so as he finished eating I offered to pray for him and he readily accepted.

‘It’s about grace’

We moved to the side of the room and Tony explained he not come recently because “I have been working and I know this meal is just for people with no money.”

I said to him that we never say who can or can’t come to the meal – it’s for anyone who wants to come. I said to him, ‘It’s about grace’ and I instinctively put my hand on his shoulder. And when I did this, it seemed to release something within him. He sighed deeply, and in that crowded room, started crying.

And as we sat there, I prayed for him to know God’s grace in all he was facing.  And after I prayed, he put his hand on my shoulder and prayed for me.

Spiritual food

I was so glad that our church community can offer a warm welcome and a hot meal to people like Tony. It’s a practical expression of grace.

But too often in Christian social action, the practical obscures the prayerful.  Our nervousness or reticence often allows church-based community projects to drift in a secular direction.

As well as real food, the church needs to offer people spiritual food as well.  To share actual bread and ‘the bread of life’, as Jesus describes himself in John 6:35. After all, that’s our main job.

As Ann Morisy wrote in Beyond the Good Samaritan (1997):

“People have spiritual needs, and if churches do not help people address these needs then few other agencies will. Churches have often been duped by our deeply secular culture into providing welfare for those in need without being clear about how this helps the Church fulfil its primary task. There are other agencies which provide care for those in need, but no other agency other than churches has the task of helping people do business with God.”

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Hope into Action Conference: Last year, 60% of Hope into Action’s tenants wanted to be prayed for and 14 took the step of being baptised. All are welcome at our conference on 20th May.

Next week, I am facilitating a seminar at the ChurchWorks Summit titled Semi-skimmed Beliefs or Full Fat Faith? Investing in your Christian Distinctiveness.