Lance Cornell

“Taking care of orphans, widows, and the under-resourced in our communities is the responsibility of the church. It is one of the things we have been called to do. Unfortunately, the church has often abdicated its responsibility to the state. It has gone so far that even people who are part of the church now think that caring for the “least of these” is the responsibility of the state.103 I have a dear friend who works for the State in social services. We have had many discussions about this, but the mutual conclusion we have reached is that the State does because the Church didn’t. One day I tried to paint a picture for him of what I would love to see happen. I told him that I wish the church was so faithful to the “least of these” that when a politician came up with a new social program to care for people, people would just scratch their heads in confusion and ask, “Why would we do that? The church does that and does a great job at it. There is no way the government could do it any better.” This is not supposed to be a commentary on the role of government; it is an indictment of the church’s failure to fulfill the call to be an advocate for justice and an instrument of hope.104”
― Mark McNees, Immersion