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Welfare Ministry
WHY POVERTY AND DISTRESS ? Blessed Are the Merciful.—The
Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain
mercy." There never was a time when there was greater need for the
exercise of mercy than today. The poor are all around us, the
distressed, the afflicted, the sorrowing, and those who are ready to
perish.
Through circumstances some who love and obey God become poor.
Some are not careful; they do not know how to manage. Others are
poor through sickness and misfortune. Whatever the cause they are
in need, and to help them is an important line of missionary work.—
Testimonies for the Church 6:269-271
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Poverty May Result From Adverse Circumstance—It has not
always been regarded as a mark of inefficiency when through adverse
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circumstances pinching want has made it necessity for a brother to
incur debts or suffer for food and clothing even though he was unable
to lift these debts, struggle as hard as he might. A helping hand has
been reached out to such ones, to place them upon their feet, free from
embarrassment, that they might do their work in the vineyard of the
Lord and not be oppressed with the thought that a cloud of debt was
hanging over them.—
Manuscript 34, 1894
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The Responsibility of the Church or Churches—It is the duty
of each church to make careful, judicious arrangements for the care of
its poor and sick.—
Letter 169, 1901
.
God suffers His poor to be in the borders of every church. They
are always to be among us, and the Lord places upon the members of
every church a personal responsibility to care for them. We are not
to lay our responsibility upon others. Toward those within our own
borders we are to manifest the same love and sympathy that Christ
would manifest were He in our place. Thus we are to be disciplined,
that we may be prepared to work in Christ’s lines.
The minister should educate the various families and strengthen
the church to care for its own sick and poor. He should set at work the
God-given faculties of the people, and if one church is overtaxed in
this line, other churches should come to its assistance. Let the church
members exercise tact and ingenuity in caring for these, the Lord’s
people. Let them deny themselves luxuries and needless ornaments,
that they may make the suffering needy ones comfortable. In doing