Reply #126: Yes, those "minsterial alliances".... where to begin.

[bobbolink]

"I've haven't witnessed this happening. If anything, it seems that they receive less then they did when it came from a church."

Exactly. this is what is happening all over the country, and I could go into a whole sermon oon this. Let me just add this example:
In the equivalent church "alliance" in the town where I am, the "pet" they picked out to elevate told me about the fund-raising dinner she went to, where they give out the awards, pump people up to give more, etc. She said in the speech they were all told that "If you help 2 out of 100, you are doing well." She was horrified and left, because the town thinks EVERYONE is assisted who goes there. She told me she kept thinking "What happens to the other 98?"

I think we all know the answer to that.

The Gift of the Poor
The people with the best sense of what is essential to a community, of what gives and maintains its spirit, are often doing very humble, manual tasks. It is often the poorest person - the one who has a handicap or who is ill or old - who is the most prophetic. People who carry responsibility must be close to them and know what they think, because it is often they who are free enough to see with the greatest clarity the needs, beauty and pain of the community.
- Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 262

The Cry of the Poor
We are all afraid of the cry of the poor, afraid when we see a man lying, beaten up, on the ground. If we stop to help a person like this, we are bound to lose something – time, money, possibly more. Someone might accuse us of having been the one to beat the person up. We do not want to get our hands dirty. Perhaps at a deeper level we have a vague idea that what the poor man really wants is solidarity, friendship and communion. But we ourselves are poor in our ability to love and in our readiness to change. So a wall has grown up between those who are well integrated into society, and those who have been pushed aside.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p.18