“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.” A male believer emphasized, “Strictly speaking, it is not true service when you serve people and the society with a special purpose, even with the good motivation of evangelism, as it is utilitarian. The motive for a Christian to do social service should be simple to imitate Jesus and learn to love others as himself.”
A Christian lay leader surnamed G (pseudonym for safety reasons) with years of social service experience encouraged church members to participate in charity activities to let others “see” Jesus in them and their actions instead of words.
He said he couldn’t approve of those with impure ministry motivations who attempted to share the gospel through “charity”, as real service was not just leading people to Christ but showing unconditional love.
G believed that some Christians couldn’t consistently participate in or withdrew from social service when they didn’t see the results of evangelism and the group being helped was disgusted by such a purposeful service.
He gave an example that touched him. A Taiwanese medical student chose a project of social service to serve a child with cerebral palsy whose nose was wiped all day. He could not carry out any verbal interaction or provide any medicine or treatment. So he felt like a failure, but God let him realize that his service was itself an expression of Jesus’ love.
G continued, "Of course, it is not to manifest the life of Jesus by wiping any person’s nose. When he saw the need of the child, the student could not help but serve him with love."
In the view of most Christians, it is ineffective work that a person conducts charity activities without bringing the gospel to others who can’t be rescued without hearing the message of Jesus.
But G hoped that people could “see” Jesus through what His followers did. "We can’t let people know Jesus by our words but by doing what Jesus did. The child may someday go to heaven though he hasn’t heard a word about Jesus. When asked ‘Have you heard the gospel?‘ he might answer, 'I haven't heard the gospel, but I have seen it in the one who served me.' As this medical student has shown the gospel to him."
For a long time, Christians like to preach the slogan that "believers will go to heaven, but unbelievers will go to hell". G stated, "What we preach is always just a 'simple' gospel, not the full gospel that the Bible tells us. The gospel is actually perfect. For example, when Paul was preaching, he also talked about history, saying 'Jesus is the son of David', which today our church rarely talks about."
In G’s view, in order to see immediate results of evangelism, Christians take the opportunity to say about Jesus while distributing goods and offering service. But in fact, God’s kingdom is of peace, righteousness, love, Goodness, and holiness, which believers should all live out.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
“你手若有行善的力量,不可推辞,就当向那应得的人施行。”G弟兄特别强调：“我们如果带着特别的目的，即便是善良的传福音的目的去服务他人、服务社会，严格意义上来说也不是真正的服务，是有功利性的。 基督徒做社会服务的动机应该只是单纯地效法耶稣，学习爱人如己。（==当summary）”
一位拥有多年社会服务经验的G弟兄鼓励基督徒参与社会服务。他认为信耶稣不是“口头上的”，更需要行出来，要让人在你的身上“看见”耶稣。
但是，他看到一些基督徒参与社会服务动机并不纯粹。有些基督徒参与社会服务事业，往往是想通过“慈善”达到他们传福音的目的，而不是单纯地想要为对方提供服务。他认为这不是真正的服务，真正的服务不是给人宗教，而是给人无条件的爱。
G弟兄认为这样目的性很强的社会服务一方面会让一些被帮助的群体反感；另一方面有些义工在看不到传福音的果效的时候，也很容易失去热情。这也是一些基督徒参与社会服务不能持久甚至失败的原因。
他举了一个很触动自己的例子：一位台湾医学生去做社会服务。他选择的项目是服务脑瘫儿童。他一整天做的事情就是帮这个脑瘫孩子擦鼻涕，没有任何言语的互动。除了帮他擦鼻涕以外，他不能为他提供有效的药物和治疗。这位医学生觉得自己很失败，但是上帝却引导他，让他意识到他的服务本身就是耶稣工作的彰显。
G弟兄总结：“当然不是给任何人擦鼻涕的工作都是彰显耶稣的生命，而是因为这位弟兄看到了对方的需要，并且凭着爱心，没有任何诉求地去服务对方。”
在一般的基督徒看来，做了社会服务但是没有用口对方福音，就是做了无效的工。因为虽然做工了，但是对方的灵魂没有听到福音，他就不能得救。
G弟兄却不这样看，他强调说，“让人认识耶稣不是靠舌头，而是通过行耶稣的事。医学生给脑瘫儿童擦一天鼻涕但没有提过一句耶稣的事情，但是这个孩子将来可能会到天堂。如果这个孩子被问，‘你听过福音吗？’他可以怎么回答呢？他或许可以这样回答，‘我没听过福音，但我见过福音。我在那个服事我的人身上看见了耶稣。’这位医学生已经向这位脑瘫儿童展示了福音。” G弟兄希望人们都可以透过我们所行的“看见”耶稣。
很长一段时间，基督徒喜欢传 “信耶稣上天堂，不信耶稣下地狱”。面对传福音乱象，他的观察和思考是：“我们很多时候所传的福音不是圣经所告诉我们的全备福音，而只是一种‘简化版’的福音。福音其实是很丰富的，比如保罗在讲福音的时候还会讲历史，讲‘耶稣是大卫的子孙’，但是今天我们的教会很少讲。”
同样，在他看来，人民为了尽快看到传福音的果效，发一发东西，献一献爱心，借机口传一下耶稣……但其实上帝的国度很广，有和平、公义、慈爱、良善、圣洁……这些都是我们要脚踏实地地活出来的。
https://christiantimes.cn/news/38126/%E5%AF%B9%E8%AF%9D%7C%E4%B8%80%E7%A4%BE%E4%BC%9A%E6%9C%8D%E5%8A%A1%E6%9C%BA%E6%9E%84%E4%BA%BA%E5%A3%AB%E8%B0%88%EF%BC%9A%E6%85%88%E5%96%84%E4%B8%8D%E8%83%BD%E4%BD%9C%E4%B8%BA%E6%89%8B%E6%AE%B5%20%E8%80%8C%E6%98%AF%E5%9F%BA%E7%9D%A3%E7%94%9F%E5%91%BD%E7%9A%84%E5%BD%B0%E6%98%BE%20
对话|慈善不能作为手段 而是基督生命的彰显
“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.” A male believer emphasized, “Strictly speaking, it is not true service when you serve people and the society with a special purpose, even with the good motivation of evangelism, as it is utilitarian. The motive for a Christian to do social service should be simple to imitate Jesus and learn to love others as himself.”
A Christian lay leader surnamed G (pseudonym for safety reasons) with years of social service experience encouraged church members to participate in charity activities to let others “see” Jesus in them and their actions instead of words.
He said he couldn’t approve of those with impure ministry motivations who attempted to share the gospel through “charity”, as real service was not just leading people to Christ but showing unconditional love.
G believed that some Christians couldn’t consistently participate in or withdrew from social service when they didn’t see the results of evangelism and the group being helped was disgusted by such a purposeful service.
He gave an example that touched him. A Taiwanese medical student chose a project of social service to serve a child with cerebral palsy whose nose was wiped all day. He could not carry out any verbal interaction or provide any medicine or treatment. So he felt like a failure, but God let him realize that his service was itself an expression of Jesus’ love.
G continued, "Of course, it is not to manifest the life of Jesus by wiping any person’s nose. When he saw the need of the child, the student could not help but serve him with love."
In the view of most Christians, it is ineffective work that a person conducts charity activities without bringing the gospel to others who can’t be rescued without hearing the message of Jesus.
But G hoped that people could “see” Jesus through what His followers did. "We can’t let people know Jesus by our words but by doing what Jesus did. The child may someday go to heaven though he hasn’t heard a word about Jesus. When asked ‘Have you heard the gospel?‘ he might answer, 'I haven't heard the gospel, but I have seen it in the one who served me.' As this medical student has shown the gospel to him."
For a long time, Christians like to preach the slogan that "believers will go to heaven, but unbelievers will go to hell". G stated, "What we preach is always just a 'simple' gospel, not the full gospel that the Bible tells us. The gospel is actually perfect. For example, when Paul was preaching, he also talked about history, saying 'Jesus is the son of David', which today our church rarely talks about."
In G’s view, in order to see immediate results of evangelism, Christians take the opportunity to say about Jesus while distributing goods and offering service. But in fact, God’s kingdom is of peace, righteousness, love, Goodness, and holiness, which believers should all live out.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Social Service Should Show Life of Christ, Not Just Evangelism Method
