Helping others who don't believe as you do?

[chance]

I know some in my sisters' church who will rarely help those who are not members of the church - unless those needing help are people they don't see or know.

Let me explain: People in Haiti need help? Done - raise some money, send it off.

Your brother or neighbor needs help? Well...do they go to our church? Do they believe the same things we do? Are they sinners? Do they drink? Etc.

Folks in the local church will go to the bedside of someone ill, cook dinners, collect money, and so on - as long as the person is a member of their church.

If you are related to someone in said church and need help...well too bad for you. But then something like an earthquake happens somewhere and folks pull together to send cash to help out - and they don't ask if those people go to their church.

My sister goes to a baptist church, and there have been plenty of times I knew folks who needed help and they all just looked the other way - because those folks were not members of their church. And yet when others outside of the US needed help they raised money to help them.

Homeless here? Out of a job? Need someone to talk to, visit you in the hospital? If you come to our church we will be there for you, if you don't - even when we know who you are and what your needs are - too bad.

Jesus died for us all - when he did not have to. He could have let us all just suffer, he did not. He gave up his very life to help others who did not believe, who hated him.

Do you feel that helping others should be dependent on whether or not they go to your church? Do you feel that helping others who could not go to your church - ie, they live in another country- is doing God's work?

[cslewislover]

I've volunteered to help others that do not go to my church, yes, and I think as Christians we should. I know that many churches in this region have members that help out at "ministries" that are not part of their churches. We should be doing both - helping our fellow believers that we know, and helping others in general. There's nothing wrong with helping those in other countries as well.