Where does it say ...

I was on my way to the doctor's office when the thought hit me: Where exactly did Jesus send his disciples on foreign missions? Where exactly did feeding become the way into the church? Where exactly did "being" the church become the idea?

At first my mind wouldn't capitualate. Couldn't come up with places where this happened. Sure, Jesus fed the 5,000 and the 4,000. But his disciples were mere McDonald's employees. Sure Jesus talked about the reasons he had come included the homeless, the prisoners, the hungry, even the blind and lame.

But where was the church told to become the Red Cross? Did Jesus send the disciples out looking for flood victims? Did Jesus himself ever form a mission team?

I sat in the doctor's office pondering this, and luckily I had my I-pad with me. So I journeyed into the Acts of the Apostles, and there I found this from the sixth chapter: But as the believers^[a] rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

² So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. ³ And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. ⁴ Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

⁵ Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). ⁶ These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

⁷ So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too."

Two observations that I think fit the modern church.

1) The Apostles were apparently called to "spend time in prayer and teaching the word." That seems to eliminate the idea of the church becoming the Red Cross. If the apostles, those persons who were closest to Christ, saw no need for their job to be delivering and/or cooking food for those who had little, should we?

2) But then there's the line that I believe clarifies everything, verse 7 a: "So God's message continued to spread."

Sure, that could be talking about the teaching/preaching by the apostles. But I believe it also describes that moment when the food given connects us in some mad manner. The number of believers today seems to increase when we are merciful to them. And mercy surely includes food, clothing, AND the word of God. If the idea is for God's message to spread, what many of us have found is that coming in the back door, inviting someone on a local mission trip or even a foreign one, is often the way it begins today. I must say there is nothing in my ministry that has ever matched going to help someone, be it in prison, in a flood zone, painting a low-income person's home in Southwest Texas, or feeding 150 homeless self-proclaimed gutter-punks each week in the French Quarters in New Orleans.

Truth is there are some times when the Red Cross and the church can't be distinguished. But the church can never forget that it is called to give "them" more than food. We are to give them the bread of life.