Christianity and Social Responsibility

There are two primary commandments given by Jesus to love God and to love neighbor. A neighbor can be defined as anyone you that you have the capacity to help whose troubles are immediate and presentable. This definition of neighbor does not support the idea that the church's ministry is limited to its own.

Obviously there are a myriad of difficulties in deciding which neighbor to help as we are all painfully aware of our neighbor's troubles and struggle to maintain a healthy balance of our needs with theirs. This difficulty however should not shroud the basic responsibility that we've been asked, commanded, to fulfill.

The church that does not selflessly reach out to neighbors near and far is most definitely falling short of God's calling. The decision of who to help is both a matter of prayer and one of just getting out there and helping.