Since its earliest days, the church has been known for bringing good news to the poor—not only through the gospel message but also by caring for people’s physical needs. In the first centuries, the church was so zealous in caring for those who were weak, poor, or abandoned that they earned a public reputation for it. While many Christians continue to answer that call, from a broader perspective, the church now seems relegated to a supporting role. In dollar terms, the current federal spending of $31,000 per American in poverty far surpasses anything our benevolence committees could ever hope to muster. Perhaps that’s why only 14 percent of evangelicals see poverty alleviation as primarily the church’s responsibility, while 55 percent view it as mostly the government’s job. But appearances can be deceiving. As books like When Helping Hurts have compellingly argued, poverty stems more from broken relationships than from a mere lack of capital. If relationships are the key, then the tables are turned. The tens of thousands of taxpayer-funded caseworkers are vastly outnumbered by the tens of millions of Christians who fill our assemblies. Despite initial impressions, the church is best equipped to implement real solutions. Allow me to offer a few practical strategies that can help your church do the most good with the resources you steward. 1. Deputize Church Members as Kingdom Workers Every church is on the hook for more ministry than the paid staff can possibly carry out—to many demographics, including the poor, who are a significant portion. So what if you treated church members less like additional “customers” to be served and more like kingdom employees with a duty to serve the poor and lost? The church is best equipped to implement real solutions. The gathered church could deliberately train and plan for the activities of the church members throughout the week. That might mean practical training and serving opportunities during what would typically a gathering time before or after the service. Or that might mean assigning tasks for volunteers to complete during the week. Certainly, some members would object to being transformed from the served into the servants, but many others are crying out for a sense of purpose that transcends the pursuit of happiness. In the end, an engaged body of believers can disciple far more people than the most exemplary staff team. Even if some of your flock hopped off to another church in the process, being the best church for the community is also a biblical long-run growth strategy. 2. Celebrate Individual Initiative Engaging your community doesn’t necessarily mean starting more ministries in-house. If your members are the church, then their service with local nonprofit ministries or redemptive businesses is just as valid as ministries listed in the church bulletin. One benefit of highlighting what individuals in your church are doing is that you can connect other members to those initiatives. Your church leaders can use the church’s communications to let the congregation know about ministries they could join: church calendars can contain aligned community events, church websites can link to ministry partners, and announcement channels can broadcast external volunteer activities. You could run an internal ministry fair where churchgoers share about their passion projects. Some churches make an effort to track their congregants’ external ministry and regularly report on involvement and fruit. You could consider a survey to help gauge the ministry assets already in your congregation. 3. Shift Existing Ministries to a Long-Term Focus If your church already has programs to minister to the poor, consider how oriented they are toward long-term, holistic discipleship. According to one survey, 62 percent of churches have food ministries, but only 2 percent have workforce development ministries. Simple provision of material goods isn’t the pressing need for people in poverty in America; relationships, connections, and skills development are far more useful. Numerous programs you can run or partner with provide mentorship, life skills classes, job fairs, and personal goal-setting and follow-up. These high-touch approaches create more space for meaningful gospel conversations as well. Even a micro version of a developmental program has greater effects than a substantial canned-goods drive. 4. Call the Poor into Reciprocity As you shift or initiate ministries to serve the poor, remember that God has equipped the poor with assets as well. Since development cannot be done “to” someone, effective approaches should borrow from God’s innovation of the gleaning system in the Old Testament (Lev. 19:9–10). We should offer the poor a subsidized exchange—such as asking them to mow the lawn in exchange for the payment of an electric bill, or stock a food pantry in exchange for some of the groceries—that rewards their effort and expands their capabilities. Simple provision of material goods isn’t the pressing need for people in poverty in America. Food pantries can become food co-ops in which “clients” become members of a club and make a financial and labor contribution. Christmas giveaways become Christmas markets, where parents in need buy deeply discounted items for their own children. Earn-it models replace handouts as the default way to meet a need. Some of our benevolence may even shift to an interest-free loan. All these approaches naturally reduce the quantity of applicants to people serious about improving their situation and allow for a deeper relational connection with those people. It also tends to lower cost and volunteer commitment, as it amplifies people’s ability to contribute to their own solutions. These strategies leverage the relational power unique to Christ-followers, and they can’t be replaced by any centralized solution, regardless of the budget. The church will always be the main character in any successful efforts to increase human flourishing. God has given us more than enough to make a difference.