The problem with charity. . .

Both Lutherans and Roman Catholics have a strong and noble history with charitable organizations used to give mercy a face and to promote the faith.  We can and should be proud of the record of honest and compassionate help both here and across the world.  That said, I am not at all sure the organizations that bear the names Lutheran or Catholic are what they once were and I fear that charity is not quite the word that would apply at this time.

We all know that Lutheran and Roman Catholic social service organizations have been fueled less and less by the financial support of their member and more and more by government money.  As such, they have functioned as NGOs (non-governmental organizations), that is, nonprofits which supposedly operate outside government control but are constrained by the strings attached to the money to fulfill the government purposes for which the funds were allocated.  As such, NGOs tend to focus on humanitarian or social issues but can also include clubs and associations offering services to members.  In this way, the charities are not quite charities and not quite Lutheran or Roman Catholic -- even if they have very good people doing the very good work for which the government gives them the money.  Note here what I wrote.  I do not mean to impinge upon the reputation of their leaders or workers or to diminish the good that they do.  That is not the question.  The question is in what way we continue to call them Lutheran or Roman Catholic.  

Many of these organizations have equated ‘evangelization’ with ‘social justice.’  While the work of social justice may not be bad or contrary to the cause of Christianity (depending on what is meant by social justice), it is not Lutheran or Roman Catholic absent any mention of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His saving work that incarnated God's mercy.  Furthermore, unless Scripture and the evangelical truth of the Gospel can be spoken, the work, no matter how good, is not quite churchly.  Typically, government money precludes any overt religious message and does not allow those working for the cause to point people to God or to His Word.  So without these things, the work can be good and salutary but it might not quite be Lutheran or Roman Catholic.  Unless, of course, Lutherans and Roman Catholics have built a wall between the compassionate work and the Gospel of God's compassion in Christ.  It might possibly be true that some progressives in either camp have done just that but a silent Christian witness is hard to fit in with the overt purpose of the Church to bring the Word of God to people so that He might make them His own.

If the only compassionate work we do is that which is funded by government grant, perhaps the time has come for us to have a serious conversation about continuing the affiliation.  Please remember that this is not meant to be an indictment of every social service organization that bears the name Lutheran or Roman Catholic.  Think, for example, of the good work of Lutheran Disaster Relief.  Lutherans fund the work and Lutherans do the work and Lutherans share their faith while they work.  At the same time, Lutheran Immigration and Relief Services is almost exclusively a non-governmental agency using taxpayer funds to do as a non-profit what the government wants it to do.  Never mind here the fact that some are using their funds to thwart the purposes of the government -- which is a very different problem -- the honest question here is whether it is enough for some of the leaders and workers to be Lutheran (or Roman Catholic) to give integrity to the work itself.  I am not concerned so much about the funds the government has entrusted to them.  Audits can easily prove the financial integrity of their work.  I am more concerned about whether we can or should continue to call them Lutheran or Roman Catholic solely because a few of our church folk lead or work for them.