Can You Help Me Understand the Welfare System?

Can you help me understand the welfare system? I want to love the poor by providing help when it’s needed along with incentives for them to pursue the dignity of work. I don’t think our welfare system does a good job of this. Would it be better—or even possible—to scrap it and let the church take over helping the poor? How can I be wise about this? What should we advocate?

Good questions! God commands us to care for the poor, and Jesus’s first sermon proclaimed good news to the poor. Still, actually caring for the poor is difficult and complicated. The causes of poverty are complex, and efforts to alleviate or prevent poverty often backfire.

The real question is not whether the church should replace the welfare system. I really don’t see that happening, given the scope of the need and the level of coordination and organization involved (see chart), but whether the welfare system interferes with the ability of the church to do its job. I don’t think it generally does. Read More