See a Need, Meet a Need

Matt Johnson, pastor of the Journey Church in Murray, Kentucky, introduced me to this concept during the ten years that I was involved in what was then a church plant. It is a very simple concept. We, our Sunday school class, our ministry team, our youth group, our small group, or we and two or three friends at church or outside of church identify an unmet need and do something to meet it.

We might repair a screen door for older person who cannot afford to hire a handyman. We might cut the grass in a disabled person’s yard or rake the leaves. We might regularly phone a shut-in every day to make sure that they are alright. We might drive to a medical appointment someone who does not have a car. We might do volunteer work with foreign exchange students. We might tutor a child who is struggling with their schoolwork. There are all kinds of needs, big and small, which we either by ourselves or with others can meet.

What we do to meet a need may be a one-time thing. Or it may be ongoing. When we identify a need and respond to it, we are showing grace and kindness to others. We are giving expression to our love for them. We are walking in the good works that God has prepared us to walk in.

Every church has untapped resources. They sit in the church’s adult Sunday school classes and the church’s sanctuary on Sunday morning. They are the parents of the children in the church’s kids ministry and the parents of the teenagers in the church’s youth ministry. Encouraging them to look for needs that they can meet and then taking steps to meet a need that they have identified is one way of mobilizing these resources for ministry.

Murray First United Methodist Church, the church which I attend, has as a part of its church mission statement making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Simply put, it is making disciples who make a difference in other people’s lives, in the community, and in the world.

Seeing a need and meeting it is one of the ways that we as disciples of Jesus Christ can make a difference. It may be a small difference, but we are impacting someone’s life. A lot of small differences can make a big difference. They have a cumulative effect.

In identifying and meeting needs, we meet new people. We form friendships and we can have spiritual conversations with them. We can point them to Jesus. Indeed, our actions themselves show the influence that Jesus is having upon us. We are living what he taught and practiced. We are loving God and loving others. We are showing our love of God in following Jesus’ teachings and example.

For 27 years I was involved in social work, helping and counseling others. There are many unmet needs that we can meet as disciples of Jesus Christ. There are a lot of ways that we can help others and do good to them.

The best way to start is to ask God to show us those needs that we can meet one way or another, by ourselves or with others. Ask God to open our eyes to them. Then get ready for God to do that.