Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?" The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matt. 25:37-40)

Helping Hands is designed to provide practical assistance to both members and non-members. This is our simply way of following the example of Jesus Christ, who always ensure that needs were met in loving and caring manner.

God's Heart: He is full of compassion and completely just and therefore detests oppression. From the beginning God directed His people toward a more equitable living. In the Old Testament we read of specific programs He instituted as a check and balance system to keep the rich from getting too rich at the expense of others -- Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:8-55), the Sabbatical Year (Lev. 25:1-7), the Law of Tithing (Deut. 14:28-29) and Gleaning (Deut. 24:19-22). All things belong to God so we cannot hold on too tightly. We therefore seek instead to partner with God in meeting people's needs with resources that in reality belong to Him and not us.

According to Luke 4:18-19, Jesus' mission was to free the oppressed and heal the blind. He wanted to see changed lives as a result of His help. Jesus had a balance between meeting physical and spiritual needs. He met physical needs but He also preached and taught truth (Matt. 4:23) . Addressing the spiritual core issues of the heart is another matter. Jesus did both (Matt. 9:1-6).

He took care of the physical to authenticate the spiritual. Since we don’t have the advantage of Jesus' omniscience to get right to the core, we must go through a process of discerning the real needs. We use a filtering system that includes prayer and personal interviews as major parts of the process.

The greatest challenge is to prevent the problems from reoccurring in the future. Our most important act will therefore go beyond physical assistance to a compassionate investment and commitment of time, energy, and love. We are willing to come along side of an individual or family and not merely distribute money, food, clothing, or other goods to them but help them to better take care of their own needs. It has been said, "Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish and he has food for a lifetime."

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: here am I. ... then your light will rise in the darkness ... You will be like a well-watered garden; like a spring whose waters never fail." (Isa. 58:6-11)