Why Church Care?

Indianapolis - Bringing 1,200 Agencies and 1,200 Churches Together
Agencies, because of their relationship with the poor, know who the poor are and what real needs they have which are not addressed by the agency system. They also know that if there are volunteers able and willing to respond to such needs; volunteers that are almost always in our community's churches. But, agencies don't know who the volunteers are or how to reach them.

Conversely the churches, because they have little relationship with the poor, do not know who they are or how to reach them. Neither do they know whom, in their churches, might be able and willing to respond to needs such as these should they be referred to their church for volunteer help.

The consequence of this plain truth is that the needs remain and can only worsen. They are real, but there is no way to attend them. There is no bridge to connect those in need with those who are able and willing to respond to their needs. Church Care is that bridge.

Church Care is a Central Clearing House
Church Care is the only central clearing service in the Indianapolis area. One of its primary services is to check "for truth" the need requests made to any and all participating Christian churches for money or money equivalents. In the 17 years Church Care has been serving churches, less than 50% of those referred by churches to Church Care (for clearing) have called us; they prefer rather to go on to churches who do not have the referral resources, expertise, or adequate staff to screen for truth. See Church Care Referral/Screening Services.

Church Care is a Central Referral Service
Another of its primary services is to match "cleared needs" with Christian volunteers waiting in the service pool who have indicated the specified need as one they would be willing to consider.

Note: Nearly 100% of referrals for "hands-on" help come to Church Care from the agencies - almost none from churches. Nearly 100% of referrals for money or money equivalents come to Church Care from churches. (Church Care does not take calls from the street, and we do not accept referrals for need situations involving rents and utilities from agencies or from churches not in the church network.)

Church Care is Servant to the Local Churches
Church Care also helps mobilize the one body of Christ (individuals in the pews of not just one church, but of all Christian churches) in biblical compassion and service to the legitimate poor.

Christians want to serve those who are truly in need. The truth is that our local churches are full of loving, caring people with God given talents who can and will address these kinds of needs if and when given the opportunity and adequate information about the situation. That is what Church Care is all about.

Church Care Facilitates Biblical Compassion
Let's ask this question about our church's call to charity. Regarding "outreach" to the poor and other needy, how can our church avoid these two common unbiblical extremes? For the want of a way to know the "truth" about the needs we're asked to serve, shall we 1) refuse to assist those outside our own congregation or 2) shall we waste God's resources by providing assistance without knowing.

It's better to error on the side of compassion we sometimes hear - true, except if there's a way to avoid the error. There is accountability to consider. Do we aid and abet those who, without conscience, cheat the churches? And what about the right stewardship of parishioner funds?

Church Care is Year Round
Every weekday of the year agency people refer to Church Care the poor people they are trying to serve - needy people who have very real problems that are way beyond their means or ability to remedy without help - problems that are not addressed by the agency system. They are asking us in case after case, day after day as these problems surface, if Church Care can please find volunteer help somewhere in our 1200 local churches - someone to come and look and hopefully respond to these people with legitimate needs that won’t wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas. The Church, as we see every year, engages in a very public way with the poor through the months of November and December. We note too, as the excitement of the season passes, so too passes the depth of the interest in serving the needy. The needy are still there, and the problems that won’t wait until the next "giving" season continue to surface without notice every day of the year. We need a way to perpetuate, in some measure, the spirit of Christmas day by day through all the months of every year. Church Care Indy tries to be that way. Church Care exists to facilitate a visible and a powerful presence of our local Christian churches (the one body of Christ) working together to respond to the legitimate needs of the poor as they surface and are identified, one by one, case by case, every day of the year. Can we find Christian help and count on Christian response to legitimate needs? We hope and pray we can. We hope and pray your church will join with others to make it happen. Praise God.

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