It’s difficult for us Aussies to imagine a society in which there are no unemployment benefits, and no pensions, and no child and family allowances.  In many countries today that is still the way it is.  In earlier generations few of these benefits were available.  There were times in the history of Western Society when the Christian church was the only charitable institution to take care of the poor and the needy.

It is just as difficult for us today in this country to imagine a society without public schools, hospitals and aged care facilities.  In many countries today that is still the way it is.  In earlier generations few of these facilities were readily available.  Often in history the Christian church led the way: built and staffed hospitals and ran schools for those who had no access to health care or education.

I recall a story told by my father from the days when he was a lad.  My grandfather had become unemployed due to several bouts of pneumonia.  As a result the family got behind in their rent and was evicted from their house.  In the process they asked their church deacons for assistance but this was in the years of the Great Depression when the church was often overwhelmed by the needs of the community.  The deacons told them to go to the town council.  When they approached the council for help they were told to talk to the deacons.  The result was that there was no help forthcoming and so the bailiff came and evicted them, dumping the kids and their goods on the street.  A kindly farmer from their church helped them with the loan of a cart and organised for the family to be taken into the ‘poor house’ – a barrack style building shared with other poor families.  There each family had a single room to call their own.  In return some part-time council work had to be done.

Today we are immensely blessed with all sorts of provisions that we tend to take for granted.  Except that today it is the State and not the church that ministers to the needs of people.  That’s a blessing – paid for by our taxes of course.  The church only has the opportunity to be a servant to the needy in extreme cases – and then often at a distance.  In some churches in lower socio-economic areas church deacons are still often called on to help out.  However Church-goers these days are generally called on only to give to causes in other lands – anonymous gifts through various Christian aid agencies.  Particularly if there has been some natural disaster: a cyclone in India; an earthquake in Indonesia – then Christian churches in Australia have often partnered with Christian communities overseas to bring relief.  I don’t want to belittle such help.  It is necessary for such aid efforts to be made.

However it seems to me that we may be fast approaching a situation where the church will again be called on much more often to be a servant to those in need in our own society – to again run soup kitchens and provide food parcels.  With a greying population, in which the Baby-boomers are moving on to retirement age, it is a well-known fact that our social security system is buckling under the pressure.  Furthermore priorities are often perverted in our hedonistic society.  We spend billions on hosting major sporting events but then cut back on funding of mental health agencies.  Sydney blows a cool million dollars or so on New Year’s Eve just for fireworks but we can’t solve the housing crisis for those who are sleeping rough.  Or why not spend the fireworks money instead on drug rehabilitation?

If present dysfunctional trends in society continue then the Christian Church may once again have many more opportunities to fulfil her servant role.  But then we need to be careful that we don’t neglect our servant duty.  When my grandfather approached the deacons he had to swallow a lot of pride.  When his own church’s deacons sent him away empty-handed to the town council that left some scars that took many years to heal – my father still had vivid memories of it in his final years with dementia.

Christianity has at its core and centre the coming and the work of Jesus, the Servant King.  The Christian church is at her best when she embraces the servant attitude of the One who came, not to be served but to serve.

John Westendorp