A.
Providing in the Lord’s Way
1.
Introduction
The central moral principle is Christianity is that each of
us should love one another.[1] While promoting such good will between men
is not unique to Christianity, it is one of its more defining
characteristics. True believers are
expected to live by that principle, and not just to give it lip
service. Christ made clear that true
discipleship was predicated upon such acts of charity. Moreover, those who claim to be disciples are
asked to show love to the poor and needy,[2] and in doing so, they
follow the example of Christ himself, who spent much of his mortal ministry
caring for the poor and needy. The
importance of such care is shown in the 25th Chapter of Matthew,
when the Lord, at the Day of Judgment, separates the sheep from the goats—the
sheep being entitled to enter into the rest of the Lord—saying: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat:
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and he clothed me: I was sick, and ye
visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me…..Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”[3]
The Church provides detailed, and in a few instances
surprising, guidance to the members on how the Church will care for the poor
and needy in its midst. When speaking
of this guidance, President Uchtdorf in 2011[4] said: “[t]hat the Lord’s way of caring for the
needy is different from the world’s way,” and noted further that the Lord
emphasizes that providing for the saints “must needs be done in mine own way.”[5] This guidance is contained in several Church
publications, including most prominently, a pamphlet entitled “Providing in the
Lord’s Way,”[6]
the Church’s two Handbooks of Instructions,[7] and “Basic Principles of
Welfare and Self-Reliance.”[8] Moreover, many General Authorities have
summarized these principles, encouraging members to follow them, in a number of
general conference talks over the last eighty some years.[9] Many of these principles were first announced
in 1936, when the Church’s modern-day “welfare plan” was introduced, as the
United States and much of the world were still caught in the relentless vise of
the Great Depression, a global economic crisis causing widespread poverty,
sorrow and hunger.
2.
Three Cornerstone Principles
The Church’s welfare program is based upon three cornerstone
principles, each considered complementary with the others.[10] The purposes of Church welfare are to help
members become self-reliant, to care for the poor and needy, and to provide
service opportunities to those able to help.[11] [12]
3.
What do we mean by the “poor and needy?”
What does the Church mean by the phrase the “poor and needy?” It
is not surprising that the Church uses the phrase, because the phrase is used
repeatedly in ancient and modern scriptures.[13] No attempt is made in the scriptures to
define what is meant by the “poor and needy.”
Perhaps this is because everyone knows intuitively what it means;
perhaps because it is impossible to supply a precise definition; or perhaps
because poverty is a relative term, defying easy description, differing from
one place to another, and from one group to another.
Another plausible explanation is the phrase is a literary
convention, and that its meaning is best divined by carefully looking at the wording. Are the terms “poor” and “needy” to be
construed in a disjunctive sense, meaning that it refers to those who are
either “poor” or “needy.” What makes
this problematic is that many of the poor are not “needy,” and many of the
“needy” are not poor. Or are the terms
“poor” and “needy” to be read in a conjunctive sense, meaning that it refers
solely to those who are both “poor” and “needy.” The phrase could be restated to read: those
who are “needy” because they are “poor”; or those who are “poor” and the same
time, are needy because of their poverty.
Either of these latter formulations is awkward and wordy, making it easy
to understand why the short-hand version of “poor and needy” is preferred and
commonly used.
The reading that makes the most sense is the “conjunctive” one,
and this also helps us to understand which of the possible “needs” of the poor
that we might have in mind. We are not
talking about all of their needs--their emotional, social or psychological
needs –but only those needs that arise due to their “poverty.” This narrows the universe of the needs men
and women have and is consistent with the focus we find in the Church’s policy
on welfare. For example, one finds the
following statement in the pamphlet “Providing in the Lord’s Way:” “There will be times in our lives when we
will not be able to meet our needs without the help of others.”[14] That statement, as well as others like it,
should be construed to mean primarily basic physical or “temporarl” needs--such
as food, shelter, security.[15] There are many needs that humans have that
can be satisfied only through interaction with others. Indeed, those needs are essentially social
at their core. Who does not need
affection, love, understanding, companionship and human interaction? We are never free of such needs—indeed,
having these needs is part of being human.
But whether or not those needs are fully satisfied does not necessarily
impinge upon our ability to take care of ourselves and our families temporally.
4.
Individual Responsibilities
While the Church focuses upon the importance of families,
the gospel is ultimately about “individuals” and their personal salvation—and
the manner in which they exercise agency to choose between good and evil. Men are punished for their own sins, and not
from the sins of others.[16] So it is not surprising that the Church’s
welfare plan starts by focusing upon the obligation of each member. If each person does his part, the collective
takes care of itself.
(a) Self-Reliance
As a Bedrock Principle
Members of the Church are “self-reliant” when they use their
own resources to provide for themselves and their families. “But if any provide not for his own, and especially
for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an
infidel.”[17] Members
should not expect others, including the Church, to be responsible for their
well-welfare or that of their household.
Undergirding the principle of “self-reliance” is the concept of
“personal accountability.” Using
agency, each individual is to work with his hands and apply his mind, skills,
talents and other resources, to take care himself and those closest to
him. He is not to shift that
responsibility to others. In addition, he is ultimately accountable to
God for how he uses the excess resources under his stewardship, not needed for himself
and family, and expected to employ those resources to help others who are in need.
Were all to be self-reliant, or at least striving to be so,
there would be little “poverty” in the world as we see it today. Instead, communities would consist of vast
networks of self-supporting family units, each independent and self-sustaining.
But life is not so tidy. Many families are dysfunctional, and many
individuals are unable or unwilling to take care of themselves, much less
others. Poverty is not so much a
function of the physical “scarcity” of necessary resources, but rather a condition
that persists because of greed and hardness of hearts of those with more than
they need, because of the unwillingness of some to labor when they could, but looking
instead to others to care for them and their families, and because of the
break-down of family units, leaving the most vulnerable—including the impaired,
children, the elderly, and those dependent upon others--without able-bodied individuals
who are ready and willing to care for those less able to care for
themselves. “For the earth is full, and there is enough
and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of
men to be agents unto themselves.
Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and
impart not his position, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and
the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in
torment.”[18]
(b) Service—Blessing
Both the Giver and Recipient
Welfare itself involves two parties: the one who provides service, and the
recipient of that service. When welfare
is performed “in the Lord’s way,” the service itself blesses both the life of giver
and recipient. It captures the essence
of what the Apostle Paul is talking about when he says: “Nay, much more those members of the body,
which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.
And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness. For our comely
parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honour to the part which lacked.”[19] The weak need the strong, and the strong the
weak—both spiritually and temporally. Providing
in the Lord’s way humbles the rich, exalts the poor, and sanctifies both.[20] The giver learns compassion, demonstrates
obedience, shows gratitude to God for the blessings he has received, and
contributes to the unity of the saints.
He gives expression to his faith and builds testimony. He provides an example to others, including
members of his own family. Moreover, he
weans himself from dependence upon the “riches” of the world, placing “service”
ahead of “things,” and freeing himself from the bondage of the flesh.
The recipient has the opportunity to accept service with
gratitude. He should use the service given
to become more independent, and to free himself and his family from ongoing
dependence upon others. He should
remember the blessings that come through service, and should strive to be of
service to others in the future. He
should be willing to help others, in the same way, and with the same spirit of
kindness, as he has been helped.
(c)
Each individual should be constantly looking for
opportunities to help the poor and needy.
It is fundamentally an individual responsibility.
It is our
responsibility to be ever mindful of the poor and needy and to help them when
we can. [21] First
and foremost, except as qualified below, members have the primary
responsibility to help when they see the need.
They should do this before waiting for the Church or other organizations
to step in and help. As President
Uchtdorf expresses it, the duty to serve is imposed upon all of us: “Brethren, please do not think that this is
someone else’s responsibility, it is mine, and it is yours. We are all enlisted.”[22] It does not matter whether we are rich or
poor, whether we are closed related to or barely know those in need, whether we
are old, young, middle aged, or whether we feel well suited, or ill-equipped,
to help. There is one qualification to
this general principle. When there are
major catastrophes, affecting large groups, it becomes imperative for larger
organizations, such as the Church, to become involved to coordinate the
charitable services of individual members and others desirous of helping.
Each of us should be continually looking for opportunities
to serve and think about how we can best help those in need. We should not wait for someone else to ask
us for help, or expect others to take the lead or to tell us what to do. We should be agents to ourselves, and the counsel
about being “anxiously engaged” in a good cause applies to those presented with
welfare opportunities. “Verily I say,
men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their
own free will, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass
much righteousness; For the power is in them
And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. But he that doeth not anything until he is
commanded, and received a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with
slothfulness, the same is damned.”[23] One is slothful if one waits on the
sidelines when service opportunities present themselves.
(d) How
do we know what to do?
When and how are we to be of service to others? Is that service limited to those who have
the greatest needs or suffer from the deepest poverty? Or are we expected to make ourselves
available to help all who have needs, recognizing that everyone in life, in one
way or another, however poor or rich, however dependent or self-reliant, may
have temporary welfare needs. In some cases, what is needed is to secure
the basic necessities of life—food, shelter, security—while in other cases, the
needs are those of companionship, friendship, empathy, a kind word or
gesture. In some cases, the needs are
best fulfilled through collective action—i.e., through community efforts,
through the Church or through steps taken by priesthood quorums or
auxiliaries—while in other cases, individual acts of kindness are
sufficient.
The scriptures tells us that we can learn where and how we
can help others through heeding the promptings of the Spirit: “For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will
enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all
things what ye should do.”[24]
Practically speaking, depending upon the circumstances, each
of us may weigh a multitude of factors in determining whether and how to help
others, including the poor and needy.
Among these are the following:
(i)
Do we know the one needing help?
(ii)
What kind of relationship do we have with the
recipient—are we related, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, strangers, of the
same nationality or ethnicity?
(iii)
Have we received similar requests for aid from
the same individual in the past?
(iv)
Has the recipient helped us or others we know in
the past?
(v)
Did the recipient ask for the help and, if not,
how has the possibility of helping come to our attention?
(vi)
Is the recipient generally self-reliant?
(vii)
Does the recipient belong to a group generally
regarded in society as vulnerable—such as the mentally or physically impaired,
children, the elderly, and women with young children to care for?
(viii)
What kind of help is needed—the supply of basic
necessities; health care; temporary or permanent help?
(ix)
Have we been asked to give aid, to make a loan
or to provide work opportunities?
(x)
Will innocents be helped?
(xi)
Will the aid, if given, enhance or undermine the
recipient’s ability to be self-reliant in the future?
(xii)
If the help requested is that of a loan, what is
the likely that the loan will be repaid?
(xiii)
If work opportunities are sought, is the
recipient capable of doing the work?
(xiv)
Has the recipient been generous to us or others
in the past?
(xv)
How much of a reserve do we have for giving aid?
(xvi)
Will we be giving out of our abundance or
scarcity?
(xvii)
Will sharing with the recipient keep us from
giving to others who are closer to us or who may have greater needs?
(xviii)
Is the recipient young and impressionable, still
capable of developing the character and traits one associates with those who
are self-reliant?
(xix)
Is the recipient a person of character and
virtue or subject to vices or traits that would keep him from standing on his
own?
It would be easy to expand the list of potentially
significant factors. Each case is
unique: some factors may be relevant, and others not.
Doubtlessly, we must exercise judgment in deciding whether,
when and how to give to the poor and needy.
One thing every parent knows is that it takes years of patient training,
reinforcement, and encouragement, to teach children the lessons needed to
become hard-working, responsible, independent, self-sustaining, and
virtuous. Likewise each knows that
those who do not learn these lessons in their youth may struggle to master them
as adults. Sometimes, it becomes
necessary to help those who are incapable of helping themselves, even if there
is little reason to hope for improvement in the future. Those situations may call for the greatest
compassion from us, precisely because there is so little hope that we will be
able to change their hearts.
As discussed below, the Church also considers a number of
factors in determining when Church welfare will be given.[25] When one compares the two lists, it is
apparent that some factors are similar, some dissimilar. It is
helpful for members to review those guidelines, better informing them as to
what the Church considers relevant, but members are not limited to considering
those factors in making personal decisions about helping the poor and
needy. Members are at liberty to
consider many more factors, and are expected to follow the promptings of the
Spirit in making decisions about getting aid.
Moreover several of the Church factors are clearly inapplicable to
members.[26]
(e)
The Church provides members with opportunities
for providing service. If service is
provided through the Church, such service should be rendered strictly in accordance
with Church guidelines.
The Church gives members opportunity to give expression to
their charitable impulses. Members are
expected to fast for a 24-hour period each month (meaning to skip to two
consecutive meals), and to contribute the money saved to the Church as a “fast
offering” donation. Those donations are
then used by the Church to care for the poor and needy. Members are also frequently asked by priesthood
and auxiliary leaders to help members and others who are in need. Some of these invitations are to
participate in service projects involving others also invited to give service,
and some are invitations to act on our own, often in our capacities as home and
visiting teachers.
No one thinks of these options as limiting or defining the
outward scope of what members should be doing to help neighbors and others in
need. Quite to the contrary, members
are expected to be constantly looking for opportunities to be of help. They are to help in their homes, to assist
extended family members, to assist neighbors and friends, to work in their
communities, to provide voluntary service, and to be good citizens. But, to the extent members provide service
through the Church, that service is to be rendered in accordance with the
guidelines the Church has set for using “Church resources.”
5.
Service through the Church
The Church has established specific guidelines for how
service is to be rendered to members in need when the service is rendered
through the Church and using Church resources.
In each instance where Church aid is sought, the service is to be
rendered in a way preserving, to the extent possible, the integrity of the
three fundamental principles: (i) helping members in need to understand,
develop, and enhance their own self-reliance; (ii) asking members to be of
service to help those in need; and (iii) providing the needed aid in manner
that does not undermine the self-reliance of those being helped.
In order to give content to these general principles, the
Church has adopted the following specific lower level guidelines:
(i)
The bishop has a divine mandate to seek out and
care for the poor; it is not sufficient to wait to be asked for aid;[27]
(ii)
Before providing assistance, the bishop reviews
with members what resources and efforts they and their family can provide to
meet their needs;[28]
(iii)
To the extent feasible, those in need should
seek help from family members before seeking help from the Church;[29]
(iv)
Church welfare assistance is normally given to
meet temporary needs as members work to become self-reliant;[30]
(v)
Assistance is to provide life-sustaining
necessities, and not to maintain an affluent living standard;[31]
(vi)
When possible, the Church provides members with
commodities or service instead of giving money or paying their bills;[32]
(vii)
Those receiving assistance should be asked to
work to the extent of their ability for what they receive;[33]
(viii)
Receipt of welfare assistance should not be
based on the activity level or worthiness of those in need;[34]
(ix)
Providing assistance may however be made
contingent upon members fulfilling simple assignments, such as doing assigned
work, looking for jobs, and eliminating unnecessary expenses;[35] and
(x)
The Church does not loan money to members in
need; it is not in the banking business.
President Uchtdorf’s talk
highlights several other principles: (i)
local leaders should try to deploy local resources for welfare problems
before turning to Salt Lake City; (ii) to the extent the welfare needs can be
satisfied through services, local priesthood quorums and auxiliaries should be
used; (iii) individual members who have the capacity to help those in need
should not wait for the Church to take the lead, but should volunteer, on their
own, to find solutions and to provide aid.
President Uchtdorf further notes that “temporal” matters are really
spiritual matters in the eyes of the Lord, so that learning to live by the
Church’s welfare principles is learning to live by eternal principles that will
bless the lives of both givers and recipients.
6.
Messy Welfare Situations
What makes individual and Church welfare so challenging is
that many of the situations are messy.
On occasion, one finds easy facts.
These situations are much like the bank that finds it easy to make loans
to individuals, who really don’t need the loans, because they could self-fund
their capital needs if necessary. It
would not be hard for a Church leader to extend welfare assistance to those who
are always self-reliant, but who have had an unexpected setback: a wonderfully
active, fully-intact family, with hard working and able parents and solid kids; the occurrence of an
unexpected setback, not of their doing—such as a death or sudden illness or
property destruction due to a force majeure event; the expectation that the aid
will be temporary, needed just a short while to allow the family to get back on
even keel; and, the family demonstrates the right spirit---a sense of
gratitude, a desire to wean themselves from welfare as soon as possible, a
commitment to do all they can do to get back on their feet.
But more often than not welfare cases are more complex,
messy and unsettling. There are always one or several factors at
play making it difficult to extend the welfare or giving one pause whether the
aid will really have the desired effect—that of helping the family or
individual to be self-reliant again within a relatively short period. The
family’s bread earner is unable or unwilling to work or can’t hold down
permanent employment due to social problems or mental impairment. The welfare is sought for a single mother
with many pre-teen children, who are in need of daily supervision. Family members have alcohol or drug
addictions. Neither of the parents has finished
high school and lack the skills to get jobs generating enough money to cover
basic expenses. Due to poor planning
the family has incurred excessive consumer debt. No one in the family is capable of preparing
and understanding a budget. The family
is dysfunctional. The parents are a mess,
totally irresponsible, willing to take advantage of the Church welfare system
if they can, but there are innocent children in the home, who in the short run
will suffer if welfare assistance is denied.
It is precisely for these reasons that the Church believes that bishops
need to have the spirit of discernment to reach wise decisions, balancing the
interests of the family against those of the Church.
7.
Self-Help versus Self-Reliance
The term “self-help” often seems as though it is almost a synonym
for “personal initiative,” a personality trait conducive to creating
“self-reliance.” Those who exercise
“self-help” feel responsible for themselves and try, as best they can, to take
care of themselves without asking for help.
On occasion, however, “self-help” is used in a broader context. It is refers to the efforts of a group, some
of whom are not in need of help, to address on a group basis a local
problem. For example, President
Uchtdorf in his 2011 talk refers to the flooding of the Duncan Valley in Arizona,
causing substantial damage to the property of local saints. He then says: “Instead of sending money,
President Heber J. Grant sent three men:
Henry D. Moyle, Marion G. Romney, and Harold B. Lee. They visited with President Kimball and
taught him an important lesson: “This isn’t a program of ‘give me,’ they
said. “This is a problem of
‘self-help.” President Kimball then
said “….what a lot of good came to us as
we had hundreds of [our own] go to Duncan and build fences and haul the hay and
level the ground and do all the things that needed doing. That is self-help.”[36] As used in this way, “self-help” amounts to
the aggregation of resources (in this case, presumably men, tools, trucks and other
equipment) across a population segment, broader than the group of saints
actually injured, for the purpose of spreading the load.[37] If viewed from a Church wide perspective,
help from members within the Stake or the Region surrounding Duncan can be
regarded as “self-help;” but if viewed from the perspective of those directly
affected by the flooding, the help given is “self-help” to the extent provided
by those affected, and “outside help” when provided by those not directly affected
by the force majeure event. Often when
dealing with natural disasters, the optimal approach is to enlist the services
of a broader segment of the population to respond to the crisis, in short
amortizing the human and financial costs over a larger group.
8.
What is unique by helping the poor and needy in
Malawi?
Without question, what makes helping the poor and needy in
Malawi so unique is the utter scale of the needs. So many people (inside and outside of the
Church) need help, and the help they need often relates to the basic
necessities of life—food, shelter, health care, security, personal safety. Their situations are so heart-breaking that
it is impossible to hear of their needs without being profoundly moved. Yet at the same time, it is hard to see how
there are enough resources at hand to do much to move the dial.
[1]
As reported in the Gospel of John, Christ pronounces: “A new commandment I give
unto you, That ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13: 34-35.
[2]
D&C 52: 40 reads” “And remember inall things the poor and the needy, the
sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my
disciple.”
[3]
Matt: 25: 35-36, 40.
[4]
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Providing in the Lord’s Way,” 2011 General Conference,
__________.
[5]
D&C 104: 15-16.
[6] A Leader’s Guide to Welfare, Providing in
the Lord’s Way, 1990.
[7]
Chapter 5, “Administering Church Welfare, Handbook 1, Stakes Presidents and
Bishops, (2010), and Chapter 6, “Welfare Principles and Leadership,” Handbook
2, Administering the Church (2010).
[8]
“Basic Principles of Welfare and Self-Reliance,” LDS DVD and booklet,
(___________).
[9]
See, for example, ___________________.
[10]
Uchtdorf, supra, at _________.
[11]
Handbook 1, supra, at 42.
[12]
To give content to these principles, the Church publications outline: (i) what
these principles mean; (ii) the responsibility of individuals to care for
themselves (generally called self-reliance) and to help others in need; (iii)
when and how the Church itself, using Church resources, will step up to provide
aid to the poor and needy; and (v) the various responsibilities of leaders within
the Church to mobilize Church resources to provide such aid.
[13]
For example, the following scriptures utilize various formulations in respect
to the “poor and needy:” “love the poor and the needy” (Mor. 8: 37); “look to
the poor and the needy (D&C 38: 35); “administer to the poor and the needy
(D&C 42: 34); “consecretated to the poor and the needy (D&C 42: 37);
“visit the poor and the needy (D&C 44: 6); and “plead the case of the poor
and needy (D&C 124: 75); “oppress the hired servant that is poor and needy
(Deut. 24: 14); “killeth the poor and needy (Job 24: 14); “cast down the poor
and needy (Psalms 37: 14); and “let the poor and needy praise thy name (Psalms
74: 21).
[14]
“Providing in the Lord’s Way,” supra, at 5.
[15][15] All of us are constantly in “need,” if one thinks of
life in terms of all of its social and psychological dimensions—the need for
companionship, security, emotional support, and affection. As humans, for such support, we are all
dependent upon others—constantly--and not just at random moments when local
resources are depleted—relying upon one another.
[16]
This principle is embodied in the Second Article of Faith: “We believe that men
will be punished for their owns sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”
[17]
1 Tim. 5: 8.
[18]
D&C 104: 17-18.
[19]
1 Cor. 12: 22-24.
[20]
See, for example, D&C 104: 15-18.
[21]
A Leader’s Guide to Welfare: Providing in the Lord’s Way, supra, at 5.
[22]
Uchtdorf, “Providing in the Lord’s Way,” supra, ____.
[23]
D&C 58: 27-29.
[24]
2 Nephi 32: 5.
[25]
See “Service through the Church,” infra, at ____.
[26]
For example, no member would be expected to do any of the following: the need
to complete needs and resource assessment forms; the requirement that Church
assistance be the “assistance” of last resort; or the requirement that assistance
be in the form of commodities or services.
[27]
See, for example, Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3 and D&C 84: 112.
[28]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[29]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[30]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[31]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[32]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[33]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[34]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[35]
Handbook 1, Section 5.2.3.
[36]
Uchtdorf, “Providing in the Lord’s Way,” ______.
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