I read an article over the weekend that has just been kicking my butt...in a good way.
It's available on a .pdf file here:
http://www.relationaltithe.com/EmbezzlementPaper.pdf
I'd post the entire thing here, but it's like 25 pages long.
It's very worth reading and meditating on.
The author, Ray Mayhew, takes a hard look at the early church and how their radical care for the poor among them, and even outside the "circle", was influential in providing credibility for the Gospel.
He quotes early church fathers, and even those who opposed the early church, as evidence for the radical scope of their concern and care for the poor.
What I'm left asking myself is, "If this is the church that Jesus Himself built, and Peter, Paul, James and John continued to promote, how can we ignore their model?"
Not only that, but I have to ask myself, "How the heck did we get so far away from that original, pure model for radical compassion?"
...and then, "How can we get back on that original track again?"
Read it.
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