Twenty five years ago when I was in the development phase of starting a new charity (Kingscare), the general mood among Christians was that helping people at a practical level, though fundamentally ‘a good thing’, was thought to be of secondary importance to preaching the Gospel and getting people ‘saved”. It was an ‘either/or’ thing.

The Gospel was seen as purely spiritual, and giving people ‘a ticket to heaven’ was sometimes seen as far more important than feeding the hungry or setting slaves free from people who would exploit them. But those days are ending and Christians are seeing that we need to follow the teachings of Jesus, not just see him as Saviour.

The good news of the gospel is for everyone, and for the whole person. Jesus came so that we could have life, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. We do not have to choose between a Jesus who died for our sins, and a Jesus who “went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). It is not ‘either/or’ but ‘both/and’. Pitting the spiritual against the physical and practical is a false dichotomy. [Read more…]