New Commandment Men’s Ministries Blog
How Two Widows and Single Parents Illustrate the Difference Between Pressing Needs and Non Pressing Needs
Two requests for moving assistance arrived at nearly the same time, but their circumstances differed sharply. Herb Reese recounts how he chose between them, illustrating why churches must distinguish convenience from urgent danger. The stories show how thoughtful priorities can preserve limited resources for people facing genuinely critical unmet needs.
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2 thoughts on “How Two Widows and Single Parents Illustrate the Difference Between Pressing Needs and Non Pressing Needs”
Thanks for the perfect illustration on the difference between pressing and non-pressing needs. Our Men’s ministry just helped a woman and her young adult son move last Saturday. They were moving from a very filthy and dilapidated house which isn’t sellable and will probably be condemned. They had been living in it for quite a few years and are moving to a nice little house which was formerly owned by a distant family member who recently died. I believe they are renting the new house from the family in control of the estate . The woman (I’ll call her Sally) is on social security and the son receives a modest medical disability. They both seem to be somewhat mentally and emotionally challenged. Sally has a recently widowed sister (I’ll call her Mary) in our church who seems to be financially stable but Mary always asks our Men’s Ministry to help Sally when she has needs like this. Mary is quite aware that our mission is to help people with true Pressing Needs, and that many of them pay for materials and other costs when they are able to. I’m pretty confident if we don’t help Sally, she will be left helpless. I don’t want our Men’s Ministry to get the reputation for being cold hearted (Mary has been a life long church member and does a lot of talking). I’d appreciate any suggestions or comments you might have for us in negotiating this delicate situation.
This is a really interesting situation, Ron. Thanks for sharing it with us. If you have the manpower, maybe what you could do is form a team for both Mary and her sister and single mother, Sally. Then the team can alternate every other month between them. While they don’t have immediate pressing needs in the sense of imminent danger to life or property, they do have long term needs that may need to be addressed by your men’s team ministry. Does this help?