It’s Time for America’s Churches to Take Their Financial Responsibilities to Their Widows and Others Seriously

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Biblically speaking, churches have a large financial responsibility to its widows

Here’s a bold assertion for all Christians to consider – especially pastors: According to the Bible, our churches have a significant long term financial responsibility to their widows and others with long term needs. This is why.

It’s no secret that America’s seniors face an ever growing economic crisis.

• According to a recent article in the New York Times, retirees 65 and older are three times more likely to file for bankruptcy than in 1991.¹
• A study by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School finds that about 40% of middle-class Americans will live close to or in poverty by the time they reach age 65.²
• And Paul Brandus in MarketWatch reminds us that the government has warned that Social Security will be cut 21% in 2034 unless our politicians find the courage to take action.³

Few Christians know about this biblical financial responsibility to widows

What is a secret – a very well kept secret – is that churches have a biblically mandated financial responsibility to consistently support their impoverished widows and others in their congregations with long term needs.⁴ I say consistently support because I’m not talking about the typical benevolent committee’s one-off outlays for special needs. I’m talking about a permanent, long term commitment on the part of the church to address the needs of the elderly in its midst who are living in poverty. In other words, it’s time for the church to practice 1 Timothy 5.⁵

Here are some suggestions on how to begin.

• Study the Word of God on this topic. There are many passages in the Bible that directly address the topic of poverty in the church.⁶
• Preach and teach on this topic from the pulpit. Instruct your congregation on the Biblical teaching.
• Form an action plan with the goal of complying with the Biblical teaching.
• Start small and with the oldest and neediest in your congregation. Look at the qualifications in 1 Timothy 5, and then start with a small monthly pension for those who qualify. If your church does not have the funds for everyone who qualifies, then focus on the oldest and neediest first.
• Increase the budget line item year by year so that you can eventually include all in your church who qualify for monthly support.

A radical concept? Unfortunately, for us Americans, the idea of the church regularly financially supporting its widows is. But it’s not a radical Biblical concept.

And that is the only thing that matters.⁷

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

For the past nineteen years, New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North America recruit teams of men who permanently adopt their widowed and single parents in their congregations and communities for the purpose of donating two hours of service one Saturday morning a month, returning each month to the same person for years long relational ministry. We accomplish this with a free online training site called “Meeting to Meet Needs.”

Learn how to mobilize your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church here.

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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom

and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.

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1. “Too Little Too Late,” Bankruptcy Booms Among Older Americans.”
2. “40% of Older Workers and Their Spouses Will Experience Downward Mobility in Their Retirement.“
3. “There’s also this wildcard: What happens if Social Security is slashed 21% come 2034, like the government has warned?… There’s always a chance that Social Security could be propped up if you have confidence that our politicians, who can’t agree in anything, can agree on a solution. Me, I don’t have that confidence.”MarketWatch.
4. See, for example, Acts 6:1-6, 1 Timothy 5:3-16, and my post, “Yes, It’s Okay to Give Cold, Hard Cash to a Widow or Single Mom.”
5. For an example of a church that is doing so, see my post, “An Actual Church that Financially Supports Widows.”
6. See my post, “The Biblical Foundation for Serving Widows and Single Moms.”
7. Since writing this post, I’ve written a follow up post describing what it would look like if every church in America supported its needy widows with a $100 per month supplemental pension. You can read the post here.