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Originally Posted by aron
If the on-campus evangelical groups contravene the gospel message of Jesus and tell the students to ignore those who can't repay you in this age (Luke 14:14) and instead go after "typical Americans" meaning white middle/upper-class college students, I'd also criticize that. Interesting that you find the "everybody does it" dodge. Go find someone in "degraded Christianity" who's doing what you are, and say, "See. Perfectly normal." No, if people are doing what you're doing, it's not normal and should be called out, as well.
There's a group called Youth With a Mission (YWAM), whose purpose is to recruit young people, send them to their "training centers", where they're trained to go recruit other young people, who will also (hopefully) become recruiters etc. I haven't been to YWAM "training centers" so I don't know if they have the equivalent of Paul Hon there, telling them not to waste their time with the poor, the sick, the weak, and go after healthy young (impressionable) specimens with good earning potential. But what little I've seen from the distance reminds me, too much, of the CoC and the FTT of the LSM.
It's a pyramid scheme, with one's relative position dependent upon: 1) success recruiting/discipling; and 2) abject servility to and promotion of the Top Dog and their programme. LC members only exist to consume ministry materials and recruit others to consume ministry materials. CoC wants to look like a "non-denominational campus evangelical group" but they're not; they're the recruiting arm of a book publisher that runs its own gulag archipelago of captive assemblies.
"Oh, we're just Christians from different backgrounds who love the Lord. . . " Yeah, right. Bait and switch.
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I think the ministry is focused on a particular aspect as all ministries are - even Paul, who said "Christ did not send me to baptize". So maybe Christ did not send Witness Lee to look after homeless people (he possibly sent Mother Theresa and others to do that).
Also, today the church's role in society is not the same as it was in the time of Christ. Today I think there are enough charities (whether religious or secular), companies and governments to take care of homeless people's basic needs. The idea of public philanthropy or philanthropy on a mass scale came from the ideals of Christianity anyway. Just look at Bill Gates - there was no person like Bill Gates in the time of Christ. Bill Gates's donations really put the whole of Christianity to shame in terms of philanthropy.
Did you know that most homeless people actually need a smartphone? Homeless people don't really need food, clothes etc because they get plenty of donations from business or individuals, too much in fact, sometimes. What they really need is shelter (a safe place to spend the night) transportation, social activity, and the internet..and most importantly a smart phone to call for help or access resources. This is what a charity worker told me, and I spent some time in their organization seeing how they provide social activities for homeless people - they don't provide meals.