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Third, they are marked by regular, face-to-face, structured contact between the volunteers and the participants. They do not rely on spontaneous interaction but set defined meeting times and articulate specific goals and deadlines. The friendship developed between the participant and the church volunteers is purposeful, directed toward a specified end.

Fourth, effective programs demand individual responsibility. They challenge participants to take small steps toward change and provide incentives for taking those steps. New Focus, a Christian nonprofit that shows churches how to transition from commodity-based ministry to relational, holistic ministry, encourages congregations to establish a weekly "life skills" training class. Individuals who have a history of repeatedly requesting financial help from the church must attend the weekly class and meet regularly with a budget counselor in order to receive further aid. They are also linked with a Compassion Circle of six to eight church volunteers who provide practical help (such as temporary babysitting, transportation, car repairs, or help with job searching) as well as prayer and emotional support. Participants and church volunteers draft a strategic plan for achieving independence from the public (and private) welfare system. As participants complete aspects of that plan, they receive groceries or household items in recognition of their progress.

Making the shift to relational ministry is difficult because it requires that we give more of ourselves and our time, as well as our money. By concentrating church resources on fewer families, though, we are able to make a long-lasting impact. Through time-intensive, individually tailored aid, we can address the root causes of persistent poverty and help people become economically self-sufficient. As participants no longer require assistance, our funds are freed up to help new families. As a deacon from a New Focus-affiliated church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, noted, this is just "better stewardship of God's money."

And there is another important benefit. As the Warrenton Baptist Church in north-central Virginia discovered, relational ministry can invigorate greater congregational participation in community outreach. When this 350-member, middle-class church ran its Deacons' Family Ministry, it provided groceries and cash aid to about 50 families each month. But only a few deacons and church members volunteered in the initiative. Pastor Doug Harris admits that no ongoing relationships with the assisted families materialized. "Follow-up," he recalls, "was basically zero." There was no ministry that addressed the families' spiritual needs, and since the same families returned again and again for assistance, the temporal help the church was providing accomplished nothing.

Last year, Harris was approached by local officials of the Department of Social Services. They wanted to know if Warrenton Baptist would "adopt" two women and their families who wanted to get off welfare. Harris agreed—and the congregation's response was overwhelming. A committee of several women stepped forward to befriend the two families. The youth group began meeting weekly with one of the families and raised money to purchase business attire for the mother so she would look nice at job interviews. A group of senior citizens wanted to know what they could do to "help our families" and ended up sewing window treatments. Benevolence programs aimed at "the poor" rarely excite concern. But when the poor become specific families with faces and names, church members enthusiastically assume ownership of outreach efforts.

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October 6 1997, Vol. 41, No. 11