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Several years ago, I had a friend who taught at the city college across the street from our office. He told me about another professor who made a practice of putting Christians down: "They're hypocrites, they don't care, they don't make a difference, they don't do anything." My friend, who is a Christian, set up a lunch for me to meet the atheist professor.

I didn't know what I was going to say to him. Frankly, I partially agreed with him. I started Evangelicals for Social Action in Fresno, California, because the church wasn't doing much to reach out to the poor, as far as I could see. On the way to lunch, though, I asked God to give me words to say.

We sat down and I said, "I understand you don't think Christians do much to help other people."

He said, "That's right," and he began his speech about what hypocrites we are.

I said, "Tell me what other group does more than Christians to help people in need outside their own group." A silence followed. He couldn't think of any.

"Locally, do you know of such a group?" I asked. "Nationally? Internationally?"

He said, "What about Marxists?"

"Are you serious?" I said. "Stalin killed millions of his own people."

"Well, maybe not," he said.

He eventually admitted that no other group comes close to doing what Christians do to help others outside their circle. There is no Hindu homeless shelter in Fresno. There is no Buddhist food pantry in Fresno. There is no Muslim clothing ministry for street people in Fresno.

I have dedicated my life to mobilizing Christians to help the poor, and I can tell you that we do not do nearly so much as we could or should. In talking to that professor, however, I realized that even with our many failings, we manage to do a lot. That is not because we are fine people or have exceptional organization. It is because we can't help it. We are Christ's body, chosen by God and filled by his Spirit. Just by our nature in Christ we find ourselves acting the way he would. There is nothing—no force, no institution, no group—like the church.

Because of my calling to help the poor, I see the church's uniqueness particularly in what it does, and can do, in practical terms.

1. The church is indestructible. Jesus promised that nothing would be able to destroy his church, and he has kept his word. We are now almost 2,000 years old. Do you know of any other institution this complex that has been in continuous operation for 2,000 years?

The early church went up against the Roman Empire, which was determined to destroy it by violent means. The Roman Empire is now a distant memory. Communism, which controlled most of Asia and was determined to root out Christianity, faces an ever-growing church. The church is unbelievably tough, built for the long haul.

2. The church is the only group large enough to affect a community. In my community, there are 450 churches. That makes us the largest agency in town, if we work together. The largest nongovernmental agency in Fresno is the Community Medical Centers. Without question, 450 branch offices of the body of Christ are larger than Community Medical Centers. If the church were a business, it would be the largest business in town by far.

God owns the biggest business in town. It's huge, and it's in every neighborhood of our city. The needs in a city are great. Fresno has a huge number of poor immigrants. The church, however, has resources that are greater than all the needs in a city put together. With God's help, if the church acts together—think about that—it can accomplish anything.

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January 2005, Vol. 49, No. 1