Meeting people’s needs is a big part of the church’s mandate. Tasks like feeding the poor, caring for children and widows, and helping addicts find freedom is essential to loving our neighbors as Christ has loved us.
But meeting people’s “felt” needs has always been a slippery slope because people tend to feel their most immediate needs, but often have little or no understanding of what their truer, deeper needs really are.
Since the church is no longer the only place for people to get their physical, social and emotional needs met, what role do we serve now, if any?