The Church and the Poor in America

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In the final months of the presidential election, both major candidates mentioned the term "middle class" countless times in any effort to mobilize the country's largest voting bloc. What they rarely, if ever, mentioned were those who live below the poverty line and what role the government and the Church should play in helping these 46.2 million Americans.
Pictured: Workers fill carts with food for the poor at the Foothill Unity Center food bank in Monrovia, California, November 14, 2012. 
 
When broken down to numbers that are easier to grasp, roughly 1-in-7, or 15 percent of Americans, are poor, up slightly from the previous year's total of 43.6 million.
But what constitutes as a poor family in America? The U.S. Census Bureau defines poverty as a hypothetical family of two adults and two children living on an income of $23,021 or less in 2011. The median household income in the U.S. in 2011 was $50,054.
Yet the more poignant question is what is the primary cause of poverty and what role should the Church and the government play in reducing this number?
Pastor Phillip Meek leads Love and Truth Church in Savannah, Tenn., a rural area located just above the Mississippi-Alabama state line. The region's major employer is a paper mill and a handful of other manufacturing plants located in neighboring communities. Retail, service and government jobs comprise the majority of employment opportunities in the area.
Meek feels the church is better equipped to help the area's poor, but sees the underlying issue is caused by a breakdown in the family structure.
SOURCE: Paul Stanley
Christian Post
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