Other possibilities are community centers, adult education, rehabilitation of criminals in the jails, boys' clubs, or better qualified psychologists for family counseling. Any one of these and many other avenues of service would represent involvement in the social problem of highway robbers. A local congregation with a variety of spiritual gifts might well be able to touch the problem in all these directions through its members. In this chapter we will concentrate on two spiritual gifts through which a church will be involved directly to touch the needy and the sick. The New Testament does not contrast social gospel and evangelical gospel.
Every church is evangelical and every church has some gifted members meeting the needs of society.
This is not the act of mercy that every Christian must do when he is faced with immediate need on the road to Jericho. It is a spiritual gift of the same order as the gifts of prophecy, teaching. administration, and shepherding. It is a function of the body of Christ that should be evidenced in every congregation through some of its members. This is the gift that made Florence Nightingale set the standards for nursing. It goes out to touch the lepers in countries where all others shy away from the unclean.