Is the church a guilt-cash dispenser?

"You should read your Bible..."

...said the obviously homeless person to me yesterday morning, just before I was about to preach. 

He'd showed up at the Community Centre were we meet as a Newfrontiers church plant in Kitchener-Waterloo. 

The team had been warned that, because the centre is based in a low-income area, the staff there quite often get homeless people coming in looking for help. 

I'd been sitting in the reception area, doing one last read through of my notes when this guy walked in and asked the receptionist if "the minister was available" - we have a sign that's on the side of the street outside to catch any passers-by. The lady at the desk said she didn't know, so they guy wandered in. 

As I was sitting exactly in front of him reading my Bible, I knew I was in line for something. 

The guy comes up, asks me my name and sits down next to me. I tell him my name, and he starts telling me how his life is real bad, and that he has no work and whether I could give him some money. 

Immediately I feel guilty because, unless he takes Interac or Visa, I've got no cash to give him. So, thinking on my feet (or my bum, I was sitting down) I say, "I haven't got any money myself, but I can pray for you."

"Oh that's no good. I need the cash you see. You sure you haven't got any?"

I literally do not have 2 cents to rub together, so I say "No, I really haven't, what's your name friend"

The now departing man says:

"It doesn't matter. For someone with no cash there are plenty of $20,000 cars in the parking lot. Don't you know what your Bible says?"

With that he walks off to the main hall where the rest of Lamplight are getting ready for the service to begin.

Janet, on welcoming duty, does a great job of explaining that no we don't have any money, but that the anonymous gentleman is welcome to stay for the service. 

The man refuses and walks away, shouting. "You people with $20,000 cars should read your Bibles"

And I'm left thinking: is it Biblical to give money to someone who's obviously poor and in need, but refuses to appear interested in anything else but the cash he can get from us? 

Should we as a church arrange a special collection to have funds to give away so that people can turn up, take some cash and be on their way? 

Should we feel guilty for not handing over cash to the poor?

I haven't had the time yet to do a major Bible study on this. But I do know that God's heart is for the poor and the oppressed. I do know that Jesus spent a lot of his time with outcasts and rejects, shaming the wisdom of the religious. I do know that, in the early acts of the church, everyone shared together so that "none were in need" and that this was a powerful witness to the world of the transforming power of the Gospel. 

But I don't see anywhere where the church is to be used and abused (as this fellow's attitude seemed to want it) as a guilt-cash dispenser from the relatively rich to the poor. 

I pray that this guy comes back again. And that we can sit down and have a proper conversation with him. 

It probably seems to him that cash is the answer to his problems. Maybe he has a drug dependency. Maybe he owes money to other people. I really don't know. But for me, I won't give cash until I know he's part of our community. Not because I'm mean. But because I'm fairly sure that cash alone isn't the answer to his problems. 

I'm praying for wisdom for how best to serve the people in our community, particularly those in need.