Church-How much is too much?

I recently had the opportunity to visit a church nearby to my college. At one point in the service the pastor made the announcement that they had successfully raised approximately $8 million for a church to be planted on a new campus. Everyone clapped of course and it was a joyous moment. I, however just found myself annoyed at the church. The reason for my annoyance was the fact that we are in a recession, people are jobless, homeless, there are countries dying from diseases and here we are creating an $8 million worship center for ourselves. What happened to the verses that spoke of giving up all we had to the poor. According to a few sources, there are over 300 verses in the Bible referring to giving to the poor or caring for the poor. For example Luke 12:33 says, "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys." I feel as though the church is missing the major point of this scripture.

We need to begin applying verses more practically. Supporting the poor does not mean only praying for them. It means showing them God's love in radical ways that they can relate to. We should be using the church's money to support jobless, homeless, fatherless, missionaries, vets returning home, those that can't afford college, unhealthy senior citizens, families who are in the process of having their homes foreclosed on, and organizations like Teen Challenge and CareNet. The list could go on and on. Americans have become engrossed in a cushioned, comfortable version of Christianity that causes us to become dead in our faith.

Church has become a place with awesome lights, a warm tingly feeling during worship, perhaps yell a few Amen's during the service and you have successfully convinced yourself that you are a Christian. We need to begin stepping out of our comfort zone and allowing God to show his love through us in radical ways that people can really relate to. I believe the way we utilize the money that God has given us is an extremely powerful way to do this. I don't mean to rant or bash the church. I realize that all churches are not as I described so I don't mean to insult anyone who belongs to a church that is really living out the challenge God gave us to care for the poor.