Forty years ago, a homeless man walked into Broadway Christian Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and told the church secretary that he was hungry. The only food she had was her own lunch, so she shared it with him. The next day, more hungry people came to the church. As church members became aware of the need, they began dropping off food and clothing at the church.
This ultimately gave birth to a ministry called InAsMuch—the name taken from Matthew 25:35-40, in which Jesus says, “Inasmuch as you have done this to one of the least of these, you have done it to me.” InAsMuch has acted on Jesus’ words and reached out to the “least of these” in their community.
InAsMuch helps with the physical needs of food and clothing, bus passes and emergency financial help in the form of partial payments for rent and utilities. They also help with logistical things like helping people obtain birth certificates and other documents.
But Alyn Biddle, the benevolence minister and manager of InAsMuch, stresses that meeting physical needs is a smaller part of what they do. “Our greatest need as humans is one of spiritual poverty,” he says. “Jesus is the greatest gift we’ve been given to meet that need, so we verbally share the gospel and pray with each client in an effort to meet that need.”
Over the years, InAsMuch has helped thousands of people. In the last four years, the ministry has averaged 4,000 households served per year.
Broadway Christian Church has a weekly attendance of 350 people. “We don’t do this alone,” Biddle says. “Our church partners with 27 other churches. We call it ‘InAsMuch and the Family of Churches.’ It is a true partnership to reach people for Christ.”
Find more ways to serve your community »
BROADWAY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Fort Wayne, Indiana
BroadwayChristian.org
