#115 - SNAP Benefits, A Christian Response

Hunger isn’t an abstract statistic when it lands on your block. With SNAP benefits tightening for millions of Americans, we ask a pointed question: what does a faithful, practical response look like for local churches right now? Rather than wading into policy battles, we reach back to the early church’s playbook—Acts 2 generosity—and pair it with modern, relational solutions that meet real needs week by week.

We walk through the core conviction that shaped the first believers: no one among us goes without. That vision springs from Jesus’ central message of the kingdom of God, a reality pictured as a feast where everyone has enough. Translating that into our neighborhoods means more than handing out groceries; it means building networks of care that blend immediate relief with long-term support. We highlight the CARE (Community Aid Elk River) model—launched and supported by local churches—that not only provides food but also connects people to skills, resources, and pathways toward stability.

Along the way, we reflect on the church’s historic role in creating hospitals, schools, and aid organizations, and we explore how those instincts can be revived in practical ways today: human needs funds inside congregations, partnerships with food shelves, volunteer teams that deliver to homebound neighbors, and small groups that adopt families for sustained, relational support. The goal is simple and demanding—map your community’s abundance to your neighbors’ lack—so that fewer households face hunger next month than this month.

If this resonates, help us spread the word, then take one concrete step with your church: connect with a local food shelf, contribute to a benevolence fund, or start a monthly community meal. Subscribe for more reflective, action-oriented conversations, share this with a friend who cares about their city, and leave a review to tell us how your community is making sure no one goes hungry.

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Chapters

• 0:16 Setting The Scene And Banter
• 0:28 SNAP Cuts And The Stakes
• 1:20 A Pastor’s Frame For Response
• 1:45 Early Church And Radical Generosity
• 2:50 The Kingdom Of God Means No Lack
• 4:27 History Of Christian Care
• 4:37 What Churches Can Do Locally
• 5:04 CARE In Elk River As A Model
• 5:48 Relationship-Based Aid Over Programs
• 6:21 A Call To Share Abundance
• 7:36 Closing Blessing And Invitations

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:16

What is up everybody? Hey, this is Ryan. Welcome to our Reflections Podcast. I'm in studio with my good friend Olivia. What's up, Olivia? Good. I said what's up, not how are you doing. So you probab you probably have heard recently that the government has made some changes. I mean, I guess the government's always making changes, but but uh one of the things they've done and are in the process of doing is they're kind of reformatting and reimagining the budget. And one of the things that's taken a hit is this thing called SNAP benefits. Maybe you've heard of this. And snap benefits are these benefits, these this aid that goes to lower income families that that are in that and it helps them to buy food. It's a food provision for folks who can't afford it. Um and it affects 42 million Americans. There's 42 million folks, according to one um statistic that uh that are gonna be affected by this, which means allegedly there's 42 million Americans who are gonna be in a food shortage or food deprivation. And the question is, um, what is my response? I've been asked a few times by a number of people, what's my response? And here's the deal. I want to respond in this brief little, and in fact, this really deserves a lot a much longer podcast episode. But on here, I want to respond as a Christian pastor and what I think the role of the church should be. I'm gonna let you guys all argue out the politics of it and and uh the legislation. That's another conversation, and that's out of my lane here a little bit. But I want to talk about what is a Christian response. And here's where I'll start. The early church, go back to Acts 2 and look, read from then on. The early church, one of the defining markers of the early church was their unbelievable generosity to those who were in need. So as they gathered, they were doing all kinds of things, these followers of the way, they called them. Remember that back then they didn't call them Christians yet. In fact, Christian was a derogatory term, but they were called, they called themselves followers of the way. They were following the way of Jesus, the path, the model of life that Jesus left for them, that he showed them. And uh, they were followers of the way. And in that, trying to live out the way of Jesus, they deemed it important to take care of those in their midst and their neighbors who didn't have enough. So when they would gather, they would say, hey, anybody who's in need, let us know and we'll take care of you. So if you, you know, as you gathered for community, the followers of the way, if somebody in your midst didn't have, I don't know, shoes, and I had lots of shoes, I would share my shoes with him or her. And vice versa, if they had a lot of food and that month I didn't have a lot of food, they would share their food with me. And one of the things that they made sure was that nobody went without. And the reason is because when Jesus was walking the earth, he preached his main message, was the the gospel of the kingdom of God. He went around talking about the kingdom of God and then put it on display. And as he did, it became evident to them that, hey, look, the king, when the kingdom of God comes on earth as it is in heaven, there's provisions enough for everyone. There won't be any lack, there won't be any need, people will have enough. And we can argue about why some folks have an abundance and some folks don't have a lot. And that's again, that's a whole nother conversation. But what I want to argue is that in the kingdom of God, I think we'd all agree, there won't be lack and there won't be need. There'll be enough for everyone, plenty of food and drink to go around. That's why it's so interesting and actually compelling that the image for the age to come in the gospels is one of a great feast where everybody has enough and where there's wine and food and bread, and it's everyone's fed. So that was one of the defining markers of the early church is that everybody had enough, nobody went without, and there was no one in need. And I what I would say is that over the course of history, that was one of the strengths of the church is that they helped people in need. So you have uh hospitals that are still around, that are Christian-based hospitals, like the Methodist hospital. Um, you have Jesuit schools, so the Jesuits were passionate about teaching and instructing uh students. You have all kinds of Christian humanitarian aid organizations. Christians were one of the predominant voices against slavery, and even in the modern civil rights movement. There's a lot of good that Christians have done in the world to try to help and be a good force because of what the kingdom of God they think looks like. So right now you have 42 million Americans who are gonna be affected by this now uh, you know, sh uh cut cuttage, cottage, cut cutting of the snap benefits. What is the role of the church? Well, simply, and again, this will take a massive, you know, endeavor and undertaking, but what if the church began to take ownership of those in our midst, in our in our church, of course, but also in our city who needed help with food. I love it, but in Elk River, you know, Elk River has about 25,000 people, but there's all kinds of folks around the area too that aren't really a part of the Elk River proper that are around. But we have this food shelf in Elk River that was started by churches in Elk River years ago. It's called the CARE, C-A-E-R, Community Aid Elk River. And CARE does a phenomenal job at helping feed people and offer all kinds of other aid and directs them towards, you know, more sustainable long-term help, like job interview skills. Uh, they help single mothers with all in all kinds of ways. There's just it's a it's a beautiful ministry, care. And the churches in Elk River started this, and all the churches, at least initially, and we still do, help support it by giving money to help uh keep care going. And I love it because it's a way of the churches in the area helping take care of those who are in need. So one of the responses that I give when people ask me, hey Ryan, what's Central's response to this now? You know, this uh this government cutting the SNAP benefits. I said, well, we're gonna keep helping people that are in need in our area and supporting care and um and helping those. We also at Central, we have a human needs fund, a fund that people give to, and that also we just have in our budget that helps those who are in need in this kind of way. And the beautiful part of it is that, like care, for example, they have people that work there that have this ongoing relationship with people that are in need. The government, as as much good as they can do, they often can't have that relationship piece. So I guess I would want to just pose the question, and I know I'm an idealist, and this would take a massive, you know, overhaul of all of this, but like what if the church continued to double down on just helping people in our midst and our neighbors in the area? And if we all there, look, there are churches everywhere. There's churches on almost every corner in America, it feels like. If all of us begin to just say, hey, what we have an abundance of, we want to share it with those in our neighborhoods, in our city, in our villages, in our towns, and make sure that nobody in our area goes without food. What if we did that? Then it would alleviate, of course, probably an abundance of the pressure on the government to have to do this. But my call in is for us today, today, as Christians, um, who are the folks in your ring, uh, your circle of influence who might be one of these 42 million Americans that are in need of some aid, food-wise or otherwise? And how can you be, you know, a person who helps contribute to this solution to help them, to help them long-term, but also short term, and to make sure that nobody in your area goes without. Because in the kingdom of God, everybody has enough. There's plenty of food and plenty of drink to go around. All right, love you guys. Peace. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 8 30, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering. Or you can check us out online at clcelkriver.org. Peace.