Church Financial Assistance Frustrations

At church, we have a system in place that helps people from the community (people within the church, but mostly people from outside) with expenses- mainly rent, water, electricity, etc. This account is funded by our own church members through a monthly donation every time we have communion (or whenever they want to donate to it.) The people that come in all have their stories of course. We have heard a variety of situations and circumstances where people cannot find money to pay for living costs, and most of them are really sad. Our system is pretty strict. You can only be helped every 6 months, you must have your bill with you, it is only for $35, and you have to need help with the particular items that we help out with: rent, water, electricity, etc. Recently, I received a note from a church member saying that he would no longer support this fund because the rules "get in the way of helping/reaching others for Christ." While he does have a point, I had to stop and wonder if there is a better way to go about having this account and this system. The problem is that too many people take advantage of those who help them. If we didn't have the system in place, we would be out of money within a few weeks. If we didn't have the system, people would come in with all kinds of stories (some made up) and we would try to help all of them, and then run out of money. If we helped people by writing checks to whoever, who knows what they would spend the money on. So is the problem that we are not reaching people for Christ? Or is the problem simply with the nature of humanity in the first place?

I had a woman come in and ask me for gas money one time. My response was that we were currently not handing out gas cards. And her response to me was that we all Christians are going straight to hell for voting for Obama here in Indiana and she went off on this tangent. Believe me, I've just about heard it all. And then there is a man that comes in about once every 6 months with the same story- his son is dying in the hospital in Indianapolis and he needs money to get there to be with him. Sounds sad, right? But the really sad part is that it's always the same story, and the details change every time. At first glance, you want to hand him all the cash in your pocket. But once you realize that he is scamming you, you don't want to give him anything. These are the kinds of decisions that unfortunately the pastors have to deal with every day, and we get reprimanded for them because some church members don't understand why we have the system in place that we do.

Would I love to help every person that came into the church asking for help? Absolutely. Is it possible that every person who comes through the door is sincere about needing assistance? Probably not. Are we still helping people? Yes. Can we help everyone? No. And the fact is that when someone from our own church family comes asking for support, we do give them a little more money depending on what their needs are, and we go out of our way to help them in any way possible.

Is there any other way for this to work and still reach people for Christ? You tell me!