I pressed the elevator button after a long day at my corporate job, my first job out of college. I prayed: Jesus, I want to know Your heart … even more. How do I do that? 

Although I grew up in a Christian home, it was then, in my early 20s, that I began to understand the closeness I could have with God through dedicated prayer and Bible reading. I was eager to share and serve Christ, but outwardly, I was still very shy and introverted.

Without saying a word, I walked into the crowded elevator and continued praying: How can I truly serve You every day, Jesus? What can I do to help people experience You the way I yearn to? Almost immediately, the following words reverberated in my mind: Whatever You did for the least of these, You did for Me. 

I looked at the people in the elevator with me. Spiritual conviction hit me like a bolt of lightning. When I got home, I opened my Bible to those very words in Matthew 25:35-40. But wait, why would the Holy Spirit direct me to a verse about caring “for the least of these” when I was clearly asking about sharing Jesus with all people? 

Meeting Needs and Evangelism Go Hand in Hand

That moment in the elevator etched forever on my heart that God—in His infinite love for us—meets every person’s spiritual needs through Jesus, but He also cares deeply for our physical needs. 

Meeting physical needs serves humanity and demonstrates the heart of Jesus. It’s one outward expression of our inward desire to pour out God’s love and grow closer to Him.

We meet spiritual needs when we share the gospel with those around us and also by facilitating discipleship and planting churches. When we talk about meeting physical needs, we mean providing food, housing, clothing, water, medicine and medical care and any other felt or expressed need.

As Christians, we live out the gospel both in word and deed. Combining both—by helping to meet people’s spiritual needs while providing for physical needs—is crucial to people meeting and walking with Jesus in a meaningful way. 

In this blog post:

• Al Goff, president of Cru’s humanitarian arm, Unto^®, shares about meeting spiritual and physical needs and how Jesus Film Project^® and Unto^® work together to do this.
• You’ll also hear the story of real people experiencing God’s love through Christian kindness. You can skip to the story further down in this post. Watch Al Goff tell the powerful story of Chief Bwa-nado and his village meeting Jesus.

Insights From Al Goff (Unto)

Before taking his role with Unto, Al Goff served for 12 years as Cru’s director of humanitarian strategies and crisis management in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. We asked him to share a few nuggets of wisdom with us that he’s learned in his 13 years of leading the team at Unto. 

Al is passionate about every believer partnering with the body of Christ to meet physical needs as a way to share the love of Jesus in both word and action. That’s why Unto’s efforts are often paired with a showing of the JESUS film. 

Watch the video below and the videos throughout this post to hear what Al has to say. Scroll down further to hear Al share a recent story of impact from Africa.

What the Bible Says about Meeting Physical Needs

Throughout Scripture, we’re urged to feed the hungry, pray for and help the sick, as well as practice hospitality.

James 5:14-15, New International Version

Romans 12:13, NIV

1 Peter 4:8-10, NIV

Matthew 10:8, NIV

Many of the verses I shared are directed to the early Christian church. Through them, the disciples and apostles invited brothers and sisters in Christ to care for each other. And some would say that by “the least of these” in Matthew 25, Jesus means brothers and sisters in Christ. This may very well be true, but when I look at Jesus’ words throughout Matthew, I see no language indicating that His command to “freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8) is exclusive to those following Jesus.

Jesus does instruct the disciples to go out to proclaim the message, heal the sick and “freely give” to the lost sheep of Israel and not the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5-6), but in view of the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament, it’s clear the message simply needed to go first to “the lost sheep” of Israel and then eventually to everyone else. 

Ultimately, in these passages, I see Jesus’ call to care for and reach all with His love, and through the lens of Matthew 25, as if we’re ministering to and serving Jesus Himself.

Should Christians focus on meeting physical needs?

In the Great Commission, Jesus commands us to spread the gospel and make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20). Throughout His ministry, He also commands us to care for the physically needy. 

We heed Jesus’ command of the Great Commission when we share the gospel. We serve and honor Jesus when we serve others. Both are essential to our Christian walk. It feels obvious that we should do both, right? But we often overprioritize fulfilling the Great Commission and discipleship, and over time, meeting pressing, physical needs can become less important to us. 

We start to wonder whether, as Christians, we need to be meeting physical needs at all. We tend to meet the letter of the law but not honor the heart of the law, an issue Jesus often pointed out in the Pharisees. 

Remember when they confronted Jesus about His disciples picking heads of grain to eat them during the Sabbath in Matthew 12? Jesus reminds them of when David’s men ate the consecrated bread in the temple meant for the priests because they were hungry. Further, He scolds the Pharisees: “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent” (Matthew 12:7).

To be clear, prioritizing the message of the gospel is absolutely appropriate. In fact, I agree with this Radical.net article where Clyde Davidson notes about Jesus’ ministry and the Gospels: “Miracles and acts of compassion, where they are present, exist largely to confirm and point to the gospel, not replace it. They are subservient and secondary to the work of gospel proclamation. Acts 6:1–6 makes this very point.” 

We continue to focus on evangelism, discipleship and church planting. But we should be careful not to neglect Jesus’ call to model and honor Him by meeting physical needs and showing mercy. 

Sharing the gospel and meeting physical needs don’t operate independently from each other.  Meeting a physical need is often the catalyst to people around the world being open to hearing the gospel.

(STORY) A Tribe in Africa Meets Jesus After Receiving Aid

Watch Al Goff share the powerful story of how clean water and a chief willing to bring Unto’s humanitarian team into their village opened the door to hundreds receiving Christ and several new churches planted.

Preach the Gospel or Meet a Person’s Physical Needs?

In a recent video podcast episode, our friends at Renew Outreach pondered whether Christians are asking the wrong question. The question should likely be, “How do we each do our part to meet both needs? 

But also, spiritual need doesn’t stop at hearing the gospel. It continues on as new believers need steady, dedicated discipleship from a mature believer. They also need to grow in a local church. Pairing physical aid with spiritual growth isn’t a novel idea. Samaritan’s Purse, known for its international relief, also provides discipleship, education and training.

Here’s what one of the hosts of Renew’s podcast, Josiah Palusky, had to say:

It’s essential that instead of trying to meet all needs, we help ensure those needs are being met by different parts of the body of Christ. We need each other. And we can use our financial resources as well as our time to help that occur.

The role of every Christian in the body of Christ 

Many Christians around the world do face poverty and scarcity in their own homes and don’t have enough for their families. They’re not able to help meet physical needs—not alone anyway. The body of Christ has to work together to make a difference.

How Unto and Jesus Film Project meet needs together

Unto exists to express the kindness of Jesus through humanitarian assistance for people living in the toughest places on earth by relieving suffering, restoring dignity and revealing the hope found only in Jesus Christ. 

Unto works globally through three primary programs: clean water, food and critical aid. 

When paired with teams sharing the JESUS film, the aid received communicates to people they are seen as people, and their felt needs are worthy to be met. They are loved.

What We Can Do to Help 

When we follow closely where God is leading, we can identify how He would have us take part. Watch this final video for insight from Al Goff on the multiplying effect of acts of kindness with meeting physical needs.

It starts with the people in front of us, in our workspaces, in our families, in our communities. But thanks to today’s technology, it’s so easy to partner with different Christian organizations to help see the gospel reach people everywhere. 

Visit Unto to participate in what Al Goff and his team are doing. 

As always, if you’re inspired by the stories you’ve seen and read in this post, know that you can be part of the Jesus Film Project story and our mission when you give. 

Visit jesusfilm.org/give.

To learn more about pairing humanitarian aid with evangelism and practical tips and principles, visit our post Evangelism Through Humanitarian Aid: Faith in Action.