Ministering to Springfield

I want your opinions on something.

Currently, the Springfield police and fire departments are nearly $200 million dollars short on their retirement/pension plan. The city police and firefighters are currently going around and asking people to vote yes on a proposition that will increase sales taxes to help make up the budget deficit.

While I know bad financial planning on the part of many of our elected officials is to blame, dealing with them is a separate issue.

Right now, what's at stake is the well-being of our police officers and firefighters. It hardly seems fair to ask them to risk their lives to protect us, and then tell them we won't take care of them should they be seriously injured or die in the line of duty. I do, reluctantly, think that we should vote yes to this proposition. (I don't want to pay more in taxes, but I believe you should take care of the people who lay it on the line for you.)

That's the starting point, and the obvious political part. Here's the ministry part:

The question I have is this: can the Christian community in Springfield pro-actively do anything to help? While I have concerns about whether or not Christians in Springfield would be generous enough to take steps, I think it is a good idea.

Let me clarify the steps I envision.

1.) Begin a prayer campaign specifically for SPD and SFD. They have a hard job, and in many cases a dangerous job. Asking for a few extra angels to stand between them and danger seems only fair, since they stand between us and danger.

2.) Organize offerings/bake sales/etc for each church in Springfield to make a donation to the SPD/SFD fund with no strings attached. (This is the part I have concerns about, because I can see huge arguments from Christians about it not being the church's responsibility. I am also unsure about how steeply the denominational gap divides Christians in Springfield from one another. I am also unsure about how separation of church and state would apply here.)

3.) Have churches with counseling services make those services available to SPD and SFD officers free of charge, or at reduced rates. (Police officers have a difficult job; and as I understand it, there are high divorce rates and suicide rates among police officers. I would have to do more research to confirm this.)

4.) If there aren't any, organize support groups for officers and for officers' families.

I believe this is an opportunity to minister to a group who truly needs it. I thought about approaching my pastor with the idea, but I thought it best to consult a council of wise elders first. (That would be you guys, since we're getting old.)