Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Should I Help Those Who Are Not Part of the Church?

A Study of Alma 1:30Charity in Motion

Anchor Scripture

Alma 1:30

      “And thus, in their prosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were naked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon riches; therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who stood in need.”

Direct Answer

Yes. Alma 1:30 answers this directly: we help all, including those not in the church. Our discipleship is measured by how we treat need—not membership. If someone is hungry, naked, thirsty, sick, or lacking nourishment, we respond. Their church status is irrelevant.

Core Takeaway

Alma 1:30 teaches that our covenant generosity is universal. Our compassion is not tribal. Our discipleship is revealed in how we treat anyone who stands in need—“whether out of the church or in the church.”

1. Prosperous Circumstances

The verse begins by grounding us:

“In their prosperous circumstances…”

Supporting Scriptures – Prosperity as Stewardship

2 Corinthians 8:14
      “But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:”

Jacob 2:17–19
      “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.”
      “But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.”
𖤝   “And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.”

Prosperity is not the point—stewardship is. When God blesses us, the blessing is meant to flow outward, not inward. We are accountable for how we use what we have, not for who receives it.

2. Naked, Hungry, Athirst, Sick, Not Nourished … Poor

These categories describe universal human need, not church membership. They are deliberately broad so we cannot narrow them. Scripture consistently teaches that need itself becomes the covenant signal that we must act, and that our response must be open‑handed, unfiltered, and without respect to persons.

Principle of Naked: Poor

Scriptures taken from the Topical Guide

  • Deuteronomy 15:7 — We do not shut our hand from our poor brother.
  • Proverbs 19:17 — He that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord.
  • Isaiah 58:7 — Bring the poor that are cast out to our house.
  • Mosiah 4:19 — Are we not all beggars?
  • Mosiah 4:26 — We retain remission of sins by imparting to the poor.
  • Alma 34:28 — If we turn away the needy, our prayer is vain.
  • James 2:5 — God has chosen the poor of this world.
  • 2 Nephi 28:13 — We rob the poor when we prioritize fine sanctuaries over mercy.

Why These Scriptures

These passages reveal a single, unified truth: God places the poor at the center of His covenant, and He measures our discipleship by how we respond to their need.

  • Deuteronomy 15:7 commands us not to close our hand.
  • Proverbs 19:17 reframes generosity as a direct offering to God.
  • Isaiah 58:7 defines true worship as bringing the poor in, not sending them away.
  • Mosiah 4:19 removes every excuse by reminding us that we all depend on God.
  • Mosiah 4:26 ties mercy to the ongoing cleansing of our hearts.
  • Alma 34:28 warns that worship without compassion is empty.
  • James 2:5 shows that God honors the poor with spiritual priority.
  • 2 Nephi 28:13 exposes the danger of religious hypocrisy when mercy is neglected.

Together, they reinforce Alma 1:30’s declaration that we help all, whether “in the church or out of the church,” because God Himself helps all.

Principle

When we encounter need, we encounter God’s call.
We do not filter compassion by membership, status, or worthiness.
We open our hands because God has opened His to us.
We lift the poor because God lifts us.

Application to Our Lives

  • We look for need instead of waiting for it to find us.
  • We treat every person’s hunger, sickness, or lack as our stewardship.
  • We refuse to let wealth, comfort, or religious identity narrow our compassion.
  • We remember that we are all beggars, sustained by the same God.
  • We measure our discipleship not by belief alone, but by how we lift the poor.
  • We align our hearts with God’s heart by aligning our hands with the needs of others.

3. RichesThe Principle of Wealth

Job 31:25
      “If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;”

The people in Alma 1:30 “did not set their hearts upon riches.” This is the internal shift that makes external generosity possible. When we loosen our grip on wealth, we tighten our grip on Christlike compassion. If we refuse to help someone because they are “not one of us,” we have already set our hearts on the wrong treasure.

Principle for Riches: Wealth

  • Deuteronomy 8:17 — “My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.” (A warning against self‑sufficient pride.)
  • Psalm 49:6 — They that trust in their wealth… (Trusting wealth displaces trust in God.)
  • Psalm 49:10 — The wealthy perish and leave their wealth to others. (Wealth cannot secure permanence.)
  • Proverbs 10:15 — A rich man’s wealth is his strong city. (Wealth becomes a false refuge.)
  • Proverbs 13:11 — Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. (Ill‑gotten gain collapses.)
  • Ecclesiastes 6:2 — God gives riches and wealth, yet a man cannot enjoy them. (Wealth without God becomes emptiness.)
  • Acts 19:25 — “By this craft we have our wealth.” (Wealth can bind us to systems that oppose God.)
  • 1 Corinthians 10:24 — “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.” (The gospel redirects our focus from accumulation to blessing others.)

Why These Scriptures

These passages reveal the spiritual danger of misplaced trust and the liberating power of consecrated wealth:

Together, they reinforce Alma 1:30’s message: Wealth is not the problem—our heart toward wealth is. When our heart is free from riches, our hands are free for mercy.

Principle

Wealth is a stewardship, not a security.
We do not measure our lives by what we accumulate but by what we consecrate.
Riches become dangerous only when they become our refuge, our identity, or our excuse not to serve.
When we release wealth from the center of our hearts, Christ takes His rightful place there.

Application to Our Lives

  • We examine whether wealth has become our “strong city.”
  • We refuse to let money determine who deserves our compassion.
  • We treat every resource as something God placed in our hands for His purposes.
  • We seek another’s good, not merely our own increase.
  • We remember that wealth is temporary, but mercy is eternal.
  • We practice generosity as a declaration that God—not riches—is our trust.

4. Liberal to AllThe Principle of Generosity

“Liberal to all” is the doctrinal center of Alma 1:30. Liberal means open‑handed, freely giving, unrestrained in mercy. The verse removes every possible loophole:

  • old and young
  • bond and free
  • male and female
  • out of the church or in the church

This is the Spirit’s way of saying: If they are human, they qualify.
The principle here is Generosity—the covenant posture of giving without hesitation, calculation, or boundary.

Principle for liberal: Generosity

Scriptures taken from the Topical Guide 

Why These Scriptures

These passages reveal the shape of true generosity:

Together, they reinforce Alma 1:30’s declaration that we are liberal to all—not because people earn it, but because God has been liberal with us.

Principle

Generosity is the covenant reflex of a consecrated heart.
We give freely because God has given freely to us.
We do not ration mercy, calculate worthiness, or limit compassion.
We open our hands because Christ opened His.

Application to Our Lives

  • We practice giving as a joyful act, not a reluctant duty.
  • We look for opportunities to be “liberal to all,” not selective in mercy.
  • We treat our resources as tools for blessing, not symbols of status.
  • We give without expecting repayment, recognition, or return.
  • We remember the poor in all things, not just convenient moments.
  • We measure our discipleship by the wideness of our generosity.

5. No Respect to PersonsCovenant Equality

Deuteronomy 10:17
      “For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:”

This is covenant equality. It means:

  • we do not rank people
  • we do not filter compassion
  • we do not gatekeep mercy
  • we do not treat insiders better than outsiders

Alma 16:14
      “And as many as would hear their words, unto them they did impart the word of God, without any respect of persons, continually.”

To have “no respect to persons” is to see others as God sees them—not by affiliation, but by divine worth.

Doctrine and Covenants 1:35
      “For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion.”

No Respect to Persons

To have no respect to persons is to enter the covenant posture of divine equality. Deuteronomy 10:17 reveals the pattern: God “regardeth not persons.” He does not rank His children, accept bribes, or show favoritism. He sees worth, not status; sincerity, not standing; need, not affiliation.

Alma 16:14 shows this same spirit among the Saints: they imparted the word of God “without any respect of persons, continually.” Continually means always—in every setting, with every soul, without exception.

D&C 1:35 confirms the divine standard: “I am no respecter of persons.” If God refuses partiality, then we—His covenant people—refuse it too.

This principle reshapes us. It means:

  • we do not rank people
  • we do not filter compassion
  • we do not gatekeep mercy
  • we do not treat insiders better than outsiders

To walk in this covenant is to see others as God sees them—not by category, but by eternal identity. Not by church membership, but by divine worth. Not by what separates us, but by what unites us as children of the same Father.

This is the heart of Alma 1:30. We are liberal to all because God is liberal to all. We show no respect to persons because God shows no respect to persons. We extend mercy without boundary because His mercy has no boundary.

In this way, our discipleship becomes a living witness: every soul matters, every need matters, every person matters. And when we honor that truth, we reflect the character of the God we serve.

Final Answer to the Question

Yes. We help those who are not part of the church. Alma 1:30 teaches that our covenant generosity is universal, our compassion is not tribal, and our discipleship is revealed in how we treat anyone who stands in need.

We do not ask, “Are you one of us?”
We ask, “What do you need, and how can we serve you?”

Charity in Motion

As we conclude this study, we stand before the living witness of Alma 1:30, a verse that does not merely describe a righteous people—it defines what covenant discipleship looks like when charity is in motion. Every principle we explored—Prosperity, Need, Wealth, Generosity, and No Respect to Persons—reveals a single, unbroken truth: charity is not an idea; it is a movement. It moves from God to us, and from us to every soul He places in our path.

We learned that prosperity is stewardship, not status. God blesses us so that our abundance becomes another’s supply. We saw that need itself is God’s call, a divine signal that we are meant to respond. We discovered that wealth becomes holy only when it becomes useful, when it is consecrated to lift and heal. We embraced the call to be liberal to all, giving freely because God has given freely to us. And we stood before the divine standard of no respect to persons, learning that God does not rank His children—and neither can we.

Together, these truths form a single covenant identity:
We are a people whose charity moves.
It moves toward the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the stranger, the outsider, the overlooked, the forgotten.
It moves without hesitation, without calculation, without boundary.

Charity Moves 

If there is one message the Spirit has pressed upon our hearts, it is this:
Charity is not passive. Charity is not selective. Charity is not conditional. Charity moves.

It moves beyond church walls.
It moves beyond comfort zones.
It moves beyond categories and labels.
It moves beyond “us” and “them.”

Charity in motion is the life of Christ made visible in the lives of His disciples. It is the gospel with sleeves rolled up. It is mercy with feet. It is compassion with hands. It is love that refuses to stay still.

When we choose this path, we do more than help others—we become the kind of people God can trust with His work.

It Moves 

I testify that the principles in this study are true. I testify that God is no respecter of persons, and He invites us into that same holy posture. I testify that when we open our hands, God opens His heavens. When we loosen our grip on wealth, He loosens the grip of fear around our hearts. When we choose generosity, He chooses us as instruments in His redeeming work. And when our charity moves—when it becomes action, sacrifice, and presence—we begin to reflect the character of the God we worship.

I testify that Alma 1:30 is a blueprint for covenant living today. It calls us to a discipleship that is visible, tangible, and unmistakably Christlike. A discipleship where every soul matters, every need matters, every person matters—because every one of them matters to God.

May we walk forward with charity in motion.
May we become a people who do not send any away.
May our lives bear witness that the love of Christ is not still, silent, or selective—it moves.

Amen.

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