Good Work vs. Gospel Work

Last Thursday some friends gathered at my house to discuss the topic of serving our world. We wondered what motivated people in general? We shared how we had been involved in serving others and how we felt about it. We asked what role should Christians or the Church have in serving the needs (physical, emotional, spiritual) of our world.

We decided to run a 2-week Campaign for Blood:Water Mission, which is fighting the aids pandemic in Africa by providing fresh water. We were staggered when we found that $1 gives 1 African fresh water for 1 year. But in our discussion we wondered how "good works" related to "gospel work" that the church is called to. We found that we did not completely agree... or at least that we were not as informed as we should be.

I noticed that Scot McKnight blogged on this topic, in response to the following question, which he received:

Myself and some friends are attempting to ask questions and eventually act on the homeless situation in downtown [city]. But as we’ve been discussing it, there are a few questions that we feel that we need to tackle so we can all be on the same page. Here it is: “What is our intention in simply desiring to fight systemic injustice? Should we do this with the intention of some larger plan of salvation for those we are trying to help? Or should we simply do it with no agenda just because systemic injustice is wrong?”

The question is how does good work related to gospel work? I encourage you to read the response and ensuing comments.