my church has a budget of 150,000

at least 50k of that is spent on social services, not counting the many hours volunteers spend

if they were even paid minimum wage it would be in the hundred thousand range

our church IS the local food bank

many churches are the local food bank in their community

i dont know what kind of churches you have been around

but

"Most churches spending a pittance of resources" helping the poor seems lile atheist propaganda to me .. just flat out not true

again, income means you sold something or provided a service for pay

churches run on donations .. not on income

and they do not charge for services given.

whether that be material or spiritual

but you didnt answer the question

how would government go about reimbursing for the social work?

woujld that not be tax deductible

the goverment would owe us a ton of money ... we would get a huge refund each year ..