What tugs at your heart? What are the things that you see in your community, your city and even the world that causes you to be moved with compassion?
For some it’s the sight of a starving baby, others it’s the reality of human trafficking, yet some get moved when they see their neighbor struggling with their yard work or a work colleague struggle through an on going sickness.
We are all wired differently, yet our make up is the sense. While compassion may not be everyone’s strongest point, there is no doubt that there are certain things in life that pull at our heart.
However, some do a good job of ignoring these emotions, others just sit there and feel sorry for those situations, while a limited few decide they must do something about it. It is this later group who are the ones who have the compassion to be world changers.
I think compassion ministries have become a fad in a lot of churches. While this is a good thing as a lot of good is being done, by worry is that as soon as reaching out to our communities doesn’t result in church growth it will become like every other fad, and just die!
Tomorrow is Saturday May 14th. Just another Saturday to most, yet for a few it is a day to reach out and serve our community. The Help Stamp Out Hunger food drive is taking place, where across the country if you leave a bag of groceries by your mail box, the mail man will deliver it to your local food pantry. In our county ServeFest is taking place, this is where local churches get together to help serve our community for one day in different community projects. For me I will be volunteering at the school my wife works, where they will be hosting a community outreach to their local neighborhood.
While this is all good, I wonder what would happen if the collective church would really start to embrace the things that pull at peoples hearts on a daily basis. Not adding more ministries to a never ending schedule, not just schedule one day a month or a year, but started to empower and mobilize the people who make up the church to start to reach out on their own accord when they see a need. To be the hands and feet of Jesus day to day. To learn to do good and stamp out injustice when we see it. The world would change overnight, that is what would happen!
Of course in all reality the church is made up of imperfect people, reluctant to step out of what they have always know and people who can be very self absorbed, of which I know I am one; so this today is only a far fetched dream. Yet I have discovered in my life that dreams do come true and my dream is to see a church that hurts for others just as much as it hurts for itself.
I suppose it could all start with just leaving a bag of groceries for the mail man to pick up!