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Mrs. Jones, an 84-year-old widow, often skips her blood pressure medication to buy food. She needs year-round help with her yard but has no family nearby to help her, and she definitely can’t afford to pay someone to do it. In spite of these needs, the biggest problem she copes with is loneliness.
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Alex, once a promising architecture student, developed a serious mental illness and dropped out of college. He found himself far from home, living on the streets of Knoxville, and not able to get the medications he needed. Thankfully, he found his way to a local homeless ministry so now he’s on his meds, involved in a job-training program, and has a safe place to sleep at night. But, what he really desires is a friend and to feel normal and accepted.
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Sheila is a single mother of two children, ages 4 and 18 months. She currently lives in subsidized housing, but doesn’t feel her family is safe. If she were to become independent of government support, she would need services of all kinds such as job training, transportation and day care. Sheila believes in God, but it has never occurred to her to go to a local church and ask for help. After all, she is not married to either of her children’s fathers, and she thinks “church people” would not approve of her family. Raised in an extremely dysfunctional home, Sheila needs a mentor…someone who can act as a surrogate parent to her and a grandparent to her children.
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As human beings, we have compassion for these three. But as Christians, we are called to put our compassion into action and help them. The Holy Spirit leads us toward spontaneous acts of compassion, but because of lack of time, lack of knowledge, and fear of the unknown, we sometimes pull back. Showing compassion can take place in your family, your workplace or your neighborhood. But, often, being involved in compassion ministry means mingling with people outside our normal circle of friends; it means going to places outside of our familiar part of town; and it definitely means leaving our comfort zones. Just as Jesus left the comforts of heaven to show God’s compassion to those who were in need but who were often apathetic, self-righteous, unappreciative, and even murderous, we are called to do the same.
Cedar Springs supports more than 30 local organizations that care for the hungry, needy, sick and lonely. In order to nourish those relationships and the organizations’ needs, your hands, feet, hearts, and time are needed on an ongoing basis. The Compassion Ministry, under the leadership of The GlobalMission Group’s Compassion Ministry Team, comes alongside individuals and groups of church members who wish to get involved locally by connecting them with a ministry that falls within their interests and calling.
The Compassion Ministry focuses on six major areas of compassion work: AIDS, Appalachian, disaster relief, homelessness, inner-city, and prison. Click here for the complete ministry list. Please email our team at alisonfleetwood@cspc.net if you’re interested in getting involved. God is calling you! BACK TO NEWSLETTER>
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