Grace or Truth: The Ministry of Compassion vs. The Ministry of the Word

Most of you who know me well enough know that I am very intimately involved in a non-profit ministry called Designs For Hope (www.designsforhope.org).  Designs for Hope is a compassion-based ministry that designs innovative technological solutions that empower struggling pastors and church leaders in the poorest areas of the world to more effectively spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Recently (last night as I write this, in fact), I was meeting with a pastor at a local church telling him about what all God was doing through Designs For Hope.  My wish was that Designs For Hope could be a resource to that church as they go about their missions activities.  Now I realize that what Designs For Hope does will not always apply in every mission venue and so I would not have been surprised for him to say that his church’s mission objectives did not align with Designs For Hope’s.  However, I was somewhat surprised by the pastor’s fairly straightforward rejection of the very idea of what Designs For Hope was doing.   Don’t get me wrong, he was extremely gracious and Christ-like in his rejection, but there was no mistake in my mind that he did not believe that the mission of Designs For Hope was very beneficial to Kingdom work.  In fact, by his own words, it was fairly clear that he believed our work created not only a mindset of dependency upon foreign help, but also opened the door to envy between the pastors we help and the people we did not (or could not) help.  To put this in its right context, Designs for Hope helps these pastors and evangelists by providing bicycle or solar powered generators so that they can have just a tiny bit of lighting in their small homes.  We also provide water filtration systems so that they can have safe, clean water to drink.  In this pastor’s view – at least as I understood our conversation - mission efforts should be about sharing the Word of God and planting churches, not about handouts and aid.

As a point of clarification, I know enough about this pastor to have a considerable amount of respect for him  – enough respect that I took his words very seriously and to give them significant weight and consideration.  Indeed, I have to admit there is truth in what he said. In the past 50 years or so there has been billions of dollars in foreign aid sent Africa with little or no impact other than creating a greater dependence upon foreign aid.  To make matters worse, we have actually experienced some of what he alluded to in our work at Designs For Hope already.  As an organization, we have to work very hard not to be just another handout, but to truly empower church leaders in their gospel ministry.  We are also very diligent about making sure that we create opportunities for the Word of God to be taught and preached as part of what we do.   Even still, we have experienced the politics this pastor mentioned - politics associated with the pastor receiving such amenities while the flock still struggles.  Our goal is not to give them a handout that sets them above the congregants, but rather a help-up that enables them to serve the congregants. Admittedly, that is a difficult task and so his words lingered in my thoughts all evening.  Is it really true that mission efforts that focus on compassion are a waste of kingdom resources?   No one wants to be accused of throwing good money after bad, or worse, being poor stewards of what God has entrusted to us.  These thoughts were even more exaggerated by the fact that my own personal passion is preaching and teaching the Word of God – compassion ministries come very hard for me, but the ministry of the Word comes very easily for me.

It is a good thing to have your motivations and your mission challenged every now and again.  As I prayed over this, a number of scriptures were brought to my mind that reminded me that we cannot focus too heavily on one approach versus the other.  Yes, my greatest desire is for God to instill faith in every person on the planet.  The truth of the Word of God is so important and the temporary comforts brought about through mere altruistic endeavors will do nothing to forego eternal pain.    In my meditation over this, however, I was reminded of James chapter two.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (ESV)

Similarly, 1 John 3:17-18 says: 

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (ESV)

“Sharing” our faith is an essential part of every mission effort.  If we do not have this, we are nothing more than a Social Gospel.  However, we cannot just focus so exclusively on the gospel that we ignore the very real and urgent needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ – especially of those who are doing Kingdom work.  Those of us who live in the “first world” have been richly blessed by God.  Even the poorest among us are wealthy in comparison to the millions and millions who live on daily wages that would not even buy us a cup of coffee.  Why has God given us those blessings if not for the purpose of blessing others?  Did not Jesus tell the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18 to sell his riches and give to the poor?  Did not Zacchaeus in Luke 19 do precisely that?   I’m not saying that God necessarily wants you to sell everything you have and give it away (although you should not make the mistake of presuming that he does NOT want that for you).  What I am saying is that the ministry of the Word of God cannot be separated from the ministry of compassion.

The first chapter of the gospel of John tells us that Jesus was the WORD incarnate.  The Word of God is crucial and essential in all mission efforts.   Without the Word of God, there can be no faith.  Paul asks in Romans 10 how they can believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  He then says that faith comes by hearing and that hearing comes through the Word of Christ.  However, the first chapter of John also tells us that Jesus was filled with BOTH grace AND truth.  Jesus was not solely about being the incarnate WORD of God, he was also about being the incarnate NATURE of God.  A simple examination of his life and ministry is evidence enough that compassion ministries are a vital part of the Christian mission and true to the very nature of God.  In the ESV version of the English Bible, the gospel speaks specifically nine times of the compassion that Jesus had for the people.  Three more times it speaks of how he was moved by the people’s circumstances. At other times it says he took pity on them.  In each of these situations, his compassion and pity led him to take action to relieve their suffering.  These actions were not without the same kind of risks that my pastor friend warned about – and not always were they directly tied to a spiritual lesson.  When Jesus fed the 5000, the spiritual lesson was not for the masses, but for his 12 disciples. For everyone else, it was just a miraculous dinner.  In fact, the impact on the 5000 was exactly what my pastor friend warned about – the crowds just sought Jesus all the more – what can YOU do for ME - and, in John 6, Jesus has to rebuke them for seeking him solely to be fed physical food.  Those risks did not stop Jesus from showing compassion and they should not stop us either.

The purpose of this article is not at all to malign my pastor friend (he probably will not even read this and most – if not all - who do read this will have no idea who I am talking about anyway).  As I said, I have great respect for him and gave very serious consideration to his words. In the end, however, I think that in some respects he may have been right, but that in other respects he was wrong.  Yes, I agree with him.  There is a risk and a responsibility associated with compassion ministries.  It takes great effort to make sure that such ministries are being faithful and true to the gospel and not just mere benevolence.  That is why Designs For Hope partners with organizations who are engaged in the evangelistic efforts, and that is why Designs for Hope’s Partnership Covenant lays out clear expectations that its products are to be used as a tool to advance the gospel and not for profiteering.  However, I don’t agree with him that engaging in compassion ministries is hurtful to the people.  if Jesus could engage in compassion ministries even with the reality of it being misused by some, then I think we ought to consider ourselves open to those ministries as well.