Compassion Defines Mission Teams
In the Old Testament God commanded Israel to care for the orphans, widows and sojourners (kind of like immigrants in our context). Whenever Jesus saw the crowds he had compassion on them. Jesus weeping over Jerusalem just before the people that live in the city will kill him. As Jesus is dying on the cross he asks for forgiveness for his murders. God resurrecting His Son so that the very people who rebelled against Him might have eternal life with Him. The people of God, the Church, sacrificing their lives for the sake of the sick, poor and persecuted.
All of these are images from Scripture of God’s profound compassion towards His people and the entire world. This radical compassion should be the mark of a Christian’s life and therefore a defining characteristic of our Mission Teams.
Compassion at One Life may seem like the most complicated—with words like local/global, Engage, Uncharted, City Movements flying around—well I’m going to attempt to explain how all that works in the context of Mission Teams, but first, if things ever get impossibly jumbled, just go back to this: SEE PEOPLE AS JESUS SAW THEM. That’s the heart of Biblical compassion—simply seeing people with the value Jesus placed on them. Every single person he treated with infinite worth. From his friends to his enemies, marginalized to Pharisees, crowds to his intimate team…he drew out the potential in each and ultimately loved them so much that he gave his life for them all. If our Mission Teams see every individual as having infinite value, worth, and potential, compassion will naturally follow.
Be Present. Be Focused. These are the two most basic principles of compassion, but they are often overlooked. Without them, you have charity more than compassion. Simply put, you have to be present where people are. Period. We are the light of the world, and at some point you have to break out of the Christian huddle and shine that light into the darkness. As the Church! Too often we think the role of the Church is to gather believers to send them out as individuals. That’s part of it. But the world needs to experience the body of Christ too. Our weaknesses as individuals are made strong in Christ. Mission Teams allow people to experience Jesus where they are, as they become part of the community. However, as they go out they need to be focused in their activities. Know what you are about. Know why you are doing what you are doing. Be intentional. Go to the same place, serve with the same organization, so that you begin to build relationships. If you are present and focused it will change the mission from “helping people far from God experience Jesus” to helping John experience Jesus, and that is when compassion happens.
Think Development over Betterment. This is handled much more comprehensively in the book Toxic Charity if you’re interested. As we go out and “do” compassion activities, the question we should ask is, “Are we bettering this person’s situation, or are we contributing to their development as a person?” There is of course a time for betterment, but the end goal has to be development. The classic analogy is you can give a person a fish (betterment) or teach them to fish (development). At the larger community level, what happens when the pond runs out of fish? You can restock the pond (betterment) or you can help the community learn sustainable fishing, market sharing, subsidiary business formation, etc. (development). As a Team, evaluate if your actions are developing people. Two final thoughts:
(1) Making sure your actions are developing people can be daunting. That’s why we encourage you to go through Engage or other community partners specific to your mission statement. They know the community, the people, and the work to be done. Join with them.
(2) It’s easy—even unconsciously—to carry an air of superiority when doing development work. “We’re here to fix you.” Nothing will tank your efforts more quickly that being perceived this way. Think “do with” rather than “do for”, and most importantly, build actual relationships with real people!
The Bullseye on the wall is Gospel City Movements. This isn’t the place to get into a detailed explanation of the seven principles of a City Movement. The important part for this Manifesto is for our Mission Teams to understand the role they play in seeing the movement become a reality. There isn’t some dedicated staff division or mystical church organization working on City Movements. It’s all of us—all our Mission Teams—hitting the flywheel over and over and over again that will make this thing Move. A Gospel City Movement is the grand vision we are daring God to bring to fruition, because a whole Metro Area revolutionized by Gospel renewal in the hearts and minds of it’s people, lived out in Christ-centered actions and love of others is the greatest compassion we can dream of as the Church. It is a taste of the Kingdom of God in the here and now. As we align our separate actions of our Mission Teams to the Gospel City Movement vision, everything we do will be a hit on the target of compassion.