Compassion AND justice

Back: Jennifer Long, Charissa Shawcross, Adlene Kufarimai,
Linda Caldwell, Bonnie Marden, Kerry Greenhill
Front: Jill Wondel, Tami Coleman, Kristen Cates

I recently spent a week in Nashville with a dozen passionate and thoughtful church leaders from across the U.S. to be trained in how to go about organizing our campaigns for Imagine No Malaria. There was a lot of joking that since I'd been on the job for three months already, I could lead the training rather than receive it, but I gained a great deal from the stories people shared, the best practices recommended by the more experienced Field Coordinators, and above all from the connections built among those of us setting out on this journey at about the same time in our respective annual (regional) conferences.

As we talked with some of the communications staff connected with Imagine No Malaria, we were asked why we are passionate about the cause. Staff writer/editor Barbara Dunlap-Berg quoted part of my response in an article posted today to the Imagine No Malaria website:

“What excites me about the campaign is that this is a ministry of health and healing that is about both compassion and justice. Not only are we relieving suffering for thousands of families across Africa; we are also empowering local leaders through training, support and accountability to develop the infrastructure that will support future public health efforts in a sustainable way.
“Children in the United States don’t have to worry that they might die from a mosquito bite, but children in Africa still do. I believe that just as Jesus made healing a central part of his ministry, we as the body of Christ today have a calling to offer healing, wholeness and abundant life in Jesus’ name.”

The difference, to me, between ministries of compassion and justice, is that compassion means we are responding to an immediate need to alleviate suffering, but justice requires working for a world where needless suffering doesn't happen in the first place. I believe that Jesus calls his followers to both justice and compassion, even when it is inconvenient or means we have to give up some privilege or comfort for the sake of others. 

Bishop Elaine and others are greeted by children in Angola

Through Imagine No Malaria, followers of Jesus in the United States (and plenty of non-Christians who are invited to take part in our work) have an opportunity to give of the resources God has entrusted to them (us) for the sake of the well-being of our sisters and brothers in Africa. And the way we are working together, donors and recipients, fundraisers and health care providers, advocates and administrators, provides a foundation of just and mutual relationships that could bring us a few steps closer to realizing the kin'dom of God here on earth.  

When we recognize our interconnectedness in these networks and communities built on mutual respect and love for neighbor, we are all beneficiaries of the act of sharing and giving, both "rich" and "poor" alike, wherever our home, however safe or vulnerable we currently feel. Living in a world of gross inequity impoverishes us all, though clearly some suffer greater physical consequences than others. 

This is at least part of the meaning of abundant life, that “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little” (2 Cor 8:15). And this is why I agree with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who declared, “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”  

I hope you will consider joining us as we seek to offer healing, wholeness, and abundant life through Imagine No Malaria in the Rocky Mountain Conference and around the world.