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Mercy Ministry
In the life of the church, mercy ministry is a vital component of what it means to bring the gospel to a lost and dying world.
Without mercy ministry, the church fails to live out one of the most important aspects of the gospel -- the completely life-changing encounter with the living Christ.
Jesus' ministry on earth began the process of reversing the effects of the fall. When man fell into sin, the consequences affected all aspects of life on earth; spiritual, emotional and physical, on individual and group levels. When Jesus the king came, he brought his kingdom with him. And his kingdom affects all of life -- word and deed, truth and action. The gospel he preached ministers to people in their totality; certainly alleviating man's problem with sin, but also reversing all the other negative affects of the fall -- poverty, abuse, neglect, the list goes on. All these aspects of Jesus' ministry are totally inseparable from each other.
What Mercy Ministry Is
Mercy ministry is our chance to fulfill the gospel holistically; it's a spiritual ministry to physical needs. Our aim is to help with whatever needs arise, whenever we're made aware of them. We want to make sure to help people within our church and in our surrounding community. We're not limited to any form of help, as needs are varied and complex.
This is why the Lord gave deacons to his church. They are the leaders who are in charge of facilitating all of the help the church gives to its own and to the world.
But meeting the various needs that arise is not something that just the deacons do. It's something that everyone in the church should be involved with—everyone has something unique to contribute.
What It Does
The work of mercy ministry is to get closely involved with people's lives to figure out how best to help them. Most of the time the problems individuals face are some combination the person's individual sin, the person being sinned against, and difficult or catastrophic circumstances. The work of mercy ministry is to assess the situation and figure out how to work through the complex situations people are in.
This certainly means giving financially to the church's mercy fund, which can be used when situations arise. But just as importantly, everyone in the church has special skills, which can be used to help people who don't have the same skills. One of the primary ways deacons facilitate meeting needs is to enlist those people within the church who are best suited to offer help.
There will come a day when Jesus will come back and finally and fully restore all things. Until then, he gives us the opportunity to help with this work of bringing the gospel in all its forms.
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