What's Effective Compassion?
Snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.
This one is from Monday’s edition of The World and Everything In It. Each year WORLD recognizes a handful of poverty-fighting organizations through the Hope Awards for Effective Compassion. Before their profile of one of the finalists, the podcast hosts explained that…
“To qualify as a candidate, a ministry must embody three elements of effective compassion: It must provide help that is challenging, personal, and spiritual.
“Challenging means the organization must recognize the dignity of the people it serves by giving them a hand up rather than a hand out and empowering them to live lives of worshipful work that glorifies God.
“Personal means an organization understands the individual needs, background, and context of the people and area they serve. It means building relationships and tailoring its approach.
“Finally, spiritual. Effective compassion is more than saying, ‘Jesus loves you.’ But it’s not less than that, either. It means introducing those they serve to Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. …[to] be committed to sharing the gospel and discipling participants.”
This definition and understanding of effective compassion has been a big influence on my thinking regarding compassion and church ministry since I read Marvin Olasky’s The Tragedy of American Compassion over 25 years ago, and it continues to be.
Olasky was Editor in Chief of WORLD until recently, and he was the one who coined the term “compassionate conservatism.”
If there’s a critique I would have of this perspective in practice, it is that Christians too often equate the Christian faith with the “conservative” aspects of this approach. The “conservative” in “compassionate conservatism” is a political term. Olasky (a former communist before becoming a Christian) was and is politically conservative AND a big advocate for the kind of compassion Jesus called us to embody. I think one of his life goals has been to increase the compassion quotient and practice of his fellow political conservatives.
Being politically conservative as a Christian is completely legit, but I’m increasingly stunned at how I (and people in my circles) have unwittingly and consistently equated a Christian worldview that is theologically conservative with political conservatism. They are not the same thing, and there are great spiritual and practical dangers in equating them.
I absolutely love and agree with one of the mantras of the & Campaign:
“There is a cross that neither political progressivism nor conservatism is fit to bear. There’s a civic hearing in need of faithful witnesses who love social justice and won’t surrender the truth to be loved by the world. Politic with the boldness and compassion of Jesus Christ.”