Care Ministry is about more than addressing the needs of people.
Care Ministry involves discovering the God who cares and letting His compassion flow through us in our actions toward others.
As Covid was affecting ministries, agencies, hospitals and every outlet of people service and care, I looked for answers to see how pastors, priests and ministries conducted themselves during previous pandemics. New to pandemics, I chose the one I had heard of the most,
The Black Plague.
I was drawn to the
Reformer, John Calvin, who pastored through five out-breaks of the Black Plague during his pastoral ministry in Geneva, Switzerland.
My readings led me to
Calvin on the Christian Life: Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever by Michael Horton. Known for His theology on the sovereignty of God, I was pleased to see how the power of Calvin's theology flowed out into compassion and care for others. It should not have surprised me, but it was part of His ministry that I did not know about. His words describe what I have felt as the application of my theology progresses in relation to care ministry.
“Because we truly feed on Christ in the Supper, we are drawn ‘both to purity and holiness of life, and also to charity, peace and concord’ with each other… We will take care that none of our brethren is hurt, despised, rejected, injured, or in any way offended, without our, at the same time, hurting, despising, and injuring Christ...; that we cannot love Christ without loving our brethren; that the same care we take of our own body we ought to take of that of our brethren, who are members of our body; that as no part of our body suffers pain without extending to the other part, so every evil which our brother suffers ought to excite our compassion. Grace leads to gratitude—a thanksgiving toward God that turns us outward to our brothers and sisters and then also out to our neighbors, whoever they may be… The one who wants to love God can do so by loving the believers…Because God serves us, we can serve our neighbors.” (Pp140-142)
So, Christian theology as described by Calvin, is much more than a mere academic and useless series of religious rituals. It is a robust expression of love freely received and freely given.
If we lack love for others, we must first draw close to God, confessing our cold heart, removing any barrier, and asking for a new experience of God’s forgiveness and love.
When we are full of God’s love, care for the needs of others will follow.
One of the beauties of a care ministry is it continually takes us to new and deeper experiences of God’s love as we question suffering and wrestle with our love and care for others.
To love without God will still bear good fruit because of the value of love and care. But the capacity will be limited to finite ability and horizontal understanding.
Today we remember 9-11, twenty years ago. Covid and Afghanistan add to our already sad and growing load of people who are in various forms and stages of grief and suffering.
This is our time as faith-based care ministries to embark on an adventure without limits.
With the strong theology of Calvin and the Reformers, they could sacrificially minister through a catastrophic pandemic and offer extreme care. Then they preached a strong message of repentance and holiness. It is why their ministry did reform the culture and continues to influence ministry nearly 500 years later.
So as you apply your life to effectively caring for people during times of great need, you will be rewarded with much more than you can even imagine, if you develop a foundation of Biblical theology.
You will experience the source and reason for care as God works in and through you. You will be engaging with God and with people and are doing divine work with eternal rewards. When you care, it matters, much more than you can measure.
