While visiting someone in Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, I walked into the lobby and saw a woman sitting alone, crying. My first thought was to keep going, but, out of compassion and concern, I introduced myself and asked the woman whether I could be of help.
She told me her name and said she was crying because her newborn twins were in the neonatal intensive care unit suffering from withdrawal symptoms because of her addiction. She asked me to pray for her twins and I agreed. When her husband returned from the cafeteria, we went upstairs to visit the babies. I held one of the twin’s tiny fingers and as he struggled for life, I was humbled because when I touched him, in return, he touched me.
In the Bible, we read about the miracle of Jesus feeding 5,000 people and operating in a spirit that should guide and mo tivate our ministries’ compassion.
Matthew 14:14 says, “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”
Ministries often are evaluated on their success, size, the amount of people in their congregations and the personality of their preachers, but maybe the focus should be on a ministry’s ability to touch lives.
For many generations, people have been touching the church, but now the church should touch the lives of its people in ways that will help them cope with this life and get prepared for the next.
The unemployment rate is 9.9 percent and the divorce rate is hovering around 50 percent. People’s confidence in the economy is fading, and there is a general feeling among most that the generation before ours had a better quality of life than we do.
As we face the challenges of the 21st century, let us approach our ministries with an eye on community outreach, which touches the whole man — physically in his environment, emotionally in his thinking and spiritually in his beliefs. To echo the words of an old song from the past, “Reach out and touch somebody’s hand, make this world a better place if you can” — just like that infant twin did for me at Memorial Health University Medical Center.
Jones is pastor of Mt. Carmel Worship Centers and Higher Dimensions Christian Fellowship, Inc.
She told me her name and said she was crying because her newborn twins were in the neonatal intensive care unit suffering from withdrawal symptoms because of her addiction. She asked me to pray for her twins and I agreed. When her husband returned from the cafeteria, we went upstairs to visit the babies. I held one of the twin’s tiny fingers and as he struggled for life, I was humbled because when I touched him, in return, he touched me.
In the Bible, we read about the miracle of Jesus feeding 5,000 people and operating in a spirit that should guide and mo tivate our ministries’ compassion.
Matthew 14:14 says, “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”
Ministries often are evaluated on their success, size, the amount of people in their congregations and the personality of their preachers, but maybe the focus should be on a ministry’s ability to touch lives.
For many generations, people have been touching the church, but now the church should touch the lives of its people in ways that will help them cope with this life and get prepared for the next.
The unemployment rate is 9.9 percent and the divorce rate is hovering around 50 percent. People’s confidence in the economy is fading, and there is a general feeling among most that the generation before ours had a better quality of life than we do.
As we face the challenges of the 21st century, let us approach our ministries with an eye on community outreach, which touches the whole man — physically in his environment, emotionally in his thinking and spiritually in his beliefs. To echo the words of an old song from the past, “Reach out and touch somebody’s hand, make this world a better place if you can” — just like that infant twin did for me at Memorial Health University Medical Center.
Jones is pastor of Mt. Carmel Worship Centers and Higher Dimensions Christian Fellowship, Inc.