Reflecting God’s Love

21-05-2021 | Empowerment | GraceStation Press

Is this a call?               As a privately funded NGO based in Accra, we are driven by the love of Christ because it is only from this inner source that sustainable transformation can be born and nourished, consequently demonstrating in all approaches to ministering to the poor.

 

Our approach?            Demonstrating love to all but a focus on people exposed to suffering and affliction.

• Reaching out to the poor (ministry to the poor John 12+13)
• Meeting physical and spiritual needs thus FEHES: Feed, Educate, Health, Empower and provide Shelter.

 

It does catch one’s attention that, as part of the ministry of Jesus and his disciples, there was a ministry to the poor – a purse that also addressed the physical needs of the suffering (Jn 12 and 13).

In Jesus’ organization, there is not much about structures and practices that remind us of the average modern local church. Although there is a vast difference in context, we do see how teaching (orthodoxy) and reaching out to people in need (orthopraxy) are continuously demonstrated through the ministry of the Lord himself.

We have cupboards filled with clothes, while people die from cold. We suffer from the effects of obesity, while people die without food. We spend money on medicinal attempts to hide the effects of overindulgence and aging, while millions lack the basic medical support to stay alive. If we do not experience a revival in our understanding of God’s mission, a revival in our ability to reconcile the teaching of the Bible and our lifestyles, nothing will change.

A fresh discovery of the vibrant Biblical truths of being God’s transformational people in the world can have a determining effect on how the church will be perceived and experienced by people exposed to suffering and affliction. Even more fundamental, the global credibility and authenticity of Christianity will be strengthened by following the example of our Lord. Then orthodoxy and orthopraxy merge in such a way that the church becomes a living sacrament in the world – the church “becoming Jesus” for those in need.

The motive behind God’s mission is love. Therefore, as participants in God’s mission, the church cannot and should not act out of any other motive. God’s people should not foremost be driven by the need of people, but by the love of Christ because it is only from this inner source that sustainable transformation can be born and nourished. Such understanding is illustrated by Mother Teresa’s statement: “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus”