Global Compassion in Africa
The Apostle John commanded believers to “love one another, for love is from God” (1 John 4:7). Indeed, while non-Christians can and do exhibit kindness, the only source of pure, selfless compassion is to experience the saving love of God in Jesus Christ. And this truth is particularly evident on the continent of Africa, where ordinary believers are combating poverty, AIDS, and spiritual darkness with Christian compassion. Examples abound.
Stephens Centre. Nigeria’s Stephens Centre, a ministry of Voice of Christian Martyrs, offers free vocational training to family members of Christians who were killed because of their faith. For example, Talatu Mathias’s husband died during a riot in Kano, Nigeria, in 2004, leaving her with six children. So the Stephens Centre provided schooling for the children and sewing classes for Talatu. Similarly, Matina Bitrus’s husband, a prominent police officer and church member, was burned to ashes during a riot in 2000. While she learned to sew at the Stephens Centre, her two children attended its school. The center’s ministry to these and numerous other grieving families is based on the call to Christian compassion in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”1
Living Hope Community Center. In Cape Town, South Africa, the 300-member Fish Hoek Baptist Church started an AIDS ministry called the Living Hope Community Center. Such a ministry may be unconventional for a local church, but so is the fact that 17% of the people in the church’s community were HIV positive. Led by Pastor John Thomas, the ministry “offers counseling, testing, treatment, and palliative care to thousands of AIDS sufferers in the Western Cape region.” 2 Thanks in part to the center’s efforts, the town’s homeless population, which started at 70 or 80, has decreased to 11 or 12, according to Thomas. Reflecting the source of their compassion, ministry workers pray for patients—even Muslim patients—in Jesus’ name. Not surprisingly, Living Hope takes its name from the eternal hope found in Christ.3
Chikumbuso Community Center. After American Christian Linda Wilkinson visited a widow who was struggling to raise five children in Ng’ombe, in the southern region of Congo, she wanted to do something to help. So with the financial support of generous friends based in Atlanta, Wilkinson started Chikumbuso Community Center (CCC), where dozens of single mothers, grandmothers, and widows gather for Bible study, fellowship, and a crocheting business that makes colorful pocketbooks using recycled plastic grocery bags. Profits from the business go to support the women and provide loans to other needy Africans. Additionally, every woman associated with CCC receives a $15 medical card to cover healthcare expenses. Since its inception, the program has also grown to include a church-based school for 300 children. All this and more is based on a mission statement rooted in the gospel: “To remember what God has done for us and to remember to do the same for others.”4
Of course, despite the many examples of Christian compassion in Africa, some counter that Islamic and secular charities have done just as much good on the continent. Yet such arguments ignore at least two key facts. First, Islamic charities often reserve their compassion for Muslims alone or those willing to convert, while Christian charities serve all, regardless of religion. And second, before the advent of Christ, the world had never seen such a selfless model of compassion nor heard such radical teaching on the subject. Truly, Christianity revolutionized compassion.5 Perhaps that is why atheist Matthew Parris remarked, “I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do.”6
Footnotes:
1 “Widows Stories,” Stephens-Persecution Website, http://www.stephens-persecution.com/widows_story.php (accessed June 8, 2010).
2 “Courageous Leadership Award,” Hole in Our Gospel Website, http://www.theholeinourgospel.com/catch-the-vision/ (accessed June 8, 2010).
3 Tony W. Cartledge, “There Is Therefore No Condemnation,” Biblical Recorder Website, April 8, 2005, http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/content/opinion/2005/4_8_2005/ed080405abthere.shtml (accessed June 8, 2010).
4 Susan Olasky, “Picking Up Pieces: What One Christian in Africa Started,” World Magazine Website, February 23, 2008, http://www.worldmag.com/articles/13768 (accessed June 8, 2010).
5 See also Kairos Journal Booklet, “Legatees of a Great Inheritance: How the Judeo-Christian Tradition Has Shaped the West.”
6 Matthew Parris, “As an Atheist, I Truly Believe Africa Needs God,” Times Online, December 27, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece (accessed June 8, 2010).
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Article adopted from Karious Journal
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Global Compassion in Africa The Apostle John commanded believers to “love one another, for love is from God” (1 John 4:7). Indeed, while non-Christians can and do exhibit kindness, the only source of pure, selfless compassion is to experience the saving love of God in Jesus Christ. And this truth is particularly evident on the continent of Africa, where ordinary believers are combating poverty, AIDS, and spiritual darkness with Christian compassion. Examples abound. Stephens Centre. Nigeria’s Stephens Centre, a ministry of Voice of Christian Martyrs, offers free vocational training to family members of Christians who were killed because of their faith. For example, Talatu Mathias’s husband died during a riot in Kano, Nigeria, in 2004, leaving her with six children. So the Stephens Centre provided schooling for the children and sewing classes for Talatu. Similarly, Matina Bitrus’s husband, a prominent police officer and church member, was burned to ashes during a riot in 2000. While she learned to sew at the Stephens Centre, her two children attended its school. The center’s ministry to these and numerous other grieving families is based on the call to Christian compassion in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”1 Living Hope Community Center. In Cape Town, South Africa, the 300-member Fish Hoek Baptist Church started an AIDS ministry called the Living Hope Community Center. Such a ministry may be unconventional for a local church, but so is the fact that 17% of the people in the church’s community were HIV positive. Led by Pastor John Thomas, the ministry “offers counseling, testing, treatment, and palliative care to thousands of AIDS sufferers in the Western Cape region.” 2 Thanks in part to the center’s efforts, the town’s homeless population, which started at 70 or 80, has decreased to 11 or 12, according to Thomas. Reflecting the source of their compassion, ministry workers pray for patients—even Muslim patients—in Jesus’ name. Not surprisingly, Living Hope takes its name from the eternal hope found in Christ.3 Chikumbuso Community Center. After American Christian Linda Wilkinson visited a widow who was struggling to raise five children in Ng’ombe, in the southern region of Congo, she wanted to do something to help. So with the financial support of generous friends based in Atlanta, Wilkinson started Chikumbuso Community Center (CCC), where dozens of single mothers, grandmothers, and widows gather for Bible study, fellowship, and a crocheting business that makes colorful pocketbooks using recycled plastic grocery bags. Profits from the business go to support the women and provide loans to other needy Africans. Additionally, every woman associated with CCC receives a $15 medical card to cover healthcare expenses. Since its inception, the program has also grown to include a church-based school for 300 children. All this and more is based on a mission statement rooted in the gospel: “To remember what God has done for us and to remember to do the same for others.”4 Of course, despite the many examples of Christian compassion in Africa, some counter that Islamic and secular charities have done just as much good on the continent. Yet such arguments ignore at least two key facts. First, Islamic charities often reserve their compassion for Muslims alone or those willing to convert, while Christian charities serve all, regardless of religion. And second, before the advent of Christ, the world had never seen such a selfless model of compassion nor heard such radical teaching on the subject. Truly, Christianity revolutionized compassion.5 Perhaps that is why atheist Matthew Parris remarked, “I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do.”6
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