Whatever happened
to our ‘bowels of mercy’!
“But whoso hath this
world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 1 John 3:17 KJV.
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels
of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” Col 3:12 KJV.
Greater part of the year, 2012 has
seen a lot of Christians being attacked, killed, dispossessed and displaced
especially in the Northern Nigeria. The persecutions have not abated as on the 1
st
October, about 30 Christian students were murdered at Federal Polytechnic, Mubi
as reported
here.
A close look at the reports from the
Anglican Diocese of Jos
website
shows the mayhem that has been meted on Christians by irate Muslims who want to
Islamize them by all means. What disturbs my heart is not just that our
brethren are being killed and displaced, but I do not seem to see a
mobilization and concerted efforts from the ‘free’ churches to reach out to
these Christians who are passing through difficult times. It seems as if
Christian leaders behave like every other political leader who will just come
out after every incident and condemn the ‘murderous attack’ and then
‘to your tents O, Israel’, we all go
back to business as usual. We criticize efforts that are solely denominational
both in nature and commitment, that is, efforts that concentrate only within
the denominational boundaries, but even that is rare these days. Our self-centeredness
is very obvious and manifest in our indifference and inaction.
Currently, floods are ravaging several
parts of the country. Homes and properties are destroyed; people are missing and
being displaced; churches and mission fields are closed down. What are the ‘free’
churches doing? What has happened to our bowels of mercies? “How dwelleth the
love of God in (us)”?
I was in a church today and the best
that was done was to pray for those who were affected by the floods to take
heart and be consoled by God. Meanwhile an emphasis was made on people paying
endowment fund which nobody has been able to explain what the purpose is. What is
the endowment fund for? Is it going to be used for investment? Will they draw
money from it to build hospitals or for evangelism and missions? Is it to be
used to build something befitting for the General Overseer or fund accumulated for
him to have easy access for his travels and so on? The questions can go on and
on. However, no matter how noble the idea may be, the issue is that the church
is insensitive to the plight of those suffering the effects of the current
disaster – floods. Some members around where I was seated murmured asking why
they were talking about endowment fund while nothing was being done about those
whose lives have been changed forever. Some are sleeping in open classrooms
while others are under trees.
For most of the victims, life will
never remain the same for good. It reminded me of a brother whose life was changed
forever when one of the markets in the city of Port Harcourt got burnt down
about ten years ago. His church where he was very committed in service could
not help him to stand back on his feet because the pastor was afraid not to set‘precedence’.
I believe that social work can be used
as a means of evangelism. I believe that social concerns can be used by the
church to show the world the heart of a loving God. I believe that social
concerns can open up door ways for the salvation of souls. If these things are
true, why is the church not taking this opportunity? There are many things
churches can do:
1. Set up a
committee who will work out modalities on how your church can be involved
2. Collect offerings
like was done in 1 Cor.16:1-4; Acts 11:29-30 and send to the affected churches.
3. Concerned
families can come together and contribute clothes, medicines and food stuffs
and send to the affected areas.
4. Churches can
send artisans to help in reconstructing some destroyed houses.
5. You can
persuade your organizations to do something as part of cooperate social
responsibility.
There are so many things we can do if we
have God’s kind of heart. When we see the sufferings of our fellow men and look
the other way like the Priest and Levite in Luke 10, or remain indifferent as
most of us are doing today, one can really ask, “What happened to our bowels of
mercies?”
In case you are having problems who to
contact, call 08033160938 (Bishop Angar Nyanabo whose whole Diocese is
submerged and he is squatting somewhere in Yanagoa) or 08036705262 (Rev. Can.
Somiari whose missionary churches are affected in Bayelsa) or any other church
leader you may know. Just do something! God bless you!
