We’re living in a post COVID-19 era, even though we still experience waves of COVID each year, the restrictive responses we had in 2020 are over. The legacy of COVID-19 has been that organisations are asking the question ‘How can we get back to normal?’ We hear it in churches, in charities, in not-for-profits, in the community… but is this the question we should be asking? Perhaps we should be asking ourselves , ‘How is God leading us into doing his work in a different way?’ The word and the movement God is highlighting to us at AFCNA is the call to facilitate ‘COMPASSION’!
In late 2023 two AFCNA Board members went to separate events on developing ‘Compassionate Communities’ and a conference titled ‘Awakening compassion – Igniting the future of health care’. We have noted a revived interest in a global movement called the ‘Compassion Revolution’. The Spiritual Care Association (SCA) which is the host organisation for the Westberg Institute for Faith Community Nursing has noted their common goal of “compassionate, whole-person care of body, mind, and spirit.”!
God is calling his people to reflect who he is to our hurting and troubled world! Our LORD is a compassionate God who embodies the essence of LOVE, and there is real supernatural power in his LOVE! People throughout the world are yearning for compassion, respect, belonging, inner peace, hope, love… So what does this mean for us? God entrusted his followers to move forward his mission to make his kingdom of LOVE come to this EARTH for all to experience. He commands it in Matthew 22:37-40 (NCV) “37 Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and most important command. 39 And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’[b] 40 All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.”
What do we mean by compassion? It may be understood as the provision of support, respect, loving care, empathy, sympathy, kindness, understanding, sharing, to build strength in one another as we journey through life’s valleys and the time of need and suffering that journey incurs. It is less about what we do, and more about how we do it! Compassion is lived out in who we are. It is a core characteristic of the true followers of Jesus, as Colossians 3:12 points out, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” The fact that we can ‘clothe ourselves’ implies that we can learn the art of compassion.
Mary Freer the CEO of Compassion Revolution https://compassionrevolution.care/ says “compassion is muscular” – that means it can be taught, experienced and memorised, so it becomes like ‘muscle memory’ that is inculcated as our default way of working and living. It involves sensitivity to suffering in ourselves and/or in another person, which is accompanied by a commitment to alleviate, remove and/or prevent the suffering. It involves putting our Christian faith into action, to express hope, demonstrate love, and deliver just and right outcomes for the suffering person/s.
Compassion has been demonstrated to reduce hospital stay, improve healing, increase client self-care and compliance with treatment. Clients who receive compassionate care give a better personal history which leads to increased accuracy in diagnosis and consequently better health outcomes. Providing compassionate care increases satisfaction with work roles which can reduce staff turnover. Stanford University School of Medicine have founded The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at https://ccare.stanford.edu/ where you can find many articles that demonstrate having attentive and compassionate health workers produces better health outcomes!
God created humans to give and receive love, and we are commanded to LOVE God, LOVE one another as we LOVE ourselves. God knows everyone needs it. So in 2024 AFCNA is seeking to increase personal compassion within individuals, and organisational compassion within faith communities. We want to raise up and equip more people who in turn can raise up others in their faith communities to facilitate compassionate faith communities.
Reflect and Action: Please take some time to listen to the popular song "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpeTyazaKI]
- 1. The first time you listen to it stop and reflect on “YOU” as the person of Jesus who raising you up. What feeling does it engender within you?
- 2. Listen a second time and consider yourself as the “YOU” raising up another person within your community.
- 3. This “raising up” is compassionate action. Who and how can you make this a reality this week for another person in your sphere of influence?
Sinclair S, Norris JM, McConnell SJ, Chochinov HM, Hack TF, Hagen NA, McClement S, Bouchal SR. Compassion: a scoping review of the healthcare literature. BMC Palliat Care. 2016 Jan 19;15:6. doi: 10.1186/s12904-016-0080-0. PMID: 26786417; PMCID: PMC4717626.
Trzeciak S, Mazzarelli,A 2019, ‘Compassionomics – The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference’, Studer group LLC, Florida USA
Josh Groban lyrics for "You Raise Me Up" available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpeTyazaKI
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