In many of our churches we need to examine our mission practices through the eyes and heart of Christ.  I have seen both sides of the compassion/conversion spectrum from the “all we need to do is be compassionate and help others” to the “if we do not have a large number of conversions it was a waste of time and money” mindsets.  Many churches battle with how compassion should work into a mission plan.

Compassion according to Wikipedia.com  is “a profound human emotion prompted by the pain of others”.  Throughout scriptures it mandates us to be compassionate to those around us.  It even draws out some specific groups that compassion should be focused on, such as the widows and orphans in the world.  Jesus was the perfect example of compassion through His walk and His talk.  He showed us compassion through the miracles of healing and interaction with those who were outcasts.  He also shared through parables like the Good Samaritan how we are to be compassionate.  Every one of us as individuals and as a church must seek out ways to show compassion in our communities and around the world.

But what about sharing the Gospel and converting people to Christ?  Shouldn’t that be a part of every mission outreach?  The answer is yes and no.  Which answer is correct depends on who you believe is doing the converting.  Many times we believe that we have the ability to convert people to Christ.  That it is our words and actions that are the final factor in that conversion.  That is not what I see in scripture.  God calls people to Himself through Christ, not us!!  We may plant seeds, water and sometimes even see the harvest, but  we should never think it was our feeble words and actions that gave the final results.  He has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing around the world.  So yes, God will handle the conversion and no, sometimes we do not need to go into the plan of salvation because God may be using others or other divine processes for that part.  I have heard of former Muslims who Christ came to them in dreams or visions to show them who He was.  Our words would never have that impact.

Now do not get me wrong, if God places it on your heart to share the Gospel, do it.  Be a part of His process wherever He may want you.  All I am saying is not every mission encounter must include it.

Once we acknowledge that God is the final converter it becomes easier to understand that we need to be a part of His process.  Compassion is part of that process and is not in competition with it.  We do not know the heart of the people we come in contact with on a daily basis in our daily life, and we certainly do not know about the hearts around the world, but God does.  Compassion by a follower of Christ might be the tenderizer that is needed to soften the heart for the seed to take hold.  Sometimes the Lord blesses us by allowing us to share the seed of the Good News and even allows us to be there when someone asks Christ to be their Lord.  Praise God when that happens but do not take credit for it.

So compassion is not versus conversion, it is an active step in God’s plan to allow all to see the glory of Christ’s heart in action.  God’s people need to show compassion as Christ showed it.

We must all be very careful not to fall into the mindset as a church on mission that we had X number of conversions on that trip or during the year.  We should not be announcing numbers of conversions since only God knows the true hearts of those we encounter.  Let’s just praise God for the opportunity to be a part of His process of salvation and leave the number counting to Him.