Access ministry and compassion are intertwined. You can’t have one without the other in the communities where disciple-making is the goal. When we consider Jesus’ ministry on earth, He was healing, feeding, providing, and sharing with the community! Why should our work be any different?
In our strategy of access ministry, we simultaneously consider how to meet a need and bring peace. And often, we find the two connected. For example, clean water is a means of peace in the community. When disease and sickness come from impure water, there is not peace in that community. So we see meeting a practical need as an integral part of bringing compassion to a community.
Carrying out these actions with a genuine and intentional heart is another important distinction. We do not help only for the sake of bringing the Gospel, but instead, our actions are spurred on by genuine care for a community.
