This family of sisters and brothers in Christ provides the larger context within which individuals and families grow stronger, healthier, and more resilient by God's grace. In baptism, Jesus calls us to be His disciples, to assume the humble posture of learner before His Word. The new life bestowed by baptism instills a commitment to lifelong learning and to the continuous reformation of thought, action, and attitude that are its lifelong fruit. Recognition that both the growth and the health of the new life spring from roots deep in the nurturing soil of God's Word leads to an emphasis and insistence on quality learning opportunities for people of all ages. As God cares for us, so we care for each other.
Compassion is the heart deeply moved to action in the best interests of another.
At the same time it must be said that the desired end of ministry is not so much spiritual care as it is spiritual health. Care is a means to a greater end. The civil community will never be identical with the community of God's people. But there are biblical threads connecting the two. God gives His people power not only to be community, but also to create it from the most disparate elements, and along with that power, the vision to pursue the task with hope.