Mercy Ministry in the Church
The Church extends the Hospitality of God into a Dying World
Before I launch into this new topic, I want to quickly direct your attention to a conversation of the Deprived Justice Podcast which I moderated on Wednesday night this week. You can find a link here on Rumble as well as here on X. Vincent Gircys and Donald Best are both retired police officers. They have invited me to participate in a couple of their shows where they talk about matters of the Christian faith. You can find the first one here. My prayer is that through online content like this, that the Spirit would lead those who are seeking for truth in our nation to Jesus Christ, and that Christ would raise up the light of the church in this nation again, especially as I labour as a slave of Christ here in Grande Prairie AB.
This has a lot to do with my topic of writing for today…
There are many facets to the labours of the church in this world, the center of which is the proclamation of the Lordship of King Jesus, the Son of God and man, the heavenly priest-king and prophet, who laid down His life for rebels, and took it up again for their salvation and then leads many captives to serve Him in the day of His power.
The Apostles took on the labour of the ministry of the Word & prayer (Acts 6:4). This was in obedience to the command of our Lord in Matthew 28:16-20 and Mark 16 to preach the gospel in all creation. Timothy was called to preach the Word (II Tim. 4:2). An elder in the church is called to be able to teach (I Tim. 3:2). This is important, central, as the Apostles themselves made it clear that they must not give up this ministry of the gospel proclamation in order to serve tables (Acts 6:2). While pastors might do administrative work in the church from time to time (they should be the model of Christ-like service), that must not take over their central task to preach and teach the gospel.
Nevertheless, all these true things do not take away from the central role of the church & Christians in mercy ministry. It may be that on a future date, I get into an exposition of Acts 6. For now, I want to emphasize the important task, especially of the diaconate, but also of the entire church in this work of service. The reason why we have drifted from our understanding of the importance of the church in mercy ministry is multi-faceted - statism (the state increasingly taking over every aspect of social organization), the fracturing of the unity of the church, laziness, and a wrong-headed theological understanding of the relationship between the gospel and the fruit of mercy.
What does the Bible teach us about mercy or showing mercy?
The mercy that we show to men & women is grounded in the central proclamation of the gospel, that I mention above. We extend the mercy that God shows to us in a dying and decaying world. He who is loved greatly, also loves greatly (Lk 7:47). If you separate mercy ministry from the mercy of God in Christ, that mercy ministry will whither on the branch, as it has done in much of the “social gospel” oriented ministry of the last 100 years.
Mercy ministry is grounded in a recognition of the imago dei (image of God) and love for our neighbor. It is not a denial of the necessity of repentance to show mercy to our neighbor, but it is a reflection of the kindness and forebearance and patience of God, expecting that the display of His kindness through the Church as the Body of Christ on earth will lead men and women everywhere to repentance (Rom. 2:4).
We find this in Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” We can also find similar exhortations such as in Hosea 6:6.
We find a word from the Lord in Isaiah 58:6–8: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.” This is just one aspect of what it means to walk in obedience.
One of the causes for the Apostles to distinguish that their ministry is the ministry of the Word and prayer is that there was a crisis that arose in the early church over the neglecting of the Greek widows in the daily distribution in Jerusalem. For this, they appoint deacons in the church, to make sure that the needs of the widows are cared for. This does not mean that the work of deacons is limited to this work of service, but it also does not exclude this work of service.
Of course, the Westminster Confession of Faith 16.2 or the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 32, but speak of good works being the fruit of faith. Good works always accompany true and living faith in Christ, because faith without works is a dead faith (James 2:17-26). Acts of mercy (Micah 6:8) and generosity (II Cor. 9:6-8) are Biblical commands and included among good works.
Should we Look to the State to Enforce Acts of Mercy?
One of the reasons that the Christians have become so lazy about acts of mercy in Canada in 2025, is that we expect the civil state and bureaucratic state organizations to do that for us. I was at a townhall meeting with the premier here in Grande Prairie the other night and there were a lot of questions that assumed a responsibility to the state that is not found for the state in Scripture. The state is not given the ministry of mercy, but the ministry of justice (Romans 13:1-7). In Canada, we are a society that has abandoned responsibility, and hands all the responsibilities of a well-ordered society over to the civil state. This is an impossible task.
No wonder then, that tyrants lord it over us.
That is not the task of the state. Rather, it is the task of families (I Tim. 5:8), individual/church generosity (II Cor. 9) and church diaconal care (Acts 6).
The state will enforce generosity with the barrel of a gun, if you don’t pay your taxes. On the other hand, Christian generosity is rich, full and overflowing and comes from the heart. It is done fundamentally as an act of love for Christ and not fear of state retribution.
Re-thinking mercy ministry as a society
One of my ideas for the future is that when presbyteries (or classes for my continental Reformed brothers) meet together, there should be a separate meeting of 1 or 2 diaconal delegates from every church meeting on the sideline. While the elders and pastors meet to discuss the discipline and doctrine of the churches, these deacons would meet to discuss how churches individually and in tandem can meet the financial needs of the churches as well as launch mercy ministries in our communities.
In the last couple hundred years, given the laziness & lethargy of churches, many of these ministries have been given over not only to the state, but also to parachurch ministries that are not under the oversight of lawful church authorities. But what if when a member of a local church had a passion for a certain form of mercy (ie a pregnancy care center or a woman’s shelter or a children’s ministry), even if it was independent from the church, the deacons of the church, were still to check in and give it oversight?
Our main focus should be gospel preaching/teaching, planting new churches, reforming old ones, etc. But we must not deny that mercy ministry is a facet of the work of the church. This is something that the pastors of the church must also teach on and provide a Biblical framework for.
Even before we consider these things on a broadly organizational level, there is much that can be done as the elders and the deacons of the church work in lockstep. Elders do much counselling and Biblical teaching. But there are many widow type women in our society whose husbands have abandoned them and need aid from the church here and there, especially as they come under the shelter of the church. There are many orphans in our society, who although they may have homes, they do not have fathers. How can the church play a greater role in the lives of the divorced and children who are caught up in the foster care system as well as public schools?
While not every member may be able to be involved in the same way at the same time (ie. young families have certain limitations that singles do not have to the same degree), God does place it on the heart of specific members to show the love of Christ to the lost. So we should be praying as Christians that He will do so in our communities. We should also support Christians who take leadership in these areas.
The Future
In order to tackle these challenges, local churches will have to be praying and seeking the Lord’s guidance in how to apply Biblical principles in the present. We can’t do everything, but as we preach & teach and churches grow in the grace of the Lord, mercy must flow out of our sanctuaries into a broken world.
I see it happening here in Grande Prairie. Even when we are not looking for it, opportunities to show mercy (and above all, teach the gospel in the midst of it) come our way. As a church, local and broader, we need to shore up our theology of mercy, seek the guidance of the Spirit, and then go out and do it. This is also something that churches can labor in together as we pool resources and as we pursue the greater visible unity of the church.