Compassion By Design

It doesn’t take much to find a trend of cruelty on the planet.  In the the news, and the courts even our own neighborhoods and families we find there is something mean on the streets.  So that is a given– something working its way through our planet has more than a mean streak– you might even call it evil.  My question is, is there another plan at work?  A “design for compassion” that is working in the opposite direction of destruction?  It seems the ultimate irony that people would believe that evolution, survival of the fitest, or as I call it a Design for Cruelty, could be considered the primary driver in the the development of living things that we see around us today.  

While the cruelty is a work, is there another force working to restore people and neighborhoods and families?  Is there a redemptive design on the planet?

I’ve seen it.  I found that force at work in my own life as community members in the YMCA reached out to me as a lost young man with a disintegrating family and built a sense of faith and courage.   I found a bit more of that design as I participated in Youth for Christ and was trained in a local church to be a person of faith.  I’ve seen it tens of thousands of times since, while visiting with church outreach and faith based organizations across the country as they feed people, work with the addicted, help rebuild a home.

its hardwired into humans– we do know injustice when we see it, we feel pain when others are injured or mistreated.   It moves our international charity programs where millions of American’s give regularly to feed, cloth or otherwise help those beyond our borders.  Its the reason that people volunteer, donate their time and comfort wounded children.  There is some kind of internal design for compassion.

 It spawns courage among civil servants and community leaders who want to make things better.  It takes young people to college to nurture young minds as a reader.  It shapes the vision of the architect as he creates new neighborhoods.  It warms the heart of a young mother who becomes the cookie source for a neighborhood of kids.  Its a design that goes deeper than the cruelty, and lives in the purpose, passion and servanthood of those around us.

Compassion by Design is dedicated to helping unearth that creative design in every community, through a sometimes marginalized sector– local churches and faith based organizations.  It is our belief that these communities of faith, can help us all to find that design for good in our lives, and that this effort begins with equipping those churches and faith based organizations for excellence in service.

No matter the state of your life, your community, your circle– there is a design that starts with compassion and ends in purpose.  You can find it, you can live it and it changes things. 

I welcome your response.

Does it matter?  Faith Based has become the vocabulary for describing the intersection between social service providers tied to the faith community and government interests and resources for the same. Since our social fabric depends on charitable providers to fill the gaps where public services fall short, and the gaps are plentiful, it really does matter what happens in this discussion.  

Some new parts of the discussion are beginning to emerge, but it in order to understand this discussion you have to discern what is politics, what’s likely to last and how it might impact those who are just interested in reaching hurting people–we have to pay attention. The direction that this set of policies and opportunities will head is now taking shape, and while new program initiatives are not yet clear, the time for preparing our community based organizations for the next set of realities has begun.  

Many elements of the charitable world are anything but a-political. While they cannot overtly engage in politics without risking their non-profit status, they find ways to engage none the less.  For those who are a bit more naive about politics and charity, it means that we have to understand the forces that now shape the future, and prepare our ship to sail through what lies ahead.   To ignore the winds that are already blowing is akin to the master of a sailing ship planning to waste time, lose speed and fight the wind rather than allow it to speed the vessel on.   No sailor wants to allow the sails to luff (flap in the wind), but will trim his course and sails to take best advantage of the force of the wind.  

While we call ourselves by many different titles, community based, community development, outreach, we will be affected by the policies, resources and partnerships that are now being formed related to faith based.  As they continue to develop we will have to review our course and make adjustments to keep us moving forward.

Both camps are making lots of pronouncements about their plans for faith based.  I believe it boils down to a single issue– religious hiring rights.  If you want to know who will help us keep our religious freedom when serving with public resources, this is the primary issue. 

Many other issues have been settled by law or by court decision, but this one remains a great risk for those who accept federal funds. Some funds exempt us from having to hire outside our religious beliefs, others do not– but it is a deal breaker for most of us, if we are forced to hire those with lifestyles that are antithetical to our faith.

You can learn more about this at the center for public justice.  www.cpjustice.org.  You can also get grant help (including knowing which funds to accept or to reject), but checking out grant services at www.compassionbydesign.org.  And even funds that don’t come to you directly from the federal government can carry these risks or protections.