Connections Six Eight

How It Started:

 

It was in 2012 during the Chick-Fil-A controversy when Arkansas Governor at the time, Mike Huckabee, encouraged an appreciation day for Chick-Fil-A to counteract boycotts sparked by company President Dan Cathy's statement that he and Chick-Fil-A opposed gay marriage. The appreciation day was promoted as the Christian thing to do, to support a company that promotes so-called "biblically-based principles" such as staying closed on Sundays and opposing gay marriage. It wasn't long before social media sites began to publish posts stating, “You’d never see that many Christians lined up to help at a food bank or homeless shelter. And that’s something Jesus actually said to do.”  It was in the midst of all of this that Pastor Rob came up with the idea to promote a Day of Compassion. A day where we do the normal deeds of compassion that are expressions of our faith such as helping the poor, elderly, handicapped, imprisoned, and all of our neighbors in general but instead of doing it quietly as we normally do, make it known. Make it known that all Christians aren't judgmental and hypocritical, but many do practice love, compassion, and hope without judgment. Pastor Rob opposed this outpouring of support for Chick-fil-A , and the assertion that Christians would never line up to serve really bothered him. “That day, what I saw all over Facebook was, ‘There go the Christians judging other people again,’” he said. “It’s always the Christians who are the loudest who get the most attention. And it’s often the ones who I don’t think represent the majority of Christians.”

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Read the news article from the first Day of Compassion in October 2012 in this PDF:

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A National Vision:

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It is the vision of Pastor Rob and Veritas United Church of Christ for Day of Compassion to be practiced by Christians nationally to make a statement that is noticed. Christian churches throughout the year holding their own Day of Compassion making it known in their local media that they are compassionate without judgment, hypocrisy, or hidden agendas. Any churches interested in holding a Day of Compassion at their church can email info@veritashagerstown.com for more information. We ask that you send us some pics and details about your event to grow our Day of Compassion page to include other participating churches.

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Volunteer at your local cold weather shelter. Coordinate a much needed community project. Participate at a Habitat for Humanity Project. Every community is unique in its needs, pick something that will make a difference in your community, be creative. If you have enough participants, do more than one project during the allotted time. Submit a press release. And don't forget to send us an update too.