Connecting the "Great Commandment" to the "Great Commission"

Here's an interesting observation from Malcolm Gladwell:

"Ram Cnaan, a professor of social work at the University of Pennsylvania, recently estimated the replacement value of the charitable work done by the average American church--that is, the amount of money it would take to equal the time, money, and resources donated to the community by a typical congregation--and found that it came to about $140,000 a year. In the city of Philadelphia, for example, that works out to an annual total of 250 million dollars worth of community "good"; on a national scale, the contribution of religious groups to the public welfare is, as Cnaan puts it, "staggering." In the past 20 years, as the enthusiasm for publicly supported welfare has waned, churches have quietly and steadily stepped in to fill the gaps."

We're doing our part at Hillcrest to minister to the needs of the community. About 16 cents of every dollar given to Hillcrest goes to missions and ministries beyond our walls, and our people give generously to special offerings for things like tsunami relief and hurricane recovery. Through your generosity, our church is able to provide benevolence gifts to those in financial crisis, we support the Overcomers and Network for Life and Maggie's House--all ministries to ex-offenders. We maintain the Helping Hands closet in a room off our MPC. We send high school upperclassmen to Acuna every Spring Break to build an entire house for a family living in a shack made of pallets. Recently, our staff has been involved in the mentoring program at Hill Elementary and the abstinence program in the health classes at Anderson High. Our young adults have begun to get connected with Austin Habitat for Humanity projects. Two tons of food have been collected for the Captial Area Food Bank in Herb Ingram's "Can Hunger" campaign--which was an effort to get to know our neighbors by enlisting them in serving the Food Bank.

Check out the Missions Page on our website for more information. I'm grateful to our Missions Committee for this new effort at educating our church on missions.

As we fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples, we're also fulfilling the Great Commandment to love our neighbors. A well-known pastor has said, "A Great Commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment will build a Great Church."

Thanks to you, we're on our way!