Reforming Mercy Ministry: A Practical Guide to Loving Your Neighbor

Ted Rivera. Reforming Mercy Ministry: A Practical Guide to Loving Your Neighbor. Downer's Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014. 192 pp. $15.00.

Maybe your church is “big” on mercy ministries: weekly food pantry distributions for dozens of clients, successful winter coat drives for local elementary school kids, well-attended legal clinics, among several other initiatives. Everyone seems excited about those ministries, but something doesn’t feel right. For the most part, all of these ministries are run by paid church staff. Though most church members are happy to give financially to such ministries, they rarely come in touch with the people on the receiving side of their aid.

Or maybe your church doesn’t have anything along the lines of mercy ministry. Some members have complained that the church isn’t doing enough—or anything at all—to care for the needs of people in the surrounding community. Others like not having it, thinking that mercy ministry will set the church on an irreversible road to liberalism. Still more are eager to do something but don’t know where to start.

If your church is in a scenario anything like these, I commend Ted Rivera’s Reforming Mercy Ministry: A Practical Guide to Loving Your Neighbor. It will be a helpful resource for your leaders and members as they seek to biblically think through, or rethink, mercy ministry initiatives. Plus, it’s a brief and easy read. Keep reading