In this episode, Rev. Chris Cashen, pastor of Trinity Reformed OPC in Lanham, MD talks with Rev. Adrian Crum, Associate Pastor of Youth and Evangelism at Harvest OPC in Wyoming, Michigan. Chris and Adrian discuss in broad brush fashion the scriptural basis and the theological maze of ministering to all, but especially to those outside of the church while taking a deeper look into Adrian's February 2024 New Horizon's article, "Let Us Do Good to Everyone."
A common objection to mercy ministry can be that a person is of an ill temper or ungrateful spirit. Jonathan Edwards responds by reminding us that Christ loved us, was kind to us and was willing to relieve us, though we were very evil and hateful, of an evil disposition not deserving of any good. So we should be willing to be kind to those who are of an ill disposition and are very undeserving. That should be the spirit behind our compassion, that we should again be able to place ourselves in the position of those who are lost, who are needy, and realize God has been gracious and merciful toward us, and we should then extend benevolence with wise, practical and prudential considerations, but we should practice love and care for the lost in that way. You may get bitten, like a shepherd might by his own sheep, but we need reminders of steadfast, steady faithfulness to love people who don't always say thanks.
You can find all of our episodes at thereformeddeacon.org. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast player, so you don't miss an episode. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for giveaways and more information. Find other resources on OPCCDM.org. Make sure to send us some feedback on your podcast player or ask a diaconal question by going to OPCCDM.org.
In this episode, Rev. Chris Cashen, pastor of Trinity Reformed OPC in Lanham, MD talks with Rev. Adrian Crum, Associate Pastor of Youth and Evangelism at Harvest OPC in Wyoming, Michigan. Chris and Adrian discuss in broad brush fashion the scriptural basis and the theological maze of ministering to all, but especially to those outside of the church while taking a deeper look into Adrian's February 2024 New Horizon's article, "Let Us Do Good to Everyone."
A common objection to mercy ministry can be that a person is of an ill temper or ungrateful spirit. Jonathan Edwards responds by reminding us that Christ loved us, was kind to us and was willing to relieve us, though we were very evil and hateful, of an evil disposition not deserving of any good. So we should be willing to be kind to those who are of an ill disposition and are very undeserving. That should be the spirit behind our compassion, that we should again be able to place ourselves in the position of those who are lost, who are needy, and realize God has been gracious and merciful toward us, and we should then extend benevolence with wise, practical and prudential considerations, but we should practice love and care for the lost in that way. You may get bitten, like a shepherd might by his own sheep, but we need reminders of steadfast, steady faithfulness to love people who don't always say thanks.
You can find all of our episodes at thereformeddeacon.org. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast player, so you don't miss an episode. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for giveaways and more information. Find other resources on OPCCDM.org. Make sure to send us some feedback on your podcast player or ask a diaconal question by going to OPCCDM.org.
Adrian Crum:
Unless you can imagine and put yourself in the shoes of someone who is in need, it's very difficult to have compassion or mercy toward others.
David Nakhla:
Welcome to the Reformed Deacon, a casual conversation with topics specifically designed to help local Reformed Deacons. There are nearly a thousand deacons in the OPC alone, so let's take this opportunity to learn from and encourage one another. We're so glad you could join us. Let's jump into our next episode.
Chris Cashen:
Welcome to another episode of the Reformed Deacon Podcast. My name is Chris Cashin and I serve as pastor of Trinity Reformed OPC in Lanham, maryland, and I also serve on the OPC's Committee on Diaconal Ministries Maryland. And I also serve on the OPC's Committee on Diaconal Ministries. With me today is Reverend Adrian Crum, an OPC minister who's currently serving as Associate Pastor of Youth and Evangelism at Harvest OPC in Wyoming, michigan. He is married to Rachel and they have four daughters, all under the age of 11. Adrian grew up on a mission field in Tijuana, mexico, where his father, reverend Dave Crum, served as an evangelist for the OPC. He's a bike rider and a guitar player, but his passion is sharing the gospel with strangers. On top of all of this, in his free time, adrian serves on the Committee on Diaconal Ministries and recently authored an article focused on mercy ministry for the February issue of New Horizons, and that's why we've asked Reverend Crum to come to the podcast. Welcome, adrian. Thank you for taking the time to be with us today on this podcast.
Adrian Crum:
Thanks, chris, it's great to be with you.
Chris Cashen:
Well, today Adrian and I will be discussing really in broad brush fashion the scriptural basis for mercy ministry to those outside of the Church.
Chris Cashen:
Really, mercy ministry to all, but there will be a particular focus on those outside of the church. From time to time on this podcast we want to take an in-depth look at the Bible passages and theological topics which tend to strengthen a deacon's understanding of his purpose for office. In other words, we plan to invite some of our guests to open up scriptural and doctrinal topics which have a particular application for the work of the Reformed deacon. As Pastor Crum has published an article on this topic, we thought it would be wonderful to get him here and to help guide us through some of the theological maze of ministering to those in need who may not know Christ savingly. And, as I mentioned already, pastor Crum has authored an article which appeared in the February 2024 issue of the New Horizons and hopefully we're going to post a link to that in the notes to this podcast so you can get to it very quickly. The article is entitled Let Us Do Good to Everyone. Pastor Crum, would you give us just a short overview of the article and your reason for writing it?
Adrian Crum:
Sure, yeah, thanks, chris. So I begin the introduction section just speaking about the reality that oftentimes ministering to people that are in hard financial or other kinds of circumstances can be discouraging and you can feel used or betrayed at times. So I wanted to kind of draw the people in. Generally I'm making the argument near the end of the introduction there that all Christians, and deacons especially, are called to show benevolent mercy to the lost, and I think some people may read this and think I don't even know that anyone can test this. But I think I've been around enough churches in the OPC. I was raised, as you said, as a missionary kid with the OPC and then in the Southern California Presbytery and Northern California Presbytery, been around enough OPC churches that I sensed kind of functionally did not have much of a ministry to those who are outside, either evangelistically or through mercy ministry, and so I wanted to lay out this case that the Lord does call us as Christians and as deacons particularly to care for those who are outside. So I'll walk through some of those biblical things that I say. I can't reference all of the passages but I'll explain that In the book of Deuteronomy, the old covenant, god calls the people of Israel to set aside a tithe.
Adrian Crum:
I thought that was remarkable as I reread it today Deuteronomy 14, 28. One-tenth of all of their produce was to be set aside there to enjoy it themselves. It's a different kind of tithe than what we think of when we think of an offering and a worship service in the new covenant, but they're called to set it aside and to care for in that way, levites orphans, widows and then, very specifically, sojourners, people who were either travelers or those who are from outside of God's people. In Leviticus 19, 9 to 10, god calls farmers not to gather every single part of their crops the gleanings would be the edges of their farmland but to set those things aside for the person who was a foreigner. And the argument it's clarified in Deuteronomy 24, verses 14 to 18.
Adrian Crum:
What you're supposed to sense as an Israelite is that you were a sojourner, you were a stranger, you were a person who was a slave. That's the argument behind why we should care for those who are strangers, and that's kind of my argument throughout this article, that unless you can imagine and put yourself in the shoes of someone who is in need, it's very difficult to have compassion or mercy toward others. And so my hope, my desire and I'm really preaching to myself in this would be that I would see those who are outside Christ's church through the lens of my own need and my own need for mercy and grace and compassion. So Israelites were supposed to see those who were in need of the poor and those who were sojourners and see themselves really in the needy. So I give an example Boaz cares for Ruth and she's very astounded by this. Ruth is a Moabitess, so she is from outside of God's people, and she falls down before Boaz and says why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? But I make the case there that Boaz is not really doing anything extravagant, he's just practicing God's benevolence toward those outside of his people.
Adrian Crum:
But you might say well, that's the Old Testament, that's the old covenant. Do those principles apply to the new covenant church? And we see, as you move into the New Testament we'll discuss together some of the sections in Jesus's teaching, but I will look at the epistles. Galatians 6, 10 says as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to the household of God. And then Hebrews 13 says that we should love the brothers in verse 1, but then, right after that, verse 2, show hospitality to strangers. And so there's this pattern back and forth of definitely a priority of benevolence toward God's church, god's people, god's household. We would not want to, in this podcast episode, make the argument that we should so focus on the outsiders or people outside of God's church that we neglect the household of God, the priorities on the household of God. But we're not supposed to forget those who are outside and we're supposed to care for the strangers.
Adrian Crum:
And then I just address some common objections. Oftentimes we may think what if you prioritize mercy ministry so much that you don't focus on the Word? And I saw as a missionary kid the ability to do both well to reach the lost with the gospel, to have nominal Catholics and those who are totally unchurched come into our churches and the elders and deacons work together very well to both care for the soul and the body of people who are coming in. Another common objection might be what if deed ministry to the lost exhausts all benevolent resources for God's people? And I think that's sort of a fear-based response. And I just in my experience I've been a pastor for seven years and a missionary kid before that I've never seen that happen, where we give so extensively out of the benevolence that we exhaust it. So that's sort of an argument from my experience.
Adrian Crum:
But the main thrust of the article, just to sum it up, is something that I found in Jonathan Edwards and he said in a section called Christian charity, or the duty of charity to the poor, explained and enforced. A common objection can be I don't want to help this person because he is of an ill temper or ungrateful spirit. And Edwards responds Christ loved us, was kind to us and was willing to relieve us, though we were very evil and hateful, of an evil disposition not deserving of any good. So we should be willing to be kind to those who are of an ill disposition and are very undeserving, and I think that's the spirit behind our compassion, that we should again be able to place ourselves in the position of those who are lost, who are needy, and realize God has been gracious and merciful toward us, and we should then extend benevolence with wise, practical and prudential considerations, but we should practice love and care for the lost in that way.
Chris Cashen:
That's very helpful and that was a broad brush walk through scripture and you've given us so many bases upon which to premise this kind of ministry to those who are in need. Thank you, I was curious. Your article did not touch upon the Good Samaritan and I thought what we might do is take a look, read through that passage in Luke and see what else we can draw out, what else you can draw out from that particular passage that really applies to your article, your take on this and just walk through that a bit. Would that be all right if we did that?
Adrian Crum:
That'd be great. Reading from Scripture is always good.
Chris Cashen:
Okay, all right, I'm glad we agree. I'm going to read from Luke, chapter 10. This is the English Standard Version. And behold, the lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him what is written in the law? How do you read it? He answered you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your might and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him you have answered correctly, do this and you will live. And he said to him you have answered correctly, do this and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus and who is my neighbor?
Chris Cashen:
Jesus replied a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So, likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him, and the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying Take care of him and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Amen, adrian, would you just pray for us? Yeah, let's pray.
Adrian Crum:
Thank you, father, for your word. Pray for us. Yeah, let's pray. Thank you, father, for your word. Thank you, lord, that you have been kind to the ungrateful and the evil, as Jesus says in another section of the Sermon on the Mount, pouring out your goodness and your general benevolence, lord, and we pray that our hearts would have a similar kind of disposition even as we walk through this passage and continue this podcast conversation. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Chris Cashen:
Amen, thank you. Well, the Good Samaritan was on his way somewhere, obviously as a parable, and we don't have all the facts and we need to keep it as a parable. But as we speculate a little bit, possibly he was headed to conduct some sort of business to trade or engage in some sort of business to trade or engage in some commerce of kind. They might have had plans to meet somebody. What if a person he was supposed to meet became indignant at his delay? How would he explain his actions, especially if the person he was to meet was a Samaritan? And I think the idea here is this was a Jew that had fallen into the hands of robbers.
Chris Cashen:
We can only wonder, but we can do more than wonder as we consider how a deacon maybe a deacon in your church might scripturally answer a member of his own congregation when he receives a complaint that a non-Christian stranger was served by the diaconate. And as this member voices his complaint to your deacon your deacon in trouble. Now he mentions the fact that the priest and the Levite rightly refused to help the one who was half dead, as they didn't know him. By the way, this member who's asking or complaining had previously asked for financial help from the deaconate on two occasions was given help on the first, but denied on the second. How do you now counsel your deacon who has fallen into this situation?
Adrian Crum:
Yeah, I think one of the reasons that the description of the first deacons in Acts 7 are those who are filled with wisdom and with the Spirit is all of these questions about diaconal work are filled with lots of nuance about diaconal work are filled with lots of nuance and I don't think there are necessarily always Bible passages that we can directly one-to-one apply to every situation. There's a sense in which we need to be very discerning and wise and just learn through experience. Some of the best training that can happen is spending time with deacons who have done this for a long time. But I think the heart or the spirit behind that is a sense that the member deserves something. I put in a request with the church and I should have priority over the stranger.
Adrian Crum:
I remember hearing an anecdote of someone saying I've been paying into the benevolence for a long time, I want to draw from it and I had to explain that it's not like an insurance policy or something where you put in a claim and draw from the benevolence. God calls us graciously and compassionately to give into the diaconal fund and then the deacons are the ones who have the wisdom, the discretion to discern when and how to disperse that. So I don't want to make the case again in my article. This is sort of a very simple or obvious thing to do. There's going to be lots of questions that need to be asked, but I think church members need to see again God's love and his mercy and his compassion, definitely towards his own people, but also that one of the ways that he finds the lost is he cares for them, both through word and also through mercy.
Chris Cashen:
That's excellent insight and I really think that's the right way to head. And this member that has complained is not realizing certainly the blessings that the church has as it serves those outside of the community, but also this idea that I have a right to those funds and I should get them first. Excellent, well, again in the Good Samaritan parable we never hear from the one who was beaten and half dead. He remains silent throughout the parable. The parable really, in a sense, isn't about him but about Christ. So the Samaritan never receives a thank you. There's no appreciation expressed within the parable itself.
Chris Cashen:
We know that receiving the thank you wasn't, again the point of the parable, as Christ serves selflessly, with absolutely no thanks from those who we read of in the New Testament. But we know at times that those who receive our ministry of mercy never respond in the way that we desire them to respond. Again, your deacon, who just came back from speaking to that member sharing the counsel that you had already given, comes back again, and now he has experienced this action and this complaint. He's now reluctant to serve and to minister to strangers because he's not quite sure he's going to receive what he wants to get from them in terms of their gratitude. Again, how do we guard ourselves against falling into that kind of cynicism or that kind of attitude if we've been engaged in the ministry and haven't gotten out of it what we expected?
Adrian Crum:
Yeah, that's helpful. I think I guess I would say a few things. One of the reasons I'm serving on the Committee for Diaconal Ministries of our denomination is I just really appreciate our deacons. I'm very grateful for the men who serve. I've heard them say I've been in two calls, one in Northern California Sacramento area and now in the greater Grand Rapids area.
Adrian Crum:
I've heard deacons say at times I'm just a deacon and I always want to say no, there's absolute dignity and God has set apart men for this office. It's a very, very beneficial and necessary and glorious office to be a deacon. So I think encouraging and not being too critical of deacons is very helpful, just as a principle in general. But I think sometimes we do serve as any office. As pastor I can do this. You know I preach a sermon and I want to get a lot of thank yous and a lot of feedback and encouragement.
Adrian Crum:
We serve as if the Lord or God's people you know, owe us constant thanks and that's just not the case.
Adrian Crum:
I think we need reminders of steadfast, steady faithfulness and loving people who don't always say thanks.
Adrian Crum:
One of my professors always used to say that sheep in the congregation will sometimes bite you as the sheep bite their shepherd.
Adrian Crum:
I think deacons will be bit also by those who they're trying to be merciful toward, and I think I quoted a pastor who died in the last couple of years, timothy Keller, and he says we all want to help kindhearted, upright people whose poverty came on them without any contribution from them and who will respond to our aid with gratitude and joy. And then he finishes frankly, almost no one like that exists. Exists, and I think to some degree, if we're waiting for the perfect response from someone outside Christ Church or poor people inside of this church in order to reach out and serve, we probably won't help people at all, because almost everyone contributes to their need in some way at least, and we certainly don't want to encourage idleness or laziness or other things like that. The scriptures speak about that too but we all contribute to our brokenness and our need in some way, and we don't give thanks like we should, and I think taking that into account is necessary.
Chris Cashen:
Yeah, I also think it's helpful for the deacon to remember any Christian to remember that they're really serving Christ. They're really serving Christ. That that is. That's the one that their focus should be on. Their heart should be set upon it's Christ. And once we do that, then there's a sense in which, regardless of the response that comes from those we serve, there's always a joy because we're serving Christ. So just another thought there, and he says that explicitly right In Matthew 25,.
Adrian Crum:
When did we care for you? When you were a stranger or poor or naked? And he says whatever you did to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did to me.
Chris Cashen:
So I think that's yeah essential to remember by loving God's people we're loving christ. So thank you, thank you. Well, the good samaritan, apparently a busy fellow, had things to do but did stop, whereas the priest and the levite refused to. And so, once he found lodging for the stranger he was helping, he engages an innkeeper very interesting to continue the care that he had started, apparently unable to continue staying with the man, and asked for help from another. As deacons take on the case of mercy, especially to those outside of the church who are most often in dire need of housing or medical care, food addiction, what about seeking help from others?
Adrian Crum:
Yeah, this is a very big question and I think I'll just address the things that I can today and then maybe we could come back to this in another Reformed Deacon podcast. I think it's very helpful to remember that we don't serve as isolated Christians or even isolated churches, but we belong to other churches, we have a fellowship with other. We're Presbyterian in the sense of being regional and I'm so grateful as I get to know this committee. We're very intentional about serving Presbyteries committees of deacons and, lord willing, those committees get to know their local churches and the needs in the local churches and so if a local church cannot care for its own congregants or those outside, they can appeal to their Presbyteries committee and get wisdom, advice, counsel and hopefully also some funds from their committee. And we see that in Scripture Paul was very intent on caring for churches that he had served. So in Romans we see in chapter 15 that he's carrying a gift for those in one congregation who were served by another congregation. We see that in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, the encouragement to generosity and really everything we have about giving in the church is not local. Interestingly, it's regional. The encouragement at the end of Corinthians 16 to set aside a gift on the first day of the week. That's about a regional visit from Paul. So there's this interconnectedness assumed in Paul's letters, where we belong to each other and we care for each other.
Adrian Crum:
In terms of the question of receiving help from people outside the church, so you could ask, you know, is it appropriate for Christians to have government aid or to seek help for those who are addicted? I often have to answer, you know, is it appropriate for Christians to belong to Alcoholics Anonymous? I think my case would be. I don't think that the government is required in scripture to offer these kinds of goods and services that our government in the United States offers. I don't think there's a biblical case that says they must do that. But the fact that they do and that they require us as taxpayers to participate makes it so that I think it's prudential and wise to benefit from those services, even though the scriptures don't require them. And I know that there are ministers who would argue against benefiting from social security and things like that. But I think the fact we've been required to pay in and pay into different government services makes it okay to draw from those things, and I know Christians disagree about that.
Adrian Crum:
On the question of Alcoholics, anonymous and things like that. I think you have to be careful with the view of human nature and fallenness and sin in ministries like that. So you in AA, my one concern as a pastor is that you have to say the rest of your life. I am an alcoholic, that's my identity and I think, because we've been united to a Savior that's died and resurrected, we don't have to identify as our sin anymore. We are united to a perfect Savior, we've died to our sin, we live to righteousness. But I do think there's a lot of wisdom and I think some of those ministries just have dealt with addiction for many, many years and they've been patient and worked through those kinds of things and so I think, benefiting to whatever degree we can, but being biblically wise about some of the assumptions that they make about human nature, about fallenness, they don't assume the gospel and redemption, and so I think we have to, as pastors and deacons, help our congregants think through some of those things.
Chris Cashen:
That's helpful. It gets to be a sticky question. I know there are strong feelings on both sides, but I think your answer was balanced and helpful to our deacons. Well, let me just take a broad brush approach now in thinking about serving those outside the church, serving strangers, refugees possibly. Many times these interactions come in the form of walk-ins. People come to the church because they know it's a place where they might find help and just open the door and walk in, and so that puts a deacon, more times than not, in a responsive or a reactionary mode, having to react to an immediate circumstance and try to respond biblically wisely and certainly quickly. I'm wondering if there's another way not to lock the door but, going a little bit beyond the scope of your article, maybe Might deacons be thinking about ways to reach out to the local communities to purposefully and intentionally find those who are outside the church in need of mercy.
Adrian Crum:
It's a great question yeah, first of all, just on the heart, about not just locking the door to shut-ins. I sit in an office throughout the day and I'll just be very honest about myself when someone knocks on the door and wants to take my time and step in without an appointment and things like that, those disruptions I always have to work through the oh man, I had not planned for this use of time and so I think we should just realize that's human nature is that we often need to prepare ourselves to be servant-hearted for others, to give our time, to be humble about that and not think of ourselves more highly than we should. But on your question about rather being reactive, being proactive, I read a really interesting book I think it was used to train CRC deacons a long time ago called the Deacons Handbook to prepare for this article. I don't know how to pronounce their names, but Gerard Berghoff and Lester DeCoster, let's say, have these concentric circles of need. I thought was very helpful in thinking about prioritization.
Adrian Crum:
They say first, deacons should be focused on training and getting to know their own congregation. So what are the talents, abilities, resources within our church and not think actually primarily that their job is just to pay out the needs of their own congregation but to train people in the church to serve one another. We have a fellowship in one another's gifts and deacons can be those who facilitate that kind of training and service. I'll give you a really practical example. I have kids that need sort of a man in their life in my youth group. They're struggling in different ways and one of the things that I've been talking to deacons about is a mentorship program where dads in the congregation who have ability to change the oil on cars or build things can spend some time with these young guys, training them, spending time with them. And I think that's an example Deacons knowing the congregation, what are the needs, and then connecting people who have abilities with people who have needs.
Adrian Crum:
Second, they say, is giving to the needy in God's household. So there is that sense of dispersing from the benevolence fund. Third is delegating congregational mercy ministry. There's important principles there from 1 Timothy 5,. But then fourth is serving the neighborhood, and they talk about researching all the needs in your neighborhood. What are the food pantries? What are the English as second language resources in your neighborhood? What is already there that people are taking advantage of?
Adrian Crum:
And I think that's very wise to work together with groups outside the church. Obviously, we aren't a social organization. As the church, we have to have a clear sense of our mission, but I think we can benefit from knowing the needs outside of our congregation and then taking a step toward people again in need, rather than always being disrupted or feeling discouraged by being interrupted by needs in our community. The question of walk-ins is always difficult and I really appreciated the podcast that we've done here on the Reformed Deacon January 1st 2023. And it's speaking to three different deacons John Voss, chris Sudlow and Doug Voss and I think this would be an excellent resource for our deacons. It's always difficult to wisely respond in the moment. I think being known as a congregation that's compassionate and moving towards those right around us who are in need certainly we don't give foolishly to everybody with no restriction, but I think being the kind of people who are focused on being interested and being compassionate toward others is important.
Chris Cashen:
Very good. Yes, we are the light of Christ and shining that forth is part of the work of the Church. Well, adrian, just thinking very broadly about your article and certainly thank you for it and for the Scripture reference within it how might your article be used generally as a means of encouragement to our deacons?
Adrian Crum:
I think I got a few people. I had a gentleman from OPC Church in Ohio call me and say just wanted to thank you for writing the article. I've kind of creeped into cynicism. He's a truck driver and he says there's people all along the road who I feel will take advantage of me if I help them. And it was just an encouragement to him to not be cynical but again to see himself through the lens of what God has done for him and not give him to cynicism.
Adrian Crum:
I love this quote from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee where Atticus the lawyer says to his daughter you have to get inside the skin of other people and walk around in it in order to understand them a little bit. And I think my hope would just be that deacons read this article and are reminded again that God was merciful toward us when we were unknown to his church, when we were lost Either us or some previous generation maybe parents or grandparents were saved when we were unworthy of God's love and his kindness toward us, worthy of God's love and its kindness toward us. And my hope would be that deacons see that kind of generosity and compassion that God has had toward us and don't allow their hearts to be closed in cynicism toward those who are in need.
Chris Cashen:
Very good. Well, the article has been encouraging to me, brother. Thank you so much for writing it and thank you, pastor Crum, for taking the time to discuss this important aspect of mercy, ministry and diaconal work with us today. Deacons, we hope that this episode was and will be encouraging to you in your labors for the Lord.
David Nakhla:
Thanks for joining us. Go to our website thereformedeaconorg. There you will find all our episodes, program notes and other helpful resources, and please make plans to join us again next month for another episode of the Reform Deacon Podcast.