COVID-19, Compassion, and Service

Photo credit: Photo by CDC on Unsplash.

The Council for Health and Human Service Ministries staff sent this message to all CHHSM members. We reprint it here for all CHHSM members and friends. We invite all CHHSM members and friends to send us resources and stories about how your organization is responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

Dear Friends,

We write to offer words of encouragement, appreciation, and hope as you respond to COVID-19, the novel corona virus. We know that many of you are putting in long days, making difficult decisions, and navigating uncharted territory.

We want you to know how much we appreciate the leadership that you are offering at this time. The steadiness of your leadership plays an important role in reducing anxiety in other staff and the people you serve, rather than increasing it. Please do your best to take care of your own physical, emotional, and spiritual health, even though we know this might be very challenging to do at the moment.

We also recognize that many people in our member organizations are providing direct care to the populations who are most vulnerable to COVID-19. We are grateful for the dedication of staff who are providing these services, especially those who do not have the option to work from home. CHHSM’s legacy of service to the ‘least of these’ is more evident than ever, and we are proud to support you in your life-giving work.

We have been very impressed by resources and stories we have seen shared by our members in response to COVID-19. We invite you to send resources to us that we can share with others. We will be sharing them with the wider church. If there are other ways that we can support, assist, or help you make connections with other CHHSM member ministries or church leadership, please let us know.

It’s clear to us that COVID-19 is not only an international health event, but a social and economic one as well. The impact is still unfolding and will be felt for some time to come. People will look to CHHSM members to respond. We rely on the assurance and hope that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear” (Psalm 46:1-2).

Every time CHHSM members gather — as we did last week for our Annual Gathering in Memphis — we remember our vision: “Together, we create a just, caring, and compassionate world.” May this vision guide us to do justice and provide caring and compassion as we respond to COVID-19. May the fact that we are connected together as CHHSM help strengthen and support us as serving leaders at this time. We are holding you in our hearts and prayers.

Blessings and Peace,

Mike, George, Elyse, and Paula
The CHHSM Team

Learn more at CHHSM’s coronovirus resources page and submit your resource.