The House of Compassion

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I visited the House of Compassion which is facility in Marshalltown, IA. House of Compassion is a non-profit organization that opened twenty years ago. They are a place of hospitality for those that our hungry, homeless, or in need of medical assistance. The services they have include a supply closet, soup kitchen, emergency shelter, and a Medical Assistance Program. The supply closet enables them to supply personal hygiene products for families in need, diapers is a common need that is often forgotten by the public. The soup kitchen provides food for those that our hungry, and recently the House of Compassion as started a Garden of Compassion which they use to grow food to continue to feed and inform those that our in need. The Emergency Shelter is available for those that have no where to go. They have many beds for people to sleep in, and they are encouraged and supported while they are staying there. This is a common place for people to come in transition, in refuge, and most that come of a sense of hopelessness. Reversing this hopelessness is what the House of Compassion is hoping to do. They want to provide basic needs and help people back on their feet and experience again the hope that we have in Christ.
The official mission statement for the House of Compassion is “Called by our faith in Jesus Christ to act in love, the House of Compassion responds to the needs of our neighbors and advocates justice and dignity for all” (Frohwein, 2013). While on earth so much of Jesus ministry was focused on healing, feeding, clothing, and lifting up the marginalized. He feed and healed people before he professed to them that he was the Bread of Life and the Messiah. This is way it is important that we too are willing to feed and clot...

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...ter to those who thirst, cloth the naked, welcome people in and visit the orphans and widows, for this is what scripture describes as true religion and service to Christ and His Kingdom(Matthew25: 35-40 & James 1:27). Even though some much oppression and marginalization is present in Marshalltown, I was encouraged to see The House of Compassion doing many of these things and being faithful to this commandment.

Works Cited

Frohwein, K. (2013). House of compassion. Retrived from http://rhurd1960.wix.com/house-of- compassion. Pohl, C. D. (1999). Hospitality, dignity, and the power of recognition. In Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. (61-84) Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Volf, M. (1996). Oppression and justice. In Exclusion and Embrace: A theological exploration of Identity, otherness, and Reconciliation. (193-231). Abingdon Press: Nashville.

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