The ‘Compassion’ in World Compassion Fellowship
F or years, I worked on Wall Street as a computer programmer, building corporate banking systems and trading systems for financial firms. As the years went by, my walk with the Lord became distant as I aimed for success in the corporate world. Over time, I renewed my walk with the Lord Jesus and He opened my eyes to the world and its vast needs due to famine, war, political unrest and natural disasters. I was motivated to show practical compassion that the Bible teaches ('Love your neighbor as yourself', Leviticus 19:18 and Mark 12:31).
I began organizing volunteer teams for my church, Brooklyn Tabernacle, to go out to the developing world to try and make a difference practically and spiritually. We encountered deep poverty, untreated diseases and other things that we take for granted in the developed world. I remember it was my first trip to Haiti that I encountered real poverty. My wife and I slept in a mission house that had no running water and no electricity. We went into the shantytown areas that surrounded the ministry and went to people’s homes and I was greatly disturbed by the living conditions - tiny single rooms, no running water, no electricity, no sanitation, no kitchen, no security, but with 10 people somehow living in it. I had heard of stories from my parents who grew up under foreign occupation, the tragedy of World War II and the Korean War which saw more than 3 million Koreans dead and left Korea as the poorest country on the planet. However, I grew up in America and although we struggled a lot as an immigrant family, it wasn’t compared to what we saw in Haiti on that trip.
I began organizing medical and dental clinic teams as we started going to Haiti, Latin America, Africa and Asia. We would encounter so many suffering families in places like remote villages in Africa or Asia or seeing the mass of desperate people coming into our makeshift medical camps right after the earthquake in Haiti or a typhoon in the Philippines. I’ll never forget the Sudanese war refugee camp where we encountered many victims of war and famine and there was this one severely malnourished baby's cry that reminded me of my own family’s desperate health struggles and it deeply moved me. I understood and felt compassion not because I studied it in a book, but because of our own family’s sufferings.
At World Compassion Fellowship, we believe that compassion is not optional for followers of Christ — they are foundational. As we serve the poor, the persecuted, and the forgotten around the world, we are driven by the call to reflect Christ’s love in compassionate action.
From Genesis to Revelation, God reveals His compassionate heart and commands us to reflect that same compassion to others.
What Bible Verses Talk About Compassion?
1. God’s Compassion is motivated by His Love
God’s compassion for us never fails because of God’s great love for us. This is the ultimate source of our compassion for others.
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
— Lamentations 3:22–23 (NIV)
2. Jesus Was Moved With Compassion
Throughout His ministry, Jesus was moved with compassion. He cared deeply for the sick, the hungry, the poor, and the brokenhearted.
“When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
— Matthew 9:36 (NIV)
3. The Great Compassion
Many people know about the Great Commission in Matt 28:19-20, but many don’t know about the ‘Great Compassion’. This very important illustration that Jesus gave us showed the practical side of the Good News by showing compassion to those who are poor, hungry, sick, in prison and the stranger (or refugee).
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
— Matthew 25:35–36 (NIV)
4. Compassion Is Action-Oriented
Biblical compassion isn’t just a feeling — it leads to action.
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
— 1 John 3:17 (NIV)
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...”
— James 1:27 (NIV)
Our Prayer Support Teams are vital to cover these communities in prayer.
5. Having compassion even on your ‘enemies’
There's a well known parable that Jesus told of the ‘Good Samaritan’. Even the most religious people did nothing to help the wounded traveler. It took a Samaritan, a natural ‘enemy’ of this person, to have compassion on him and do everything he could to help him even at a great personal cost.
“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity (or had compassion) on him.”
— Luke 10:33 (NIV)
At World Compassion Fellowship, we take these scriptures to heart. Whether delivering medical care in closed nations or training local believers, our mission is rooted and motivated by Christlike compassion.
Together, we can bring Christ’s hope to the poor, unreached, and persecuted. Your prayers, giving, and service help us be His hands and feet.