Someone said: “Our lives intersect with others all day, every day. Sometimes we know these other lives well; frequently, though, the points of connection are brief and transient. Who are these people? How might they tell their own stories? What thoughts preoccupy their minds? What joys and troubles are coursing through their feelings? Empathy is our tool for beginning to know these things. It asks the question: If we could catch a glimpse of others’ stories, would we treat them differently?”

These are trying times. Believers are daily persecuted in many parts of the world. In Nigeria, for instance, Christians are being murdered in some parts of the country under an insurgency that tends to target Christianity. The insurgents say their aim is to impose a form of religion on the nation. Since the crisis heightened in 2009, many believers and worshippers have lost their lives while inside the church on fellowship days.

Nowadays, some believers only mind their own business when it comes to bearing fellow believers’ burden. They shut their bowels of mercy. Although times are hard, the work of the Lord must be done nevertheless. Circumstances of life must not prevent believers from showing empathy to others.

Today, the Home Caring Fellowship system is no longer vibrant because people complain that the love that used to characterize the fellowship is no longer obtainable and that members are no longer enthusiastic about attending such meetings owing to the pressures of life. This is wholly unacceptable. We are to reach out to those who are going through persecution, hunger and deprivation, and be of help to them. Believers must also pray for those in bonds and fully identify with them.