The Conspiracy of Kindness

The Conspiracy of Kindness
Ephesians 4:29-32
by David O. Dykes

INTRODUCTION

This world could use a little more kindness and love. Judson College in Alabama is a Baptist college for women. A few years ago, the chaplain from Judson told about the time he was leading in prayer in the all-female chapel service. He prayed, “Lord give us kind hearts, Lord give us loving hearts. Lord give us sweet hearts!” And all the woman said, “Ah-men!”

We do need kind hearts. There’s a conspiracy of kindness happening in the Body of Christ these days. It’s an underground movement gaining momentum throughout America. The title of this message is taken from the book written by Steve Sjogren. Years ago, Steve started a congregation outside Cincinnati, Ohio with only a handful of people. They started something called “Servant Evangelism” in which they continually performed acts of kindness to people in their community. They never took any money for these good deeds. Today, over 4,000 people attend the church that started this conspiracy of kindness.

One year ago, we launched our first LYN Week. LYN stands for Love Your Neighbor. It was a designated time for you to go out into the community and perform acts of kindness for strangers. We’re doing the same thing again this year and we’re calling it LYN Week II. Our LYN Week strategy is simple: Every GABC member performing intentional acts of kindness in Jesus’ name to show the love of God to others. We had some amazing results from last year’s LYN Week.

The timing of last year’s LYN Week was a God-thing. We planned LYN week for months. One of our plans was to show our appreciation to teachers, firefighters, policemen, and EMS workers. Then right in the middle of LYN Week last year, the terrorists attacked America. It was as if God knew our community would be hurting and needing kindness that week. Green Acres members were already mobilized to show God’s love to a shaken community. We received dozens of letters from LYN last year; I want to share one of them with you that speaks to the amazing timing.

“During our week of horrific tragedies in the U.S., a group of ladies from Green Acres brought a chocolate cake to Griffin Elementary. I cannot express the gratitude I felt for this gesture of kindness. It made us feel so appreciated. It was indeed an act of compassion.”

On that Friday morning the reality of what had happened to our country had finally settled within me. I was depressed and I felt as though no one really cared about the teachers. That morning I awoke with the questions, “What about us? We’re having a hard time with this too.”

I just wanted to thank you for encouraging us that day. The timing was perfect. I and many others needed that.”

Deborah Hilburn, Griffin Elementary School

I have a folder full of letters like that. The great thing about LYN week is that kids can get involved in performing acts of kindness. After LYN week last year, some of our Sunday School classes had the kids report on their LYN activities. Here are a few of their reports:

“My friend did not have any money and she always watches me buy candy. One day I took her to the candy machine and said you could have any candy you want that costs 60 cents. She got some Skittles, and it made me and her feel good.”
Candace, third grade

“One day I saw my bathroom was a mess. So what I did was clean it up