Well churches, your reputation is changing. I’ve heard it said multiple times in the last two days while attending the Global Missions Health Conference at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., that the narrowly focused mission of the evangelical churches to save the lost has broadened over the past decade to include a more holistic view of the Christian call.

This noted shift seems especially important in light of the fact that the past year has been filled with natural disasters of unprecedented scales and situations. Tsunami, Katrina, Rita, Stan, Pakistan earthquake, tornadoes, floods, fires. Add to that war, terrorist attacks and the regular trouble of humanity and it may be more believable that the Church as a whole has been more engaged, more concerned, more compassionate about at least relief efforts. There has been unprecedented opportunity to show compassion.

There is still some nagging question of the results, however. But as Dr. Jo V.J. Dignadice of the International Christian Mission Indonesia told a group of about 150 workshop participants at the conference today, "We shouldn’t think we’re not making a difference if people don’t make a decision for Christ right there and then." This is not about numbers.

Mick Smith, CEO of MAP International, a Christian relief and development agency, was optimistic about the movement among evangelicals from conversions only types of ministry to other work. He compared Jesus’ varying responses to crowds from healing (Matt. 14:14) to teaching (Mark 6:34) to feeding (Matt. 15:32) and resurrecting (Luke 7:13-15). "These ministries of Jesus didn’t dissect the physical from the spiritual," he said.

Of course the Church as a whole has a long history of caring for the sick and the dying. Rev. Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the World Evangelical Alliance, a global network that reaches some 200 million evangelical Christians in 123 countries, pointed that out as he spoke to some 600 people who attended the Lausanne North American Consultation on the Role of the Church in the HIV/AIDS Pandemic, Thursday, Nov. 10.

Now that compassion is apparently on everyone’s agenda, Tunnicliffe recommended pooling resources and relief efforts, especially in response to AIDS, clearly a problem too large for any one organization, denomination or agency to tackle alone.

"We have to understand what our role is and come together in collaborative effort," Tunnicliffe said.

Unlike the other disasters, AIDS is taking more lives, impacting the health of more people, leaving more children orphans and homeless than any hurricane, earthquake or tsunami.

"It’s not just another social problem to be added to other social problems," said Richard Stearns, president of World Vision. He told conference goers that he believes AIDS is an historical turning point. And he said, "the question that will be asked of us is ‘Where was the church?’"

So as the body of Christ changes, perhaps in response to disasters, or in response to Christ’s example and call to love our neighbor, the final proof for the relevance of the Church will be manifest.

"I believe the very heart and soul of the Church hangs in the balance," Stearns said. "Indeed, we must ask the question, ‘What would Jesus do?’ And when we answer it we must not fail to do it."