We value serving others at their point of need, following the example of our Lord Jesus.

What if the most transformative spiritual practice we could embrace is learning to sit with sadness? Not self-pity or despair, but a deep, honest, gut-level identification with the suffering of the world around us. In John 13, we find Jesus on the eve of his own suffering, fully aware of betrayal and death ahead, yet choosing to kneel before his disciples and wash their feet one by one. This passage invites us into something far richer than a lesson on humility. It draws us into the very heart of what it means to follow Jesus. The Greek word splagnizomai, used repeatedly in the Gospels to describe Jesus, points to a compassion that originates in the gut, a visceral, aching identification with human need that does not remain passive but immediately moves toward action. When we understand that compassion literally means to suffer with, we begin to see that serving others is not simply a good deed. It is a participation in the character of God himself. This message challenges us to ask whether our service flows from that same deep well, or whether we are reaching for something shallower.

"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

— JOHN 13:14–15

From our earliest days, the Brethren in Christ practiced foot washing as a sacred ordinance: a basin, a towel, and someone else's feet. Our seventh core value carries that same posture out the door, to serving others at their point of need.