by Darren Slade
In our travels around the U.S., both digitally and physically, we at FaithX like keep our eyes open for examples of people, programs, communities, or ministries doing creative, innovative, and experimental things in the area of faith. And when we do find one, we like to shine a spotlight on them in a FaithXperimental blog post.
FaithX founder and principal consultant, Ken Howard, bumped into (almost literally) Compassionate Austin in late March while presenting MapDash and FaithX consulting services at the New Story Festival in Austin, Texas (they were back-to-back in the exhibit area). While Compassionate Austin is not an officially religious program, there are many people and communities of faith involved, and Ken was struck by the underlying sense of spirituality that subtly infused the organization.
Compassionate Austin describes itself as a growing grassroots movement united to promote, strengthen, and celebrate compassionate action in Austin, Texas and its surrounding areas. Their vision is to exemplify and champion empathy in its purest form by creating a livable, vibrant, inclusive, and caring community in which all have the opportunity to thrive. By their actions, Compassionate Austin hopes to inspire everyone to become aware and conscious of the importance of showing compassion in the world today (taking care of others, yourself, and the earth). They seek to strengthen people’s empathy skills, tenderness, charity, and accountability toward meeting the needs of their community.