who we are
Christian Compassion
The Leprosy Mission Ireland exists to:
Minister in the Name of Jesus Christ to the physical, mental, social and spiritual needs of individuals and communities disadvantaged by leprosy working with them to uphold human dignity and eradicate leprosy.
To partner with the Leprosy Mission Ireland is to share in the compassionate work that Christ began over 2000 years ago.
The Leprosy Mission’s raison d’être is found in the text of Mark1 V 40-41.
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"Quotation from New International Version © International Bible Society.
Compassion is not a wishy washy feeling. For the word we translate compassion, St Mark uses the Greek word σπλανχηον. It’s a word which means that he was moved way down in the pit of his stomach. He was moved with pity for the man mixed with revulsion for what the disease had done to him.
In the late 1800’s, Wellesley Bailey, a young Irish man working as a teacher in India came in contact with a group of beggars. He later learned they were leprosy sufferers. Writing home to his fiancée he penned these words: "If ever there was a Christ like work it was to go amongst these poor sufferers…" Bailey was filled with compassion.
TLM continues to be motivated by Christ like compassion, reaching out to empower and heal individuals and communities who suffer from the world’s oldest and most cruel disease.
We are a Christian development agency, motivated by the compassion of Jesus Christ, but we serve those who suffer from leprosy irrespective of their race, religion, or religion. Participants in our programmes are not compelled to adopt our Christian beliefs or worldview. To operate in any other way would simply neither uphold human dignity nor fit with our understanding of Christ’s compassion.
call to action
TLM Ireland cannot carry out its life changing work without your help.
We rely heavily of the generosity of individuals who volunteer both at home and overseas. We also rely heavily on business, churches, and other organisations to supply the financial resources that we need.
Much of our funding is provided by personal gift and by the generosity of individuals who leave legacies to the work of TLM. Increasingly, gifts in kind play an important role in our work.
In joining with us to effect real change you might want to donate your valuable time, a skill, a financial gift or a legacy. You might want to pray for the work. To get involved in these ways please either call TLM on 1890 50 51 52 or email us at info@leprosymission.ie . To donate funds to TLM online please click on the red button below.
