Hey Michael,

Welcome to the blogosphere brother.  Thanks for the helpful comments.  But my mind was sorta in the same place as Bruce McKanna when he wrote:

when we say that the church has a responsibility in a particular area, but that I have individual responsibility for something else, then it seems that we are separating the identity of the church from the believer. In other words, the church is the leadership (ministry professionals) and programs, and this entity does things for believers, rather than the church as the community of believers.

I don't have a problem saying that mercy ministry should not be a focus of the pastors/elders, but I can't say it should not be at least a part of the spectrum of ministy of the church (local body of believers).

You seemed to define "church" as something other than the collection of Christians covenanted together in a particular local congregation.  I'm still not clear about how something can be a mandate for all Christians and an entailment of the gospel and simultaneously not be a responsibility for the church qua church.  Could you say more about how you're parsing this, brother?