Dispensationalists are often criticized for a perceived lack of involvement in mercy ministry. In contrast, much of modem evangelicalism is rife with language about social justice, holistic evangelism, fighting poverty, and indiscriminate effort on social projects. There is often a latent assumption that churches should be active in mercy ministry that is aimed at people outside of the church. This mindset is represented well by Tim Keller and John Stott, and is based on an understanding of passages in the Levitical Law that does not account for a dispensational understanding of the church/Israel distinction. This thesis presents an alternative view of mercy ministry. It will do so by showing how one's ecclesiology and eschatology impacts one's mercy ministry. The understanding of mercy ministry presented here consists of two main points. First, compassion is an emotion that God has, and God expects his followers to imitate it. To establish this, this thesis looks at the vocabulary used to describe God's compassion, and particularly how that compassion is seen in relation to human suffering. God's compassion is real, contrary to the classical notion of impassibility, and forms the basis for Christians to show compassion in the world. Second, there are distinctions between Israel and the church. They have different functions in God's redemptive history, and this diversity in function results in diversity of means; Israel was to stay and transform her culture, while the church is to go into all the world preaching the gospel. This difference is highlighted in the different ways the two groups are to deal with poverty. Israel's charge was limited by geography (Israelites only cared for the poor ofIsrael), while the church's charge is instead limited by creed (the church is to only care for the poor within the church). This distinction, while clear in the NT, is most fully developed in the context of a dispensational ecclesiology. As such, a dispensational view of mercy ministry has its basis in the compassion of God, and its application in the followers of God. This thesis will explore how understanding the kingdom as present now influences an approach to mercy ministry, and it will also look at some of the implications of seeing mercy ministry as a task given individual Christians, rather than to the church as a whole. It concludes by looking specifically at the Book of James, and how James presents a model for Christians to follow as they consider how to minister to those in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]