Serving Together: How To Get Started

This week at Trinity we are excited about gearing up for the Church of Greater Lansing Food Drop - happening Sunday, February 21! With our focus on serving this week at church, we thought it would be good to focus on it here on the blog, too.

So, today, let's think about how to get our families started on a service project.

First of all, Why Serve?
*Experience God & joy in making a difference together.
*Increase a child’s sense of gratitude by seeing those less fortunate.
*Allows you to learn more about one another & opens communication

Before Serving Together
Find a Shared Passion: Spend some time talking with your child/teenager about the things that interest and concern them. It will be more meaningful if you have a shared passion for the specific areas of service. (Examples: If your family has an interest in poverty-stricken areas, find a place to feed the homeless. You may have a teenager that loves kids and it would be great to serve in an orphanage or at the church with the children’s or special needs ministry.)

Find a Good Fit: Serving can be as simple as baking cookies for a homebound
neighbor or making birthday cards for those in a nursing home. It can be an extended serving time such as a missions trip or meeting a particular need on a regular basis. Keep in mind, there are often great projects and scheduled mission events already planned that your family may want to take part in. It’s important for kids to participate in the selection process.

Set Expectations: Put your child more at ease by explaining what to expect. If visiting a nursing home, for example, explain they may encounter odd sights, sounds and smells. If feeding the homeless, share why some people may not be able to take regular baths but we love them anyway. If helping children with special needs, explain why some can’t respond “normally” to conversations, etc. You may also want to coach them on manners and explain what they will likely do while serving. Set the tone for a great time together!

Team up with us as we deliver food to 3,000 Lansing families in need on Sunday, February 21st. For details, click here!