Serving God By Serving Your Community

It’s a beautiful thing when an entire church congregation comes together in service to God and their community. No matter where your church is located, chances are not far away, maybe right across the street or just a few miles down the road, there are people who can use a helping hand. As a church body you have the power of many hands that can be called into service. There is strength in numbers. Couple a group of volunteers with a few donations from local business and a service project is born.

Hope Church in Memphis, Tennessee recently sent out hundreds of volunteers to participate in the “Go and Do” weekend. They tackled several community projects including assisting at the local animal shelter, neighborhood cleanups, helping at the food pantries, landscaping, and serving meals at a nursing home. Community service is not something new to Hope Church. They have dedicated ministries focused on caring for the under-resourced communities in their area through a wide variety of programs that include Thanksgiving food drives, backpacks for school children, and hosting Vacation Bible School sessions at various churches.

Hope Church is a fairly large church, but that is not a requirement to develop this kind of community service. Ten volunteers working with their own tools can make an enormous difference over a weekend for a good number of people. Working together to serve others is a powerful form of worship and an awesome fellowship building experience. Start with an annual event, move on to a seasonal event, then expand to a monthly event. In time, your church will be in constant service to those in your community and the love of Jesus will be felt year round.