“For it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

As believers who are sinful, we know that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We know that it is only because of God’s great love in sending His only Son to live and die for us, that we can go to heaven. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. It is a gift from God. It is GRACE.

Now that we know about this love and the gift of eternal life that is ours, we are filled with a love for God that leads us to want to serve Him. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, tells us that “we are God’s workmanship.” And that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” That is what God wants us to do. He wants us to serve Him by doing good works for others.

AREAS OF SERVICE

There are many places where we can serve God by serving others. The first and easiest for us is in our home. By helping your parents, brothers, sisters and grandparents you are serving them and doing what God wants you to do. You can serve by doing your chores, helping with babysitting and even cleaning your room. Look for ways you can help at home. It is a good way to begin serving others.

Another area in which you can serve is in your church. Depending on your age you may be able to usher for services, greet visitors or help with child care. You might also be able to help with work around church on a clean-up day or with the cleaning of the inside of the church. You may want to talk to your leaders and see if there is some way your Train can do a service project for your church. Maybe you can take care of some flower beds or a certain part of the church.

There are also opportunities for service in your community. You may want to visit elderly people in nursing homes or in their own home. Maybe there are some chores you can do to help them. You may want to check to see if there are any activities that are going on that need volunteers. It might involve cleaning up after a celebration or helping with some part of the celebration. Another area where you can help is in keeping parks clean. Again, with your leaders help, your Train may be able to adopt a park and help to keep it clean for everyone to enjoy. In some states there is an “adopt a highway” program.  In this program you are assigned a section of a highway in your area to keep clean. there is a regular schedule of clean-up times and safety vests and bags are provided. You can contact your state’s Department of Transportation for more information. If no highway is available in your area, talk to your county, city or township officials to see if there is a road in the area for you to take care of.

There are times when what you think might be a service, can actually cause harm.  For instance, it is a service to help someone to understand a lesson, but it is wrong to give them the answers to a test.  Just giving them the answers would harm them, because they would not learn the material.   There are other times where something you might think is a service are too dangerous or too far outside of your skill level to do.  For instance, a community may need the light bulb changed in a traffic signal that is not working.  You don’t have the necessary skills to do that.  Or perhaps there is a pothole on your street.  This would be far too dangerous for you to do, and you don’t have the skills or equipment required.  There are other things that require permission as well.  Maybe your neighbors fence needs painting, but you want to make sure you have permission to that first.

PLANNING A SERVICE PROJECT

There are many service projects that you can be a part of. At times, however, it may be necessary for you to plan some type of project. Here are some steps you can follow so that your project will be successful.

Step 1: Choose a project. that would seem obvious, but sometimes it takes looking around to find something that needs to be done. You may want to talk to your leaders and you certainly will want to talk to whomever you are doing the service for. Be sure everyone knows what you want to do and how you plan to do it.

Step 2: Set up a schedule. Plan out what needs to be done and how much time it will take. Allow extra time in case something unplanned occurs. Share the schedule with your leaders, those who will help you and the people for whom you are doing the service.

Step 3: Gather all the necessary materials you will need. This may also include some money if you need to purchase items. Talk to your leaders if funding is needed. They may be able to give you the names of people you can talk to for donations to pay for the project.

Step 4: Carry out the project. Do the work that needs to be done. If you have others helping you make sure they know what they should be doing and encourage them in their work.

Serving someone else should be enjoyable.

Step 5: Evaluate the project. Take some time to think about what you did. Look for ways you can improve the next time you do something like this. This is a very important part of the process.

In the Lutheran Pioneer prayer we talk about service. We begin with the words “Jesus help our eyes to see, our salvation earned by thee.” That is most important. We need to know that our salvation comes from our Lord not from ourselves.

The next lines point out our lives of service; “Jesus help our ears to hear, calls for help from far and near. Jesus help our feet to go, in the way that Thou wouldst show. Jesus help our hands to do, all things loving kind and true.” As Christians, we hear the cries for help, we go to serve and we then do the work needed.

Finally, the Lutheran Pioneer prayer finishes off with the goal we should have as Christians, trying to serve our Lord; “Jesus may we helpful be, growing every day like thee.” As we grow older we will want to become more Christ-like in our lives. We pray that God will help us to do that.

Summary:

Service – Level 1

• Participate in a service project that helps someone or an organization in the community or in your church.
• Prior approval of the Pioneer leadership team is needed before any project is started.
• A final report on what was collected, how much was collected, who was helped and the names of the people who helped is required for all projects.