Serve Resources

PRACTICALLY - You and your household can choose to put others first, serving them in tangible, generous, and thoughtful ways.

JESUS’ INVITATION

Jesus said these words:

· “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” (Matthew 7:12)

· “Love your neighbor as yourself” - the second most important commandment (Mark 12:31)

· “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (John 15:13)

The temptation right now is to withdraw and think solely of your own wellbeing, and that of your immediate family. Yet Jesus makes clear that we are to lift our gaze beyond that very tight circle, and to serve the wider world. The command to serve and sacrifice for your neighbor has not been put on hold by coronavirus - in spite of what the devil will tempt you to believe!

SOME CHURCH HISTORY...

In the Roman Empire, plagues regularly swept cities and regions. Christians served, rather than withdrew, from their neighbors in need at those times. They modeled a very practical love - doing simple, kind acts of mercy and generosity.

By behaving in this way, they were also making a theological point. Plagues are not punishments from a vindictive god who wants to bash us, but instead are the result of a good creation that has been ruined by sin and rebellion. God hates such plagues - and part of His response of love is through the hands of believers.

As a result of such care, the church exploded with growth. Sociologist Rodney Stark (in his fascinating book The Rise of Christianity) charts how this occurred, and notes that death rates in cities with strong Christian communities were half that of other cities. There are numerous quotes from grumpy pagan emperors and rulers complaining that Christians cared far better for others than anyone else did!

In 1527, in the face of a plague that swept through his city, Christian leader Martin Luther wrote,

“Therefore, I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order to not become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should choose to take me, he will surely find me, and I have done what has been expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”

THE LESSON: As you prepare to serve your neighbors, seek to balance both wisdom and need.

· Wisdom - You are not called to be foolish. Thus, washing hands and avoiding crowds is not a lack of faith! In particular, if you are in a vulnerable group, your boundaries need to be stricter.

· Need - At the same time, you are not called to be selfish. In the midst of this crisis, you have an opportunity to shine amongst your neighbors (see Philippians 2:14-16).

VALUES

As you serve, here are some values you should seek to carry. These values make up what it means to live as Jesus followers and are foundational to life at Bay Area Church.

· Relentless Love: Jesus’ conduit for the gospel is the relentless and sacrificial love of people, so we love people like He does. This is demonstrated by our relentless efforts to love people in our circles of influence in a biblical way, no matter what

· Hands- on Service: The biblical posture of believers in the world is service; we seek to serve others in practical ways – getting our hands and feet dirty to be a blessing, no matter what.

· Spirit and Truth Empowerment: We are empowered with the Holy Spirit and the authority of the Word of God for divine guidance and powerful impact in the world. We boldly live and serve others through this power and guidance.

· Kingdom Partnership -The Holy Spirit is at work in the home as well as gospel-centered partners in the world. We work to partner well with others for the sake of the gospel, loving and serving others.

· Gospel Restoration: People changed by the gospel are the central mission of Jesus and are therefore our greatest cause. We focus our time and resources on sharing the gospel message in our circles of influence in both word and deed.

These values mark both our lives and service, especially during this time. We live this way as we love and value every person seeking to restore them through our generosity, hope, faith, and love.

PREPARATION PRAYER

The reason you serve is to reflect the loving heart of God to others. This means that you want to surround your serving in prayer. Some things to pray include:

· You will spot some clear and specific needs that you can help meet.

· You can overflow with the love of Jesus as you serve.

· Neighbors will welcome and appreciate your help.

· Your household will be seen as people who offer something positive to the street.

· Conversations will naturally follow that are both meaningful and also spiritual.

· You will act as role models for a generous way of living on your street.

· These simple acts will pay great dividends for the Kingdom.

IDENTIFY

Your next step is to assess your community to see what needs are apparent. Which of those needs can you most effectively meet? You can’t do it all, but what can you and your household offer? What can you rally others to help with as well?

HOW DO YOU UNCOVER NEEDS?

· Survey - Deliver a quick note to every house on your street, saying that you and your household are happy to help serve where you can. Also invite others to contribute where they can. We have shared an example of this sort of note below.

· Facebook group - Use the group to communicate the same message. Due to its real-time, interactive nature, this will be a great place to track needs. NOTE: The temptation for some is to try to control what sort of serving is okay, or who can do it. Instead, view yourself more as a facilitator - unless something is an epicly bad, immoral, or illegal plan, encourage people to share what they can!

· Ask around - Neighbors know neighbors, and what might be going on behind closed doors. Simply invite people to share if they are aware of a nearby need that someone in the street could take care of. NOTE: The only proviso here is not to let such sharing devolve into gossiping!

An example of how to write to your neighbors about needs:

[date]

Dear Neighbor,

During this crazy time, many of our regular ways of living aren’t operating normally. The government has asked people to stay at home as much as possible, which can create some problems:

Perhaps due to health issues it is unwise for you to go to the grocery store, and something has run short before your regular delivery arrives.

If something breaks down in your home, it can be a challenge to find someone who’ll come out to fix it.

You are now crammed in at home with your kids, and just possibly they aren’t being quite as angelic as they looked on last year’s Christmas card(!), and you’d love even a little support with them.

This seems like a time when we as neighbors ought to be able to turn to one another for practical support. Our family for one are up for this - and we suspect you will be as well.

With that in mind, we invite you to let others in the street know if there is a need which someone else might be able to help meet. We gave a couple of examples above, but of course there are many more.

Likewise, if you have particular skills, time, or energy to share with others, please let that be known. EVERYONE has something to offer, so don’t be shy or modest!

The place where we suggest posting most of this information - whether a need or something you’d like to offer - is the new street Facebook group. Just look for “[Group name]” in their search box. If you have difficulty finding or joining it, just text one of us.

BUT I’m not on Facebook!” That’s not a problem! Just text one of us and we will either try to help you ourselves, or we’ll post your message on the page on your behalf.

And finally, the main message is this: don’t feel alone or stuck. Just let someone know! Let’s become known as the most neighborly street in [name of your town/city]!!

Praying for you all,

[your names][address][phone numbers]

SOLUTIONS:

Obviously, you want to move towards solutions!

· As requests come up, ask around who might be able to help.

· Proactively start a list on your Facebook page of what skills neighbors have that they are happy to share (e.g. plumbing, electric, computer, meal planning, parenting, gardening, etc.)

· If there are resource needs (“We’re out of bread!”), model being generous.

Regularly discuss with your household (or consider privately), ‘What is one lovely thing that we could do today for a neighbor?’

PRACTICAL IDEAS

To help you and your household lead the way in serving your street, here are some ideas to launch your thinking. You won’t be able to do them all, but you will be able to do some! Allow the Holy Spirit to use this list to stir up other ideas.

For the elderly, vulnerable, or sick:

· Grocery shopping

· Pharmacy collections

· Yard maintenance

· If trash cans have to be put out each week, do so the evening before, and then return them later.

For anyone:

· Outdoor babysitting - for those who have younger children stuck inside the house, offer to run them around for an hour if parents need to run errands/ jump on an important work call/ or the kids simply need debouncing! This could take place in the front yard/ an open space, with suitable distances still being maintained. Games could include:

• Different types of races (running, hoping, skipping, running backwards, walking slowly, etc.)

• Throwing games (distance, hitting targets, catching, etc.)

• Musical bumps and musical statues.

• If children are all from the same households, games involving touch then become fine.

· Older kids offer a school work hotline or homework hour for younger kids to call or Facetime into (often parents have no idea of the ‘right’ way to complete the math problem!)

· Dog walking - for owners not used to being at home all week, this might be akin to debouncing children!

· Share your toilet paper stash (the ultimate sacrifice!!)

· Give financially to someone in need or share groceries

· Use delivery services to send a dinner to a couple who need a spontaneous date night.

· Share simple yet healthy recipes that use minimal ingredients (great if there are shortages).

· Offer to fix household problems (e.g. garbage disposal backs up, minor plumbing, etc.).

· If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can send some food, activities for kids, or something fun to someone who is struggling.

· Put together a care package for a young family, e.g. coloring, activities, games, candy, etc. If they have to be very cautious regarding the virus, select things that can be sent electronically.

· If you know frontline workers (doctors, first responders etc) do what you can to support them (meals, child care, fun gifts, notes of thanks).

· Drop off a bunch of flowers to someone who is struggling or looking overwhelmed, along with an encouraging note.

· Share simple recipes for homemade cleaning products.

· Text someone to let them know you’re thinking of, and praying for, them today.

· Call someone who you know is lonely or struggling and check in on them.

· Start an online Bible study or host a worship service watch party for your street.

· Run a parenting class online, using material from a book that you can all be reading together.

· If you have kids at home from school, tell them that today's elective class is ‘kindness’, and they have to find a news article about people doing kind acts during this crazy time. Then they have to decide on and plan a kind act to do for someone in the street.

· If you have kids, pray with them for every student they know by name, for the Lord to protect them and that He would provide food, community, and care at this time. You could break bread while doing this. Plus, you could do it via video call with another family.

FUN IDEAS

Some serve ideas don’t have to involve unblocking toilets! It’s okay (in fact, some would say vital) to create some fun in your street at this time. Here are some suggestions to start you off.

· Hold a dance-off on someone’s driveway (maintain distance!) - great for elementary and MS kids. If you are, or know, a DJ, you could do this in a way that draws in all ages.

· Create a workout loop on the sidewalk using sidewalk chalk

· Organize a street Netflix watch party - why not invite families to watch together, and enjoy the community chat box that is part of the experience?

· Play games via video call, e.g. charades, boggle, quizzes, etc

· Start an online book group. Maybe your first text could be a spiritual one.

· Have a street story time via video call each weekday evening at 7pm, with a different reader each time.

· Share a meal with another family via video call (sounds strange, but it can work if you are intentional about all asking good open questions about their day, what they’re dreaming about for the summer, their favorite place they’ve ever visited, etc )

· Share books, games and toys with other households (disinfect them when they come into your house) - use the Facebook page to have each house list a few things they could offer.

· Have a competition among neighbors as to who can create the best window display or art.

· Bike rides (it’s easier to keep the 6 foot distance rule).

· Water balloon fight across the street - perfect for kids (and big kids!)

· Sidewalk chalking - encourage people to draw positive messages of hope and encouragement in front of homes.

NEXT STEPS CHECKLIST

What are your specific next steps?

We have created a checklist below to help, although you might want to adjust it to make it fit for your context.

The main thing is - don’t hang around, YOU CAN DO THIS!!

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)

CHECKLIST

PERSONALLY:

· Where is the balance point between wisdom and need for each member of your household?

· To which of the values are you trying to be most attentive?

· Pray

• Before you do anything

• While communicating to your street

• As you (and others) serve

• For a generous spirit to bubble up in your street

COMMUNICATING:

· Write the invitation letter to your neighbors

· Print the invitation letter

· Deliver the invitation letter

· Post about serving in the street Facebook group

SERVING:

· Which neighbors should you specifically ask for serve opportunities?

· What specific things can your household offer?

· Who do I/we intentionally need to reach out to?

· On your calendar, plan some serve times over the next couple of weeks