Making an Impact that Echoes Into Eternity
As City Serve 2021 kicks off, let’s revisit the why behind what we do. Why do we serve? Why do we spend a week partnering with organizations? Why do we get dirty to clean up a park? We serve because we LOVE our city! This movement is all about making an impact that goes beyond this week - we want to make an impact that echoes into eternity!
Written from the perspective of those who have served in past City Serve weeks, here’s a glimpse into the stories of impact that we’ve experienced before.
It Starts With a Spark
by Robyn Clay, Dream City Church
I remember a few years ago, it was my first time coordinating City Serve. We had so many amazing projects happening from a food bank to revamping a courtyard area, serving food on the street, block parties, prayer teams, neighborhood clean-ups, an event for foster families, and more. We had a great number of volunteers ready to serve our city. You could feel the momentum leading up to the day. The enemy could feel it too. The day of the outreach, as I was driving around preparing everything, I blew a tire. On the day of, multiple people experienced car issues, equipment malfunctioned, items were forgotten, and things didn’t work as planned. So many things went wrong that our team said to each other that the next time we do this event we need an “on-call S.O.S team.” But through it all, God showed up and showed out! That day will forever hold a special place in my heart as a turning point.
A spark was lit that day. Multiple outreach ministries were formed. A group simply serving food to those in need turned into a once-a-month outreach where hundreds of people can be touched each month. Through this ministry, connections have been formed, people have been prayed over and with, healing has happened, and hope has been spread. One month a group of volunteers was able to pray over a man and take him to rehab for help. Another outreach from that day has led to years of an ongoing partnership with an organization that allows us to build relationships within a community. And just as a fire needs to be fed to continue to burn, consistency has been such a vital part of the ministries that were formed. Getting out of the four walls of our church and into our community. Through tangible acts of kindness and servitude, a first interaction led to speaking into another’s life and sharing the love of Jesus. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16.
In a devotional I was reading recently, there was a day entitled “Serving… Just Add Water!” I was thrown off a little by the title but kept reading. It talked about Jesus turning water into the wine; how that he didn’t use a lot of ingredients, a process to make it happen, he simply used water. In a typical setting one would find it impossible to make this happen, but with Christ impossible things are possible. He used ordinary water to create something. Ordinary like you and ordinary like me. As one of my favorite reminders says, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” We don’t need a certain skill set to serve, special abilities, or many qualifications, all we need is ourselves and the love of Jesus. The end of the devotional said, “What we have is all we need to serve, no matter how common
our water, our ability is.” I encourage you today to get out and serve, lead a team, pray over others because all you have is all you need!
King of Kings Showed Up One Day and Never Went Away.
by Lara Ray, King of Kings Church
That’s how Cindy Scharff, principal of Disney Elementary School, describes her school’s burgeoning relationship with King of Kings. What began as a simple lunch has blossomed into an impactful partnership, and it grew during City Serve.
King of Kings has long had a passion for serving and encouraging teachers, and the Millard Interfaith Advisory Council helped us identify Disney as an ideal partner in March 2020. Our first outreach was simple: lunch and uplifting gifts bags for Disney teachers and staff during back-to-school orientation. It was a great experience for everyone, and we began checking in monthly, looking for new ways to support teachers and encourage students.
That led to King of Kings offering free haircuts to kids under 18 as one of our 2020 City Serve Projects. As our relationship with Disney’s staff deepened, we uncovered more and more opportunities to assist them. We invited Disney families to our free Back to School event in August, supplied hygiene kits for children in need, and hosted a back-to-school night on Disney’s campus, during which we donated all the school supplies each student would need for the upcoming year. The latter was particularly satisfying, as it helped Disney set school records for Back-to-School Open House attendance records for students and parents!
And the way we see it, our partnership with Disney is only beginning. We’ll continue to provide support and volunteers throughout the school year, including helping students and completing a project on the school’s grounds during City Serve 2021. We cannot express our delight to work with such a fantastic partner and get to witness the way Jesus is changing the lives of teachers and students.
And it all started with lunch.
Allow City Serve to provide an inspiring jumping-off point for your next great volunteer partnership! When you get involved, you can create life-changing bonds that help show God’s love to our great city around us.
Influencing One Life or an Entire Community Will have Lasting Impact for Years to come.
by Connie Bissen, Lifegate Church
As a church, we made the decision to partner with one local school. We wanted to build a long-term lasting relationship that would impact the community as well as individuals. It takes time and energy to build relationships, but in the long run, it is well worth it because of the lasting impact on people. In 2020 we decided to partner with the local school to see how we could build a long-term relationship. We asked them how we could help them in whatever way they needed help. We did not go with our own plan or our own agenda. We went to them to serve them as a school in our community.
As we served them, our relationship grew. There was a level of trust between us that began to develop and grow. Throughout this past year, we continued to serve them even in the midst of a pandemic. The relationship grew stronger and with a deeper level of trust. When it came time this year to begin planning City Serve our relationship was strong and built to last. There was no doubt in our minds that City Serve 2021 would be a great week of serving alongside the staff, faculty, and families of the school we have partnered with.
Our church and the school faculty have planned and worked together to prepare for a great City Serve 2021 week with fun games, work projects, great food, new relationships throughout the community, and much more. We know that City Serve 2021 will be a huge success for us as we serve our long-term friends at this local school and the families in their community. People in our church are ready to donate their time and energy to a week of lasting impact.