by: Molly Honcoop of First CRC Lynden in Washington
Perhaps most importantly, be an example. Remember how often Jesus left the crowds for silent prayer, verbalized gratitude to his Father, expressed compassion, and even met
Well into our planning for the year, we knew switching to SERVE@Home was going to be a challenge, but we never could have predicted the incredibly positive response we got from our church afterward.
Because the intergenerational aspect of our congregation at First CRC is so important to us, we wanted to make SERVE@Home an intergenerational experience as well. To do this, we decided to spread the experience out over two weeks (accounting for the busy schedules of families), encouraged family groups to sign up for the workdays, and even created devotional boxes for the younger kids that included a fun craft.
Once our SERVE@Home experience began, our pastor preached out of the typical SERVE “evening sessions”, and we sent the morning devotionals out to our congregation via email. On the workdays, it was so exciting to see family groups working together. Kids who are usually too young to participate were weeding and working with their parents and grandparents. It was also a unique opportunity for the people from our congregation to be able to go out to the worksites our SERVE teams have been working at these past few years and see what’s been done there and the difference our church can make for these organizations through SERVE.
We had such a great response to SERVE@Home these past two years that some of the church members have asked if we can do something similar next year when we have a full, traditional SERVE experience with students again. Our SERVE team and the congregation have really embraced and enjoyed SERVE@Home, and we can’t imagine having not made the switch despite the challenges it posed!
