Hands On Faith, Making it Practical

This past Sunday we reviewed a number of our Hands On Faith service activities over the past year.  We also looked at Matthew 25 where Jesus says, "Just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me."  

What does it actually look like to put this into practice?  Where do we go from here?  Besides joining in the church's occasional service efforts, what else is there?  Here are some thoughts:

Last Sunday we single packed over 1400 rolls of toilet paper for the Johnson County Crisis Center.

• Just try something.  We can sometimes get sidetracked in attempting to find the "perfect fit" for volunteering.  But often we can just simply try out a volunteer opportunity, see if it works, and go from there.
• Do it with friends or family.  Find a volunteering group.  Maybe your small group in the church could join a Habitat build for 4 hours on a Saturday afternoon.  (You can contact Habitat directly to set it up!)  Or maybe you could visit a nursing home with family members once a month to simply hang out.  
• Put a line item in your budget for giving to the vulnerable.  If you're like me, you're often asked to give to various organizations doing great work.  Or sometimes you might be approached by individuals asking for money.  It's a lot easier to respond to requests if you've already made room in your budget.  If you have $50/month to give away, then you can treat these requests as fun opportunities to give great gifts.  (A shameless plug for giving to our church-- Sanctuary is committed to giving away at least 10% of all that we take in.  That's $40-$45K each year.  When our whole church gives away thousands of dollars, it makes a big impact on the organizations, and people take notice of a church doing it.  So in your budgeting, think about not lowering your church giving for other giving.  Instead, perhaps you can skip a coffee or a meal to pad your giving budget.)
• Think long term, and build relationships over the long haul.  It's the long term relationships and habits we form that make the greatest impact.