The following is from Kat and the crew from Calvary Church in New Prague, MN (women’s Bible study, Mission 55 and the youth group). THANK YOU!
What does “Saturday” mean to you? Freedom? Friends? Catch up day? Sports? If I were a betting woman, I would put money down that you’re ALL trying to sleep.
There’s a little group in Minnesota that, when asked what “Saturday” means to them, you get many of those same answers. However, the beautiful part is that as often as the word “sleep” is being used, so are phrases like “service project” or “love on someone.” What’s even more amazing, is that the un-coerced age range starts as young as 12 and ends north of 50! Not only is that a biblical-relationship building opportunity (Titus 2), but it’s a beautiful picture of people from all stages of life answering the call to care for those less fortunate.
While we are not saved by works, faith without works is dead (James 2). This group in New Prague is on a mission to serve each other and the nations in worship and obedience to Christ and I couldn’t be more proud to be a member. Love for Jesus and people has pulled our little crew into the warehouse many Saturday mornings to sort and box supplies, stack boxes, and measure pallets. It is six hours of dirty, repetitive, manual labor – but is the tradeoff worth it?
100%!
We have many teenage volunteers and even they never hesitate to sign up with excitement – and not just for the free lunch. We love building stronger relationships while serving than we could while watching Netflix, and we have a blast doing it! It’s a good time of joking around, goofing off, and catching up while sorting syringes by color. The laughter while weeding out expired supplies, and the random pallet-dance breaks are just part of the excitement. Everyone leaves feeling tired and encouraged, dirty and renewed, full of joy and a member of a world-changing, Jesus proclaiming team.
What about that isn’t worth it?
Consider sending supplies to help them pack at the warehouse by click on out Amazon wishlist: https://a.co/hLM46PN