Skip to main content

Thinking Missionally

As we consider different ideas and possibilities for being missional in community, here are some more ideas. As far as I know the author of this article is not a Christian, but these are still great ideas for sharing Christ's love with others. These may also be great ideas for groups with people who may not be able to get out and do physical projects.

Read the whole article here.

Here are the highlights:
  • Become a virtual mentor. In less than a half an hour a week, you can mentor kids and teens through the internet. Help young people set goals, learn study skills, deal home or school issues, and plan for a happy future. Encourage teens interested in your profession through I Could Be. Encourage kids to be successful in school through Achievement Advocate. Or, encourage foster children through Vmentor.
  • Send supplies to a rural family. Many families in rural America struggle to provide their children with the necessities of life. Project Box connects sponsor volunteers with families that really need the help. Each month, send your family a box of much-needed supplies that you choose and ship yourself. For example, you might decide to mail school supplies or a small present for a child’s birthday. Get to know your family through their monthly letters, help them overcome poverty, and encourage them to have the best lives possible.
  • Send cards to sick kids. All it takes is paper and a stamp to put a smile on the face of a sick child. Hugs and Hope provides volunteers with brief biographies of sick kids as well as postal addresses and email addresses. Many of the children have terminal illnesses and reading an uplifting note from a hospital bed could brighten their day.
  • Use a charity shopping portal. You buy stuff online anyway – by enrolling in a charity shopping portal program, the website will donate a percent of your purchases to the charity of your choice. You don’t pay an extra dime. Check out Greater Good and iGive.
  • Encourage a foster kid in college. College can be a tough time for anyone. But, it’s especially challenging for orphaned students who don’t have a family to set an example and offer support. Through an Orphans of America program, you can help brighten a lonely student’s day. Send a card with an uplifting message, a book of stamps, or a gift card.

Don't Forget, this is a part of 100+, we want to hear your story!

Comments

Missional Jerry said…
Try

http://www.family-to-family.org/
3:44 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discussion Questions for Easter

Have several people ask the question, “What’s the most important thing you’ve ever done?” Ask other people, “What do you hope to accomplish in the next several years of your life?” Tell your class that today you’ll be talking about “life mission” or the one most important thing you do that drives everything else. Tell them that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the defining moment in history, so it should be the defining moment in our lives. Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. How does the resurrection impact some of the crucial beliefs of Christianity?  How would Christianity be different if there was no resurrection? How would you be different without the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. What are some specific ways that the resurrection gives us hope? If you had been a friend of Jesus when he was on earth, how would the resurrection have impacted your life?  How do you think his followers then were effected by the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthian...
3 comments
Read more

FIGHT CLUB! (iron sharpening iron)

Our youth pastor, Keith Sandison, has implemented "Fight Clubs" with the young men of our church. While these teenagers and young adults aren't actually pummeling each other physically, they are using the opportunity to aggressively challenge one another to be more attentive to their spiritual formation. Right now my son is participating in a fight club focusing on Proverbs. I love it. Keith has created a handout he uses for the fight clubs which lists seven different methods of "generic Bible study". I think the idea started with this post a few years ago, but as he often does; Keith took my thoughts and made them immensely more substantive and beneficial. Check out his system below:
1 comment
Read more

Community Killers Part Four: Complaining

Nothing can tear a group apart faster or more effectively than a spirit of complaining. For some reason, complaints seem to breed faster than rabbits. Once one person’s complaining goes unchecked, it won’t be long until others have joined in and eventually the entire group is sucked into a hopeless vortex of swirling complaints. Often these complaints have little to do with the group, but they have the potential to sideswipe and destroy a group meeting, or if left unchecked, an entire group. Complaints may cover a variety of subjects. Group members might complain about their job, their day, their neighbor, their spouse, or even the church. The role of the leader is to deal with these complaints in a way which is formative for the person, instructive for the group, and glorifying to God. Because a LIFEgroup should be a place where people share their struggles and receive support and prayer, it can sometimes be difficult to know when someone is sharing a difficulty or...
Post a Comment
Read more