Serving With Your Family - Discipleship at Home

    Have you ever found yourself in a season where circumstances or daily routine tasks have gotten in the way of your ability to help others? Is it difficult to show your family what it looks like to love like Jesus - to feed, clothe, house, give, and listen? We found ourselves in that same spot just over a year ago, and decided to stop making excuses, and to start serving intentionally.

    One of my spiritual gifts is serving. I discovered early on in my teenage years that helping others gave me great joy. God developed this gift through many different experiences (including working at COCUSA!). As I got older, it became increasingly difficult to set aside time to serve. I had so many “excuses” not to host people in my home… until my husband and I helped plant a church. It was one of the most challenging and growing experiences that Isaac and I have been through together. Through serving in our church, our marriage has gotten stronger, and we have been able to positively impact people in our community together in the name of Jesus.

 The Bible says…

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:9-13)

This all seems pretty straightforward, right? Love God, love people, hate evil, and serve others. Easier said than done, especially when you’re juggling a job, parenthood, relationships, house maintenance, paying bills, the list goes on. But God makes it very clear in his word that if we want to love and serve him, we need to love and serve people. This is an essential principle of Christianity, and the example Jesus set throughout his entire earthly ministry. 

“A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

    My husband and I want to set a standard of generosity (with our time, finances, possessions and love) for our future children and let it be a foundation for our marriage. Here are some practical ways to get involved that have helped my family as we try to serve alongside each other. 

Get connected within your local church.

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  Almost every well-established church in your area will have a ministry where you can volunteer, make donations, prepare meals, or help fulfill other needs within the church body.

Serve organizations in your community.

• Research food pantries, homeless shelters, pregnancy centers, and other non-profit service-based organizations in your community. Go grocery shopping with your kids for the food pantry, collectively help someone with yard work, or take the family to a nursing home for the afternoon to brighten someone’s day. Help is always needed, and there are a lot of family friendly ways to serve men, women and children in need!

Be Available.

• Simply take time to be intentional with the people in your life. Opening up your home, offering to buy someone’s coffee, or making yourself available to others is the first and foremost way to set an example for your kids and show them how to love and serve others throughout daily life.

How does your family serve together? Give us more ideas by sharing a comment!

What I Learned From a Week in the Amazon Jungle

Loving people is hard.

     The book and major motion picture, "The End of The Spear" tells the story of the remote Waodani people group in the heart of the Amazon jungle. The Waodani are well-known for spearing to death five Christian missionaries in 1956. After this tragic event, the tribe eventually came to Christ by the grace of God and the loving ministry of the murdered missionaries' relatives. Two weeks ago, I traveled to Ecuador with an organization called “i-Tec” into the Amazon jungle to live with the Waodoni people. Of the many things God taught me during my week in the jungle, one of the most important lessons is that it takes humility to love others well.  

     It was painfully obvious that without the leadership and guidance of the Waodani people, none of us on the trip would have survived our time in the Amazon. The jungle is full of dangerous animals, plants, and landscapes. Instead of mocking our inability to hunt, build shelters, navigate through the dense jungle, or utilize our surroundings, the Waodani loved us well by teaching us their way of life. They took us under their wing, humbled themselves, and showed us what true, God-like love looks like.

Here are some pictures I took during my week living with the Waodani.

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     The Waodani people we lived with followed Jesus’ example. In John 4, Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman. The woman had come to draw water by herself in the middle of the day and Jesus, being thirsty, asked her for a drink. Despite the many cultural traditions that should have kept these two at odds, Jesus humbled himself and asked the woman for a favor. Their conversation changed this woman's life for good. Not only did the woman return to her village as a believer in Jesus, but her testimony helped bring others to Christ as well.

     Humility is necessary to love others well. Here are a few things we can do as parents to humbly love our kids:

1) Get on your kids’ level.

     I’ve started trying to get at eye-level with my kids when I’m disciplining them. It shows my kids that I value this time of discipline and often allows us to have more engaging conversations beyond what they had done wrong. Beyond discipline issues, get on the floor and play with your kids. I’m convinced my kids’ favorite part of the day is when I come home and let them tackle me. In that moment, they know that I love them.

2) Admit your shortcomings.

     I talk to my kids about obeying Jesus and us as their parents frequently. After my trip to Ecuador, my wife and I have started to admit to our kids that we are also still learning how to obey Jesus. This doesn’t mean we need to air all of our sins and struggles to our family, but it is important for our kids to know that we also fail to obey Jesus sometimes. We are growing as a follower of Jesus everyday just like they are.

3) Allow yourself to feel uncomfortable.

     Loving people is messy and sometimes awkward. Be there to listen when someone in your family needs to vent. Listen well instead of trying to solve problems. Do the dishes so your spouse doesn’t have to. Come home ready to serve your family even if you’ve had a rough day at work.

     Sharing the love of Jesus with our families is a high calling. Pray with me that God would work through us to humbly love our kids well.