Service opportunities are some of the most important ways that we as Christians can follow Christ. From the earliest moments of Jesus Christ’s ministry, there has been a call to serve others, and our church continues as a part of the larger church body to serve the world around us and spread Christ’s love through doing so.
“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” – John 12:26
Ongoing Service Opportunities
The Service Ministry Team has a Gracious Groceries program that collects food donations year-round in the narthex for families in need. They also provide volunteers occasionally for Green Square Meals, Habitat for Humanity, Tanager Place, Kidspoint, and more.
Throughout the year, the Service Ministry Team also promotes Change for the Better. Each month a different social service program is featured. Some of the organizations that have received donations of money in the past through “change” put into the can in the narthex include: Green Square Meals, Community Health Free Clinic, Habitat for Humanity, Lutheran Chaplaincy Outreach (LCO), A Promise of Health, Camp Ewalu, Lutheran World Relief, Heifer Project, and Crop Walk.
Blessed Peacemakers (quilting group) meet on Monday & Friday from 1-3 pm.
Service Throughout the Year
In the early months of the year, volunteers make Valentine’s Day cards for homebound members and others in local nursing homes. During Lent, the Service Leadership Team leads a drive for funds for ELCA’s Good Gifts program that provides animals, crops, and other supplies for those in need around the world. In June, several participants join the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life of Linn County to fight back against cancer. During the summer months, volunteers plant and tend a garden from which the produce is donated to Feed Iowa First. At the end of summer, the group holds a school supply drive, and supplies are donated to Families Helping Families of Iowa. In September, our church participates in God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday, the ELCA’s Day of Service where we have partnered with a variety of organizations. During the fall months, the Service Team leads a coats, hats, and gloves drive that benefits a social service agency. In December, the “Angel Tree” project collects gifts for local groups like Olivet Mission and Tanager Place.