Week 13: The Serve the Church Challenge

Week 13: The Serve the Church Challenge

Serve the Church Challenge: Week 13 of the Organized Homeschool Challenge

It can be easy for homeschooling families to take service to the church to one of two extremes — either always being at church to the neglect of family and homeschooling or never being there. This week, we are going to take time to discuss and pray about how God is calling us to share our time, talents, and tithes with our faith family and the world.

#1 Review Your Current Church Service

If you don’t yet belong to a church, I encourage you to make that a priority this week. The Lord urges us to be in community with other believers to worship Him, to serve, and to be cared for.

If you do belong to a church and you are currently serving, write down what you are each doing. Consider these factors:

  • Does your service take an appropriate amount of time?
  • Does your service take advantage of your talents?
  • Does your service meet a need?

Spend time discussing how you each serve and praying about what, if any, changes the Lord would have you make.

#2 Consider Time Commitments of Potential Service Opportunities

If you or your family aren’t serving at church, this is the week to consider how you can do that. If the way you are serving isn’t working, this is also a time to consider a change.

Many homeschooling families find their time is best used serving together. I know some who make yearly participation in a church musical or outreach activities (like an Easter egg hunt) a family activity. My family and our homeschool friends prepared meals together for Feed My Starving Children this year and the time flew because we had so much fun.

Our church offers the chance to participate in mission trips during the year. This is a good time to determine if these opportunities work well with your family’s schedule.

Some acts of service can be fit around your regular schedule. I love Not Consumed’s idea of an Acts of Service jar. When it’s full, the family celebrates what they’ve done.

#3 Consider Your Talents and Interests When Considering Service Opportunities

The Homeschool Classroom offers great ideas for service opportunities for your family. Your church office may have some ideas, but even better, ask people you know who are in charge of various ministries. Ask your children what they would be most passionate about doing. The Pleasantest Thing shares service ideas that even toddlers can enjoy.

Some of the best ideas for serving come from your children themselves. My daughter has organized a lemonade stand to raise funds for malaria nets and a bake sale for African orphans. If the ideas fit with your child’s God-given talents and interests, you won’t have to beg them to serve.

#4 Consider Your Tithes

Have you shared with your children your commitment to giving to the church and to charity? If not, share with them the sacrifices you willingly make and the blessings of giving. Also share why you are passionate about the causes you support.

Give your children the opportunity to give their own money to church and other causes. Lead them in prayer about the amount and the distribution of the money they will give. If you leave the gift amount open-ended, you may be surprised by how generous they will be.

If you’re like me, you haven’t been the most organized with the church offering and tithing envelopes. This is the week to change that. You may want to get your children a Giving Bank, so they can clearly see their offerings. You can also use an app like Spend. I have 10% of my children’s incoming money automatically added to a tithing account. Now my children and I need to make sure the money makes it into their envelopes!

How do you and your family serve the church and the world?

 

Here is the March Organized Homeschool Calendar to print and a list of previous weeks’ challenges:

Organize your homeschool this spring with this free March printable calendar

Organized Homeschool Challenge

Week 1: Daily Devotions Challenge

Week 2: Daily Routine Challenge

Week 3: To-Do List Challenge

Week 4: Memory Keeping Challenge

Week 5: The Decluttering Challenge

Week 6: The Organized Computer Challenge

 Week 7: The Marriage of Your Dreams Challenge

Week 8: The Confident Parent Challenge

Week 9: The Extended Family Challenge

Week 10: The Bring on the Spring Challenge

Week 11: The Spring Cleaning Challenge

Week 12: The Organized Easter Challenge

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