One of the first and most important initiatives for First Students this school year are monthly Serve Days. First Church has over 50 mission partners, many of them serving and loving those in need right here in our own community. The goal is for First Students to serve alongside these organizations and missionaries to raise their awareness in order to support and pray for our mission partners, and to love and serve those in need. We believe that the Church does not exist to tell a world that needs Jesus, “come and see,” but instead, the Church is to “go and tell” the good news of Jesus Christ. Through Serve Days, our students go and serve as Christ’s hands and feet.
So far, we have served with The Salvation Army, ECHO Global Farm, Misión Peniel, and Café of Life. We have done a variety of activities including sorting donations, serving meals, and volunteering at events for the public. We hope to serve and connect on a regular basis with other mission partners as well as revisit those places where we have already volunteered.
The impact and value of Serve Days for our students cannot be overstated. For many of them, volunteer hours are required by their schools. But God does not require us to volunteer in order to be saved—in fact, no amount of volunteering can earn our salvation. Instead, the students are learning that to serve others is a natural overflow of God’s agape love in their lives. They are beginning to see the incredible needs that exist in their own backyard. Not only that, they are discovering that God can use them—even at their young ages—to meet those needs and to make a significant, eternal impact for God’s Kingdom and His glory.
by Pastor Su Kim
