Resources
Habitat for Humanity (
www.habitat.org) is an international Christian housing ministry that has built or repaired homes for more than 3 million beneficiaries worldwide. Individuals and small groups can join existing builds, while large groups can plan their own.
YouthWorks (
www.youthworks.com) is a Christian organiza- tion that offers service trips within the U.S. for youth, families and all-age church groups. Participants must register through their church or organization.
Amizade (
www.amizade.org) provides service opportunities within the U.S. and abroad. It’s possible to volunteer individually, to join a group or form your own. Amizade is a secular organiza- tion but also organizes trips for groups from religious institutions.
ELCA (
www.elca.org). To learn about accompaniment, click on “Resources,” then “Global Mission,” “Accompaniment” and “Culture and Accompaniment.” Also search for “short-term mission” at the site.
is an important ELCA method expressed in the values of mutuality, inclusiveness, etc. “As the ELCA, we fi nd that it’s not that one partner
has the resources and one partner has the need. We come together in mutual need,” said Ryan Cumming, program director for hunger education with the ELCA. It’s a method of mission practiced by ELCA mis-
sionaries and is a good model to follow for any type of service work.
Service is faith in action
Holden Kohlmeyer and Mia and Anya Prater, members of Atone- ment Lutheran Church, Boulder, Colo., prep a house for painting in Green River, Utah, while on a mission trip. They also replaced leaking windowpanes on the house as part of Atonement’s partnership with the Epicenter’s Fix It First program.
Four ways to deepen your impact
Prepare. Read up on your destination and its people in advance to better understand the context when you arrive.
Spend locally. Seek out locally owned accommodations and restaurants, even for snacks.
Spark connections with others inside and outside of your service project. Introduce your team to a local group, serve alongside a local congregation. Consider homestays instead of a hotel. Attend an area worship service, concert or community event. Find a theological voice from your destination and engage.
Bring it home. Share your experience at church, write an article in your school newsletter, or offer a brown bag lunch at your office. Write a blog. Make a video about your trip. Set a goal to continue your service at home, such as one project a month. Contact area politicians to advocate for policies that will help address the issue your service work supported.
As a regular churchgoer, I witnessed pastors and laypeople living out their faith every week. But what resonates—especially with young people—is watch- ing adults hammering a nail or standing in solidarity with others. Leaders can impart an important lesson in discipleship without saying a word. Volunteering with a faith-based organization doesn’t
guarantee a faith experience—so intentionality may be up to you. Although Habitat is Christian-based, we didn’t recite prayers as we installed drywall. But we did take time each evening to refl ect on the day’s experi- ence—our own role in it and God’s hand in all of it. Even if volunteering with a secular organization,
don’t miss opportunities to discuss how our work is God’s work. Explore larger issues that created the need in the fi rst place, and how individual and government choices and poli- cies impact those issues. T rough it all, pray for God’s guidance in serving.
Author bio: Robertson is the author of Moon Volunteer Vacations in Latin America (Avalon Travel Publishing, 2013), and a member of Queen Anne Lutheran Church, Seattle.
June 2015 27
LORI PRATER
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