Yesterday I shared about our daughter’s disability ministry and the teens and tweens who volunteer there. Today I would like to share a few short tips about how we can raise children who serve the Lord by serving others. (See more on empathy training from earlier posts, as well.)
First of all, it should be noted that all of the children who come to One Heart every Thursday evening come by their own accord. We parents do not go to the Thursday evening services for the most part. All ten of us or so help with the half dozen big events that One Heart hosts (meals, banquets, Christmas deliveries, etc.—especially cooking and serving food), but for the weekly services, it is usually just the kids who go help.
Secondly, it should be noted that these twenty or so kids did not just turn twelve and decide that they wanted to dedicate every Thursday evening to those with disabilities. They were all, for lack of a better word, “groomed” for such service. People (children included) do not generally develop a servant’s heart naturally.
Here are some tips that we have found helpful in training children’s hearts in serving others:
1. It starts at home very, very early. I know you hear this all of the time, but what exactly does it mean? It means that when my child rips a toy out of another child’s hand, I don’t just jerk it away from him and tell him not to do that, but I tell him (at his level) that when he does that, it makes the other person feel bad. Empathy is the beginning of serving others. If children are not taught to understand how someone else feels, how can they develop empathy towards them?
2. It is modeled. Remember the poem on January 1st when Positive Parenting 3*6*5 began, “I Looked Into the Eyes of My Children”? If we do not show a compassion and put feet to that compassion, our children will likely not do it either. Our children have to see us taking the words of Jesus about “doing it unto the least of these” and “serving the household of faith” literally.
3. Provide opportunities to serve for our kids. I know we all do those occasional things that just feel right (and they usually are), such as short term missions, Christmas projects, raising money for a missionary, etc., but if we make service a weekly, or at least monthly, part of our children’s lives, it will become a part of who they are and what they are here for.
4. Put service ahead of other things. People often ask us questions about getting their children involved in service projects, and we often end the conversation with the parent telling us how good it sounds to get their children involved in reaching out, but there is just not time for it. I am an efficiency expert-time-priority maniac, and I have an answer for all of us who do not have time for something—we all have the same amount of time. It is how we spend it that matters. We make time for the important things in our lives—for the priorities. If we do not make time for it, then it really isn’t that important to us.
5. Verbalize our reason for being here! From our children’s earliest ages, they heard us over and over again, say any and all of the following:
a. If you see a need, try to meet it.
b. If you can meet a need, do it!
c. “To whom much is give, much is required.”
d. “He who is faithful in little things, will be given more things.”
e. “Serve those closest to you first.”
f. The true test of character is what you do when nobody is looking.
g. If you can serve your family, you can serve anybody.
h. If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all.
i. The greatest joy comes in serving others.
j. How can you help?
k. How do you think that person feels?
l. What can you do?
The field is white unto harvest. We have the opportunity to raise laborers for the Lord. It all starts in the home.
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