Christian Service Ideas For Children

Christian service is such an important part of a child’s spiritual growth. Too many of the children in our world today are growing up with a “me” focus. As we promote Christian service within Olympians and Gopher Buddies ministries, we are trying to teach the children to have an “other’s focus.”The Olympian Christian Service Manual and the ideas given to Gopher Buddies for Christian Service are a great place to help the children focus on the needs of others. As you enter the spring season, here are some examples of ways the children can serve:

Tree Planting – Find out when your state celebrates Arbor Day and then plan to participate for a Group Christian Service. Check with your parks department and schedule a time to plant trees with the children at one of the local parks. As you and the children come in contact with others at the park, invite them to attend your church.

Pack It Up – Visit www.childrentochildren.org and then contact the social service agency in your community to see if you can work out details for your Olympians and Gopher Buddies to participate in a project similar to the “children‐to‐children”project. Ask if you can place a Bible in the duffel bags as well as a stuffed animal.

Food Drive – Have the children bring in canned or boxed foods for a homeless shelter, rescue mission, or Baptist Children’s Home. After the food has been collected, get the children involved in helping to pack up the boxes for delivery to the organization.

Fun Flowers – There are so many ways to create beautiful faux flowers from tissue paper and chenille stems. Have the children each make a flower and create a cheery card to attach to it. Plan a field trip to a local nursing home and allow the children to help distribute the flowers.

Flower Garden – Collect money from the children for a few weeks and then go and buy flowering plants for a senior citizen or for a nursing home. Take some of the children with you so they can participate in picking out the flowers. If possible, allow some of the children to participate in helping to plant the flowers.

Give a smile! – Cut round circles from construction paper and have the children creatively make smiley face cards to distribute to children who are in the hospital. Purchase some little stuffed animals that can be given along with the cards.

Spring Cleaning – Check with your Pastor and see if there are some senior citizens who could use some extra help with cleaning and yard work. Make sure you recruit additional adults to help, assign the tasks, and then “divide and conquer.”This is a great way to be a testimony in your community!