Tend - 3rd Mark of Mission
THREE: To respond to human need by loving service
The last supper Jesus shared with his followers in John’s Gospel is marked by Jesus taking a towel and washing his disciples’ feet. They are told that in order to follow Jesus and lead others to do the same, they, too, must be the servant of others. The Christian model of leadership is servant leadership.
Jesus also taught that the two greatest commandments are to love God with all your heart, mind and strength, and to love others as you love yourself. Loving service, then, is at the heart of the Christian message.
As with most aspects of the Christian life, we are challenged to see what a difference our faith makes to service. If our service grows from love, it should be for the sake of the other, not for ourselves. That means that, as a “servant” we try to find out how the other wants us to serve, rather than doing what we choose. Servants do not choose how they are to serve, but do the will of the one they serve. We will also seek to know the humanity of those we serve, rather than seeing them simply as recipients of our service. Usually we ourselves benefit from serving others, but the crunch comes when it will not be to our benefit - but we choose to do it anyway. That is true Christian service.
Resources
See the following pages for resources and ideas for building this Mark into school life.
Auckland City Mission
Click below to go to a growing document with information on local (ie within our Province) service organisations with which schools might want to be involved. As I hear back with information from more of them, I will add them.
Service Learning 101
This is an American site, but is crammed with resources which could be adapted for Aotearoa NZ and Polynesia. It provides a simple framework for developing a service learning process, with links to numerous activities and lessons to help along the way.
Third Mark Resources
If you wonder what to do for Chapel on this “Third Mark”, here is a full service for you to use, with a choice of readings, stories and practical responses, from the Anglican Church of Southern Queensland.
Senior Pen Pals Project
The Senior Pen Pals Project: Service learning specifically in an Anglican School here
World Vision
A bible study on Syrian Refugees. This guide will take you on a four-session journey as a group. Each session, you’ll have the chance to read the story of a real-life refugee, examine Scripture, tackle some questions designed to stretch you and help you think on a deeper level, consider how to apply what you’ve learned, and pray for refugees together.