User-friendly Service

Service. It’s a highly valued concept. Students, especially Christian ones, praise those who dedicate time to serving others, often following such praise with rueful sentences beginning “I should do more service projects myself, but . . .” But it’s hard to know where one is needed. But it’s hard to know how to set up a project. But it’s hard to make the time to do something in between school, work, activities, and friends. But it’s a little scary not knowing how people will respond . . . what if they are offended?

Service involves crossing out of one’s own comfort barriers and into someone else’s, and both of those are challenging concepts. How can Christian students serve their campus? How can they begin to help other students build a positive picture of Christianity and Christ? How can they make time in a very busy lifestyle to work in the community, and how can they find the money to give to those in need around the world?

These were some of the needs that the Service Team of Smith Christian Fellowship saw and addressed last year. Being actively Christian is daunting at any school, and it can feel downright scary at Smith, an ultra-liberal, super-intellectual women’s liberal arts college in Massachusetts. Smithies tend to have a negative default image of Christians that often leads astray even the best-intentioned attempts to build relationships, and the SCF members know this. Well, why not show love to Smithies within their own comfort zones?

Craft-y Witness
In Smith’s Campus Center, many organizations set up tables for fund raisers, selling tickets, food, etc. to raise money. The Service Team decided to follow this model, but with a twist. SCF set up a craft table at a strategic location in the Campus Center during pre-finals crunch at the end of the semester. Students, stressed with impending final exams and papers, could stop at the table and make simple crafts like “warm fuzzies” (little pom-pom critters). The table was very popular. Students commented that it was a great idea to have a relaxing ten-minute study break for arts-and-crafts in the middle of a stressful week. The craft table was so successful that the Service Team repeated it in the spring. SCF members came to “work” the table, an established and safe way to engage with the non-Christian community. Similarly, non-Christian Smithies found the craft table to be a safe means of engaging with Christians; it was on their time and under their control.

House-to-House on Halloween
These same principles then stretched to encompass the college’s surrounding neighborhood. The project: Trick-or-Sweatering. On Halloween, rather than collecting candy, students went door-to-door on the streets around the school to collect extra or unwanted clothing. The students used an established tradition to fit a service project into their busy schedules, and also provided an alternative for those who wanted to have fun without celebrating Halloween. Neighbors found giving made easy—all they had to do was bring clothes to the door. When presented with this opportunity to give, neighbors energetically provided bag upon bag of clothing, totaling about two carloads of bagged clothing for a local shelter.

A Shoebox Christmas
One other activity planned by the Service team allowed SCF-ers to show love to their global community. Operation Christmas Child is a global Christmas project sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse. Families and individuals put together shoeboxes full of small presents for children that are then distributed to impoverished children around the world. The problem: filling a shoebox takes money (plus time and transportation to the stores). A student on a shoestring budget can’t necessarily fill a whole box with toys and clothes.

The plan: SCF participated with OCC as an organization last Christmas. Everyone brought one or two items for presents to Large Group. A student had gone to help distribute boxes in the past, and she shared about her experience. Then everyone filled boxes with whatever had been brought. In this way, students were able to give what they could afford, and could do so with confidence in the quality of their gift. The spirit of giving and love remained strong.

These are, of course, just a few examples of service team activities. Last year was the service team’s pilot year, and there is, as always, room for improvement in engaging SCF students and building long-term relationships within the community. And yet, what joy these students have had in providing opportunities for true service to grow! They are learning the truth of Paul’s words to the believers at Philippi:

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:1-5 NIV).

—Kathleen Thomas (née Cochran) is a Smith Christian Fellowship alumna. She is an InterVarsity campus intern at Smith College, and lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Charles, and their cat, Beth.