“I’m new to serving others and want to do a good job. Where do I start?”
It’s so great you want to start serving. Yay! 🎉
The first thing to know is that you want to keep everything very balanced. When you begin serving, one “yes” turns into two, turns into three and before you know it, you’re running around serving all day and neglecting your own needs and family.
While serving is a great endeaver, God never intends for one person to carry all the weight. But since the needs are many and the workers are few, pray for more workers continually. ❤️
Be sure your life is well managed and everything is balanced.
Next, start small. Don’t rush into things and do everything at once. And don’t do things you know you’re not a good fit for.
How do I put this politely? 😆 I do not like serving children. I’m VERY thankful that I do not have children at home. I do not want more children. I’m good at working with kids. I’ve done VBS, nursery, stuff like that all my life really (since I was 8), but I just don’t like it.
Yet, wherever I go, people hear that I’m a mom and they automatically want to throw me into some ministry with kids. It’s not really MY calling. I just don’t prefer it.
Gimme an old, white-haired lady to talk to and I’ll talk to her for hours. I love the elderly. ❤️ That’s where I love to be. Older people are so wise and if we LISTEN to them (their stories, their wisdom), we can learn a lot and avoid so many mistakes. So that’s where I’d rather be.
I’ve served by helping the elderly clean their homes, provide them meals, be a listening ear when they’re lonely, things like that. All that is much more my style. And the thing is EVERYONE has a DIFFERENT style. You may LOVE working with kids. More power to ya! 😆 Go for it!
That’s the point. You have to find something you ENJOY doing. Something that you’re passionate about, something you love, and you can try different things.
It also depends on time. How much time do you have to set aside for ministry each week?
One of the simplest things you can do is to join me on Truth For Life’s prayer team! It’s a VERY simple way to serve, you’re just praying for people who need prayer. You can do that around your schedule, anytime you want. 😊
Here’s some other ideas to find something that fits with what you like to do…
- Start a gifting ministry on Facebook
- Volunteer somewhere within your church
- Help the homeless (gather donations, work in soup kitchens, etc.)
- Start a Christian blog (or help someone with theirs)
- Help a neighbor
- Deliver a homecooked meal to someone
- Offer to babysit a single mama’s kids so she can rest
- Create a cards ministry (sending people cards for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
- Be a Titus 2 woman and teach a younger woman the things listed in Titus 2:4-5
- Volunteer in your community
- Donate money to a charity or needy person
- Learn a skill and use it for the glory of God (example: I taught myself graphic design and use it to create printables for churches, ministry leaders, and moms) 😊
- Drive someone somewhere who doesn’t have a car
- Give the gift of happy – encourage someone who needs it
- Do something for your husband, something he’s responsible for that you can do to surprise him
There are a billion ideas of what you can do. The main thing is to just start paying attention to people in need. Let a service to others and a love FOR others drive your life. Look for opportunities wherever you go and pray for God to give you them.
Nearly every single day I wake up, I ask God what does He want me to do today. Most of the time, He has something He wants me to do or to work on (my character, for example). It’s very rare He doesn’t have something for me to focus on.
Get in a habit of asking Him to show you what to do, how to spend your time, how to serve. If you do that, you’ll begin to see what’s important to HIM and you’ll be able to, in turn, please Him better! 🎉
Great question!!
