Putting these ideas into practice may be followed by extreme desire to continue acting like Jesus. Symptoms may include but are not bound to random acts of kindness, uncontrolled giving of time and resources, enlarged smile, extreme sense of joy, inability to stop serving others, and a sense of peace that passes all understanding. If you experience any of these symptoms, please rejoice and be glad in it.
START THE CONVERSATION
Begin at least one conversation a week with the phrase, "What do you think about Jesus?"
LUNCH ON ME
Find one person in your work, school or church who is struggling financially and provide lunch for them once a week.
MIDWEEK FAST
Fast every Wednesday (or a meal every Wednesday) for six months. Use the time you'd be eating to pray.
THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS
Do devotions with your family once a week for a year.
EPHESIANS
Memorize the book of Ephesians.
HOBBY TIME
Join a new club, class at the gym, or start a hobby so you can cultivate new relationships.
ADOPT A GRANDPARENT
Visit the same nursing home or elderly person at least once a month for a year. Get to know him or her and learn from that person. (Sayre Christian Village, Faith in Action Elder Outreach)
BRING A FRIEND
Invite a friend to church every week for the next six months.
CARDS FOR FOOD
Surprise a friend or two with a few gift cards to buy lunch this year.
A FEW $ A MONTH
Sponsor a child in poverty and change a life through Compassion or Food for the Hungry.
SERVING TEACHERS
Serve with the Encouragement Team or volunteer in a classroom to bless the teachers and staff at our Circles of Influence partner schools. More info here.
MORE SOUP FOR YOU
Serve meals at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen regularly this year. (Hope Center, Lexington Rescue Mission, God's Pantry) Serve with Room in the Inn (homeless sheltering at Southland) this winter. More info here.
66 BOOKS in 365
Read the entire Bible from cover to cover by next summer. Along the way, pray for the Bible to be translated for people groups who do not have the Scripture in their native languages.
THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
- Go to a park, college campus, downtown, or neighborhood and pick up trash.
- Prayer walk through your neighborhood, through a college campus or near a school.
- Offer to clean the home / mow the grass / wash the car of a family member, friend or neighbor.
- Write encouragement cards & deliver them (to teachers, police officers, firefighters, store employees, day care workers, etc.).
- Offer to babysit and/or pay for a dinner out for a young couple or single parent you know.
- Buy some snacks (chips, cookies, candy, etc.) and deliver them to people in a hospital waiting room, a police or fire station, or a homeless shelter.
- "Pay it forward" - pay for the gas / groceries / take-out of a person in line behind you.
- Purchase some socks or toiletries or bus tokens and donate them to a local homeless shelter.
- Pay for washers/dryers at a local Laundromat.
- Go to a supermarket and gather up shopping carts and return them.
- Go to the grocery store and buy some food or a backpack for our elementary food program.
ROLE MODEL
Mentor or tutor a child once a week this school year through our Circles of Influence school partnerships. More info here.
The $200 SALE
Sell something you have that's worth more than $200 and give that money to a local organization that serves the poor. Then find a way to volunteer your time there.
SIMPLIFY TO GIVE
Have a garage sale and give the proceeds to a person who recently lost a job, a family trying to adopt a child, or a person who wants to take a short-term mission trip.
ON A MISSION
Go on a short-term mission trip (or fund someone else's trip) next year. Missions on MySouthland.
GLOBAL ENCOURAGEMENT
Write letters to Southland's missionary families around the world or write encouraging letters to persecuted Christians in prison. Southland Missions. www.prisoneralert.com.
COOKED WITH LOVE
Join a food preparation team and prepare meals for our Bruised Reed Ministry to those in the exotic entertainment industry for a year. More info here.
ADVENT CONSPIRACY
This year, save the money you would spend on Christmas gifts and make small homemade gifts instead, or give gifts to those in need on behalf of your friends and family.
STAYCATION
For your next vacation (Labor Day, Winter Break, Spring Break, etc.) have a "staycation" instead. Stay in town and spend your days off serving others and volunteering your time in your community.
LOCAL MISSION FIELD
Invite non-believing friends to play on your sports team at Southland, or take your current team and play in a local community or parks league instead, building relationships and loving others as you play. More information on Southland sports here.
PRAY AND ACT
Commit to specifically praying for others this year. Volunteer with the Refuge Medical Clinic prayer team here, or pray for specific people and needs with your Life Group throughout the year.
PRAYERS FOR HEALING
Pray for those suffering from AIDS and malaria around the world. Give to an organization to purchase medicine or mosquito nets for people in high-risk areas.
CLOTHES OFF YOUR BACK
Clean out your closets and dontate your extra clothes to Helping Through HIM. Donate here