Who We Are: Service Leaders
John Dulmes
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in various forms.” - 1 Peter 4:8-10
Hillside is a church that loves to serve others! It is amazing to know how many of our members are involved on a weekly basis to continue the work of our church through administration, teaching, outreach, compassion, and community. Many of these faithful servants go unnoticed by others, but our church and God’s kingdom are blessed through their time and talents.
Pastor Ron preached on how we can discover and use our spiritual gifts, and we have the great opportunity to do that, not only as individual believers but as a collective fellowship of believers comprising different gifts. Many of these gifts are truly spiritual in nature, but giftedness can also have very physical or practical components. As a church and as the deacon working with our Project Service Leaders, I would like to highlight these opportunities.
As described in our handbook, the Service Leaders are responsible for leading the church into ministries of mercy and service to our members and the broader community. They are responsible for:
Responding to the physical needs of the members of the congregation on a temporary and long-term basis.
Developing ministries of mercy, service, and justice to respond to the needs of persons living in the broader community and around the world.
Praying for and encouraging all the various ministries at Hillside and their leaders.
Hillside has a number of externally-focused projects that have been ongoing that we would commend for your prayer and supporting, including (but not limited to):
Samaritan Meals to bless families in times of need
Hand2Hand to provide food bags to students at Townline Elementary for weekend needs
Angel Tree Christmas gifts for Townline and Kids Hope students
Peter Fish program to become aware and respond to the problem of World Hunger
A fall coat drive to support clients of Roosevelt Park Ministries
Collections and personal support of refugee families
Ongoing collections of nonperishable food, baby diapers and wipes, and used cell phones
Individual requests for home repairs, transportation, child care, etc.
In our busy lives, it is easy for us to simply focus on our own individual and family needs, or even the visible opportunities of weekly ministries at Hillside; these are all very important! However, we are also called to bless others through service, and acts of service help to take us out of our inward-focused attitudes. Anyone can serve: children can learn how to serve others through opportunities with a parent or their family, younger adults can often help with certain physical or technical projects, and retired adults can often give more of their time on an ongoing or as-needed basis.
Thank you to all those who serve Hillside and others - you are serving the Lord! And please look out for upcoming surveys or specific requests for service as we try to identify members to see these important needs.
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
- Acts 20:35