A Service Project for Your Students

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Looking for a service project to do with your youth group? Jeremy Pettitt shares and one idea that can help make an impact on the lives of families and of your students as well.

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Video Transcript

During this holiday season we're generally telling our students to give gifts to the people around them, give generously, and also, to receive gifts and just be grateful for them. One of the things I started noticing with students was that when you told them, "You should be grateful", they didn't really get that. They were kind of like, "Well, I don't know what you mean." One of the things that I spent a lot of time doing with my students was putting them in situations that would help them understand how grateful they should be. How amazing their life is. The best way to do that is to serve people that are less fortunate than you.

During this holiday season I want to give you a suggestion, something maybe new that you've never tried before. I want to encourage you with the possibility of going to serve at a children's hospital. Now, children's hospitals are a phenomenal place to go and put a smile on a kid's face. I took students all over the place, on tours of children's hospitals to take them in and let them play with the kids, and let them do crafts and paint, and do all kinds of other things to see that smile on a kid's face. It was amazing how when we did that we had opportunities open up to talk about the love of God. About the Gospel, with not only the kid, but with their families. 

We went in to make them smile, because we knew that when we did it to the least of these, we did it for Jesus. This is really personal for me, because I have kids that have been in children's hospitals recently, and somebody came in and played with my kid, and put a smile on his face. That meant a lot to me as a parent. Take the time to take your students to children's hospitals, and watch it impact them. Watch it change the way they think, because all of a sudden they realize that life is short, and not everybody gets to live it to the full sometimes. It makes them re-think the things that they already assumed about their life. 

I've had students who've some back to me years later who've said, "Listen, I was with my nephew or my niece in a children's hospital, and I was sitting there and we were all worried about them, and somebody came in and played a little game with them and put a smile on their face, and I finally realized why you took us." Look, if you've got a children's hospital close to you, set up a day to go in and do a craft, or do something fun, to play with some kids. Your students are probably already used to working with kids, because if they're student leaders or whatever. Trust me, this is a mind-blowing experience, and it's sitting not very far from your house. It will change the way your students view the world. Change the way the view themselves, and instill gratefulness in them when they realize all that God has given them.

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