Service
Serving each other and the world
to grow a loving community
Christ our example
As Christians we are called to follow Christ’s example in our lives. Jesus’ supreme act was to willingly die on the cross for us (see Good News). This Jesus described as an act of service - an act of service that he calls Christians to imitate: “… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man (i.e. Jesus) did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:43-45 , NIV) Of course the cross was also the supreme expression of love. Jesus said: “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends…This is my command: Love one another.” (John 15:13,17 NIV).
Serving Each Other
At St. Luke’s we want to encourage a culture of service and love. Many people are involved in service of all kinds within the church community from leading services to making coffee, from teaching in the Sunday club to welcoming people at the door. We occasionally run a Network course to help people see where they might best be able to serve.
As well as meeting together on a Sunday, many people are now part of our growth teams. These are small groups, which meet fortnightly to encourage each other in their growth in Christ. This smaller community is a great place to get to know each other at a deeper level and so to serve and love each other more effectively.
Of course one important way to serve the church is financially. Many of our members are committed to giving regularly through our shareplan scheme. Information packs on this are available at the back of church.
Serving the World
Locally St. Luke’s serves the community by offering mid-week groups such as women’s fellowship for older ladies and play and praise for parents and their pre-school children to attend.
Further afield St. Luke’s is also a keen supporter of Christian mission organisations in the UK and around the world. Each term (usually around 7 weeks) we have a collection for one of the organisations we support and many give regularly to these mission agencies through our shareplan scheme. In September, instead of the traditional collection of food for harvest, we have a harvest appeal to raise money for a particular project. In 2004 we raised £2000 for Send a Cow - enough to send out a whole farm worth of animals to a community in Africa. In 2005 we raised £2800 to enable hospitals in India supported by The Leprosy Mission to carry out operations to prevent people with leprosy going blind. This was enough for 80 operations equivalent to roughly one operation for every one adult of our normal Sunday morning congregation. In 2007 just over £2000 was raised to supply Bibles to Christians in China. Just under £2,500 was raised in £2008 to help support Esperanza Foster Home in Paraguay. In 2009 £2,200 was raised to assist Compassion's work amongst children in some of the world's poorest countries.
Below is a list of organisations we support.
Bible Society www.biblesociety.org.uk
Through Crosslinks we support George - a Kenyan evangelist in training at a Bible college in Kenya.
Patrons of St. Luke’s.
Tearfund www.tearfund.org
Fegans
