This past Saturday, I did something I had never done before. I drove to an elementary school - 30 minutes away from my home, in a run-down area of town - to tutor kids who need extra help in math and reading. To be honest, I don't think I would have ever taken the initiative on my own and applied to be a tutor if it weren't for the efforts of our church staff, who made the decision to organize our church members to help the faculty and students of this particular school in any way possible. This is a school where the vast majority of kids are on free or reduced lunches (i.e. living near the poverty level), and where most kids come from single-parent homes. These are kids who were born into difficult family situations beyond their control and who are at risk for all types of delinquency. Even the most caring, loving parent would find it difficult to provide the best nurturing environment when s/he is working 2 or 3 minimum wage paying jobs just to barely make ends meet while feeling overworked and overstressed. Right now, many of these children still have their natural childhood innocence, but where will they be when they are 12, 16, 18 without other adults taking an interest in their lives? It's a problem that is quite staggering when you think of it.
So the big question in my head is: why don't more Christians help kids like these? Churches are always emphasizing acts of service (or in church-people speak: "serving the Lord"), but why are these types of compassionate ministries so noticeably absent from the lives of most Christians? Here are a few reasons I believe people ignore compassionate ministry, such as tutoring or mentoring at-risk children in a public school setting (and I write from personal experience):
- The popular misconception that "serving the Lord" means joining the choir, teaching Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, keeping the church nursery, being a church greeter, serving on a church committee, etc. In other words, "serving the Lord" means finding a place to serve inside your local church - no need to go outside the church. Certainly, we can and should contribute to the efforts of our local church; however, the Church is not a building or a local group of people. We, Christians all over the world, are the Church, and we have the ability to go into different neighborhoods, cities and countries and make an impact in people's lives.
- Another misconception: compassionate ministries and acts of kindness are meaningless unless accompanied by a figurative "Bible-thump" over the head. In other words, if we're not directly telling people about Jesus, why bother? While it is true that Jesus told us to "go and make disciples", he also said in Matthew 25 that whatever we did for "the least of these" (after describing the poor, homeless, sick, imprisoned, etc.) we did for him. James also describes caring for widows and orphans as "pure and faultless" religion. It seems pretty clear that "serving the Lord" has a much broader definition than just "making disciples". By the way, when people who openly love and follow Jesus sacrifice their time and energy to selflessly help others, I believe that does tell others a little something about Jesus, you know?
- Another reason people don't serve in this manner: they really don't care. It could be an "out of sight, out of mind" problem, or it could be a sense of retributive justice. "Not my problem you screwed up your life. You made your bed, now lie in it." We shouldn't forget God's mercy and compassion for us. It was never his problem that we chose to sin and separate ourselves from Him, but He sure went out of his way to fix our problem, didn't He?
- Some people feel the problems in our world are so big, and there are so many people suffering, that one person's small effort cannot make a difference. Here's a great quote from Mother Theresa on this: "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
As I mentioned above, I can write this list from personal experience because I am guilty of thinking each of these at some point, but I am thankful that God continues to teach me and mold my heart and mind to be more like his. I learned on Saturday that God has given me a gift and a passion I didn't know I had. I'll definitely be looking for more Saturday tutoring opportunities next school year. One day, when I am no longer the busy stay-at-home mom of two preschool-aged children, I may be able to find time during the week to tutor or mentor kids at the school.
So, do you want to know how my first tutoring session went? Well, I couldn't be at the school until one hour before the session was scheduled to end, so I had very little time to offer. When I arrived, a teacher led me over to a 4th grade boy, Malcolm, who was already working on his reading assignment. I didn't do very much - except express kindness and encouragement as we went over his reading and the follow-up questions together. After completing the task, we chatted for only a minute or two before the bell rang, signaling the end of the Saturday Academy session. What happened next showed me how my small effort made a big difference to him. He asked, "When will I see you again?" I told him I wasn't sure because this past weekend was the last Saturday Academy session of the year. He then asked with a big smile, "Will you come back next year?"
Of course, I said, "Yes! "
