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Story | Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Passing on Faith In Action to the Next Generation

"Worship is over; let the service begin!" Good Shepherd's Sunday of Service begins...

“Worship is over; let the service begin!” exclaimed Pastor Ryan Warne-McGraw, closing out Good Shepherd’s Sunday service and kicking off Faith in Action Sunday.

An exuberant group of Good Shepherd-ers, more than half of the church, spread out to begin serving the community. Projects ranged from a choir concert at a senior facility, to a craft project at another senior home. For the Orange County Rescue Mission, volunteers assembled 83 snack packs and baked countless dozens of cookies. School and computer supplies, books and more were collected for an elementary school in a lower income area; dozens of flowers were planted at another school. Meals were prepared and served at the local Salvation Army and a Women’s Shelter in town – along with free manicures. A hundred Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes were assembled, as well as more than 300 World Vision AIDS caregiver kits.

“As a pastor, I loved working alongside our people, seeing how excited they were to do something so big – so many projects – so much more than we could do as just one person,” said Pastor Ryan. “I loved seeing our people stepping up to serve, over and over again, throughout the day.”

Some results were quick to see; others may take time to come to fruition. After volunteers served at the women’s shelter, one lady asked for a ride to church – and has been attending fairly regularly, according to Pastor Ryan. During an assembly at the school where flowers were planted, the principal asked for kids who attended Good Shepherd to stand, and they were thanked with applause.

Earlier in the fall, Good Shepherd had undergone a strategic planning process as a congregation. “One resulting initiative was to become more service-focused and world-focused, and give people hands-on experience – getting their hands dirty – for the sake of the Gospel,” said Pastor Ryan. Not just faith talk, but faith – in action.

Their celebration service was held on Thanksgiving Eve, and included a video of Good Shepherd-ers’ faith in action. “After I’d put the video together, I realized we had a lot of photos of parents working alongside their kids. This is huge for us, because one of our core values is to pass along our faith to the next generation. The video showed us that’s exactly what we’re doing – without us really thinking about it, just doing it,” said Pastor Ryan.

Good Shepherd is already planning their next Faith in Action day for November 2008. “We’ll continue to serve our neighbors throughout the year,” said Pastor Ryan, “but we also want to make Faith-in-Action 2008 have an even bigger impact for the Kingdom of God.”