The Church at Clayton Crossings turned ServeNC into a family-focused outreach, organizing “Tiny Hands on Mission” as part of their Vacation Bible School (VBS) experience. Children and their parents served their neighbors and shared Christ’s love across 16 local sites. From delivering cookies to praying at car washes, they showed what it looks like to live on mission.

For The Church at Clayton Crossings, ServeNC was a family-oriented activity.

On June 21, 232 volunteers, comprising mostly families, took part in 16 service projects across their community. 

Families brought cookies to local businesses and first responders; cleaned up a horse ranch; completed landscaping jobs at two schools; painted a girls’ group home; and made meals and sorted clothes at a foster closet. Groups served with Isaiah 117 House, an organization building a group home in Johnston County for children in the foster care system, which the church was already supporting. 

The church’s Spanish ministry brought donuts and games to a mobile home park to connect with residents. Another group joined a partner church plant at a nearby park to meet their neighbors. At one site, volunteers offered free car washes and prayer — and saw two individuals put their faith in Jesus.

Families were excited “to be able to be out in the community and serving … not just be a parking lot full of cars,” said André Rusch, lead pastor at The Church at Clayton Crossings. 

“That gets back to our created design, of how God’s created us to love and serve other people and be (His) hands and feet.”

That’s why their theme was “Tiny Hands on Mission,” based on 1 Timothy 4:12. 

“We want to be on mission in the community,” Rusch said. 

And that includes their kids. Crossings scheduled their service day earlier this summer to fold it into Vacation Bible School.

Last year, the church changed their VBS format to involve families participating together instead of parents dropping their children off. This year, they had a vision to see families serve together too. They held VBS on the three Sunday mornings leading up to June 21.

“It culminated with the ‘Tiny Hands on Mission’ in conjunction with ServeNC for the church overall,” Rusch said about combining the two initiatives. 

The 16 project sites and volunteers were coordinated by Erin Beck, director of children’s ministries; Stacey Parks, assistant director of children’s ministries; and Meghan Pettet, the church’s administrative assistant. 

Beck said the task initially “felt a bit tall. 

“We couldn’t quite see God’s whole plan at first, but we were faithful to follow His leading,” she said.

In the children’s ministry area at Crossings, a map displays all the places where the church serves, with photos of people involved. Church leaders challenged families to find where their faces could be among the photos and where they might be able to serve and be on mission with the church. 

During VBS, children learned about international and local missions and what it looks like to “be on mission for Jesus every day in our lives.” The children brought in items to include in “Neighborhood Blessing Bags” that they distributed at a park on their ServeNC day.

“It was spectacular,” Beck said. “We had so many families serving together — kids of all ages and abilities serving with their parents in the community. It was a beautiful testament of stepping out in faith, doing something a bit different and new to see God show up.”

“People are the mission,” Rusch said. “We’ve got to be a church that leaves the four walls of this building not just one day a year — for families to say, ‘We’re on mission the other 364 days of the year, in our neighborhoods … in our workplace, where we play.’

“In all places we find ourselves, we want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”

Join N.C. Baptist churches serving communities across the state during ServeNC Week on Aug. 2-9 — or another week that works for your church. Sign up today at servenc.com. 

Share your ServeNC Week stories on social media by using the hashtag #ServeNC. You can also send stories to submissions@ncbaptist.org or by completing the Celebration Form.

By Liz Tablazon, N.C. Baptist Contributing Writer