After students came back from the New York City missions trip I was reminded of the impact that comes through serving others. Jesus intentionally took time to serve others when He saw people in need and we should do the same. Sometimes we can get so caught up in planning our large group meetings and social events that we forget to organize service projects.
So, this week I wanted to give you a quick list of service project ideas for your campus.
1. Walk around the dorms and ask people if they have trash they need brought down to the garbage room.
2. Offer to clean bathrooms in halls that have suites and don’t have janitors to clean them. I’ve heard of some ministries doing this for a full semester!
3. Give the custodial staff a break and shovel the snow at building entryways for a week.
4. When the weather gets warmer hold a free car wash for professors and students and refuse to accept donations. Do it just for the sake of blessing them in a practical way!
5. Collect presents around Christmas time for an organization like Operation Christmas Child.
6. Hold a bake sale or other fundraiser and donate the proceeds to a local charity.
7. Designate a day for your group to do random acts of kindness for people on campus.
8. Help beautify your campus by doing things like painting over graffiti, working on the campus grounds, and washing windows. Just make sure you ask permission first.
9. Set up a free tutoring service and have students help those who need it in their areas of expertise.
10. Volunteer as a group at a soup kitchen, food pantry, or other type of ministry. This is easier if you are close to a big city, but many small towns have ministries in need of help too.
These are just 10 ideas for serving that I came up with. I’m sure you can think of others. What has your group done that’s worked well? Have you had opportunities to share Jesus with people during a service project?
Chris Zeigler and his wife, Cheryl, have been working with BASIC full-time since 2009 and have helped start BASIC groups in the Rochester, NY area at SUNY Geneseo, Monroe Community College, and the University of Rochester. They use their experience from starting groups and traveling to the nearly 30 BASIC ministries to consult and advise churches looking to start new BASIC groups outside of the Rochester area. He and his wife live with their daughter, Melia, in Lima, NY. You can contact Chris by emailing 
(585) 624-7930
(585) 624-1229
