Mission Service Activity of the Month

October 2022:  Make a Pumpkin Floral Centerpiece for a Shut-In

Seasonal decorations often bring joy and delight to people that are shut-in. The October Pumpkin Floral Centerpiece activity can be easily made and may brighten the day of both the maker and the recipient. Prior to visiting the recipient of your gift, you may want to print off the devotion below and some LWML Fall Notecards to share with them.

For each Pumpkin Centerpiece, you will need:

• 1 foam, carvable pumpkin (Often small ones can be purchased at dollar stores.)
• A foam carving knife
• Fall flowers and foliage
• 1 small floral foam block
• Scissors and glue

Centerpiece Directions: 

Cut off the center top of the foam pumpkin.
Glue the small floral foam block inside the cut out section of the pumpkin. 
Trim the flowers and foliage to the size that will flow out from the pumpkin. 
Stick the flowers into the foam, arranging the flowers and leaves in a lovely display.
The centerpiece is now ready to gift.

Extra credit: Take pictures of this service activity and submit them to share on your district website or in your district newsletter. 

Gospel Focus

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37).

Devotion as You Plan:

As you plan this service activity, share the devotion, “Pray for a Bountiful Harvest”. This devotion is also available as a podcast, click here.

Prayer as You Plan and Prepare: 

Dear Heavenly Father, all praise and thanks are Yours for the fall harvest. You provide us with both the wonderfully nourishing, harvest in our gardens and fields, as well as the life-saving harvest in our mission fields. May our words and actions always be pleasing to You, always pointing others to Christ. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. 

Download the printable PDF of this Mission Service Activity

Make a Pumpkin Floral Centerpiece for a Shut-In

The Gospel Outreach Committee would love to hear about, and share, your mission service activities! Please contact the Vice President of Gospel Outreach here. Thank you!

View past Mission Service Activities

Mission Service Activity of the Month

September 2022: Prayer Throws for Warmth and Comfort

As many experience the challenges of cancer, a fleece prayer throw can provide warmth during transportation to and from treatment, comfort during treatment, and support knowing that, with each knot, a prayer is lifted for them. 

This is a project that can be put together during a group meeting and gifted to members of the church or cancer care facilities in your area.  You will need 

• 2 pieces of fleece, about 1 to 1-1/4 yards each
• a pair of fabric scissors or a rotary cutter
• a cutting board (or another kind of cutting surface)
• a ruler or straight-edge
• Mustard Seeds or a prayer book
• a notecard explaining that prayers have been said for the throw recipient

Directions:

Lay the two pieces of fleece, wrong sides together, and trim to make them the same size. Cut out a square 3-4 inches from each corner. Next, cut out slits — like a fringe — about 3 inches deep all the way around the fabric. The fringe cuts are made about an inch apart. Tie the matching top and bottom fringe pieces together into double knots. Say a prayer for the recipient with each knot you tie. Continue tying all the way around the fabric until the throw is complete!

Fold the blanket/throw and wrap it with a ribbon. Add the notecard and a Mustard Seed devotion or a Portals of Prayer to complete the gift. 

Extra credit: Post on Facebook or write an article for your district newsletter or the Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly.

Gospel Focus

Pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16).

Devotion as You Plan:

As you plan this service activity use the devotion, In Times of Need: Help, Lord!

Prayer as You Plan and Prepare: 

Heavenly Father, please provide encouragement to those suffering from cancer and show them what they need from Your Word to see them through. Give wisdom to all who are working to find treatments and cures for cancer, and in Your time, relieve those who are suffering. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Download the printable PDF of this Mission Service Activity

Prayer Throws for Warmth and Comfort

The Gospel Outreach Committee would love to hear about, and share, your mission service activities! Please contact the Vice President of Gospel Outreach here. Thank you!

View past Mission Service Activities

Mission Service Activity of the Month

Collecting Arch Books for Church or School Libraries 

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, directs His people many times in Scripture to care for each other. He reminds us in Proverbs 22:6 to care for and train children. Training a child in God’s Word is no easy task. Arch Books, available at Concordia Publishing House (CPH), St. Louis, are a good way to share Bible stories in a simplified way. As these stories are read to children, they can grow in knowledge, seek clarification and guidance, and ask questions. If you are blessed to read these stories to children, you can ask questions. These Bible stories can create a foundation for future years of reading and learning from the Bible.

Preparations for the Activity:

• Contact Lutheran churches and schools in your area to find out if they would be interested in receiving Arch Books for their libraries or classrooms.
• Contact your church elders for permission to take a door offering to purchase Arch Books.
• If a member, apply for a Thrivent Action Team grant ($250) to further fund this project. 
• If approved, set up a display of Arch Books at church/school so people can learn about Arch Books.
• Check the Concordia Publishing House (CPH) website to order Arch Books.
• Deliver Arch Books to church/school libraries.
• As an extension of this activity, set up a time at school when you could read an Arch Book to a class.

Extra credit: Take pictures of this service activity and submit them to share on your district website or in your district newsletter. Get permission to take and share pictures.

Gospel Focus

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).

Devotion as You Plan:

As you plan this service activity, you may want to share this devotion, The Parenting Profession.

Prayer as You Plan and Prepare: 

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Holy Word. You have given us the command to train up a child in the way he should go. Please help us to teach Your words to our children. As they grow, may it strengthen and nurture them. Let us all daily rely on Scripture for guidance and instruction. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Download the printable PDF of this Mission Service Activity

Collecting Arch Books for Church or School Libraries

The Gospel Outreach Committee would love to hear about, and share, your mission service activities! Please contact the Vice President of Gospel Outreach here. Thank you!

View past Mission Service Activities

Mission Service Activity of the Month

July 2022: “Going Off to College” Care Packages

Going off to college is an exciting adventure. It may also be lonely and overwhelming. Care packages may be prepared to support:

• New college students from your congregation
• Graduating students from a local high school or Christian school
• Local college students who may need support

Knowing someone is praying for them or just receiving an extra snack can brighten the day of a college student. A care package can help strengthen a student’s lasting connection with their church and their faith. 

College care package items: 

• Drawstring backpack/sports bag
• Cookies
• Granola bars
• Reusable water bottle
• Powdered drink mix
• Pens/pencils
• Post-it notes/highlighters
• Single-use laundry soap
• Lip balm
• Starbucks or Amazon gift cards
• Restaurant gift cards
• Silly game (like suction cup darts, basketball, or paddleball)
• Optional: College 101 A Christian Survival Guide or other devotional books.

You may include a personal note of encouragement. If students attend a local school, consider inviting them to attend your church service, a young adult event, or Bible study group.

Gospel Focus

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:6). 

Devotion as You Plan:

Share the devotion God’s Family when you or your group are putting together these care packages. 

Prayer as You Plan and Prepare: 

Dear Heavenly Father, please watch over these beloved students that are going out into the world. Give them strength as they experience growth and seek education. May the knowledge of Your great mercy and love guide them as they strive to meet new challenges. Lord, in Your name we pray. Amen.

Download the printable PDF of this Mission Service Activity

“Going Off to College” Care Packages

The Gospel Outreach Committee would love to hear about, and share, your mission service activities! Please contact the Vice President of Gospel Outreach here. Thank you!

View past Mission Service Activities

Mission Service Activity of the Month

June 2022: Plant a Resident Community Garden

Do you have a rehabilitation center, nursing home, or group home in your community that would enjoy the blessing of a resident community garden? They can be as small or as large as the space will allow. It could simply be tomatoes or herbs growing in 5-gallon buckets on a patio, flowers growing in window boxes, or flowers and vegetables growing in a raised garden. What a blessing it would be for the residents to get involved in a community garden activity, as well as the friendships that may be cultivated. Seeds sown and grown, all blessed by God.

What you need to prepare: 

• Contact your local residential community’s administration to gain permission to start such an activity. Upon receiving approval, ask about the location, size, and type of an appropriate garden.
• Agree on garden rules with the administration.  (When can residents work in their garden, do they need worker supervision along with your volunteers, where does the harvest of the garden go (if vegetables, do they go to the residential kitchen)?
• Make sure you have willing residents and LWML members to prepare and tend the garden.
• Ask the residents for help in designing the garden. Work together to decide what should be grown:  flowers, vegetables, herbs, or a mixture.
• Determine the supplies you will need: containers, planters, soil, seeds & plants, trowels, spades, garden gloves for all workers, watering cans.
• Share with each other the joy of working in God’s creation.

Gospel Focus

The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:12).

Devotion as You Plan:

As you plan this service activity, share this Bible study: Never Stop Growing. 

Prayer as You Plan and Prepare: 

Heavenly Father, LWML groups are planting and growing gardens in new places in Your name. We pray that these gardens flourish for the residents; we pray that as the gardens are planted, seeds of faith are sown and cultivated. Lord, as we plant, we ask that You make our seeds of faith grow strong so that our lives would be a blessing to others as we grow in spiritual maturity. In Your Name, we pray. Amen. 

Download the printable PDF of this Mission Service Activity

Plant a Resident Community Garden

The Gospel Outreach Committee would love to hear about, and share, your mission service activities! Please contact the Vice President of Gospel Outreach here. Thank you!

View past Mission Service Activities

Mission Service Activity of the Month

May 2022:  Calming Care Kits for Mothers, Expectant Mothers, or Pregnancy Shelters

As we observe Mother’s Day in May, let’s look around and show God’s love to as many mothers and expectant mothers as we can. We want to share with them that they are loved and are being lifted up in prayer. 

What you need to prepare:

• Gather supplies for each mother you want to acknowledge. Items may include coloring pages or bookmarks from the LWML website, markers, lotion, bath bombs, tea bags, a lavender or vanilla candle, and a gift bag to hold the items.
• Include Mustard Seed Devotions or a personal note or prayer for each bag.
• Choose mothers in your congregation or community who will receive these Calming Care kits. What a blessing it will be for a mother to receive heartfelt messages and prayers with these personal calming items.

Extra credit: Take photos of this service activity and submit them to share on your district website or in your district newsletter.

Gospel Focus

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these (Luke 12:27).

Devotion as You Plan:

As you plan this service activity, you may want to share this devotion: www.lwml.org/posts/devotion/as-a-mother-comforts-her-child

Prayer as You Plan and Prepare: 

Thank you, Jesus, for hearing our cries. Thank you for being with us when we feel alone, bringing us comfort when we are hurt, and bringing us peace when we are troubled. Help us to show love and comfort to others, especially to young mothers and expectant mothers. Guide us to be Your loving hands where love is needed most. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

Download the printable PDF of this Mission Service Activity

Calming Care Kits for Mothers, Expectant Mothers, or Pregnancy Shelters

The Gospel Outreach Committee would love to hear about, and share, your mission service activities! Please contact the Vice President of Gospel Outreach here. Thank you!

View past Mission Service Activities

Mission Service Activity of the Month

Fruit Baskets for Seniors

Being connected to Jesus, the Vine, is a wonderful comfort. You have an opportunity to share that comfort with those who might feel left out or alone. Bringing a small basket of fruit to a homebound individual or a person in a nursing home will help them to remember they are a precious part of the vine and belong to Jesus. Take a moment to sit with them, read a devotion, and share time in prayer. It can be a wonderful time of fellowship, connected to the True Vine, Jesus.

Ask the church secretary or pastor for a list of congregational members who are homebound or in a nursing home. Call the individual or nursing home to arrange a time to visit. There may be restrictions; please be sensitive to regulations or requirements. If you cannot spend time with the individual, make sure you insert a personal note with a message of encouragement, letting them know you are praying for them.

For each gift basket, you will need the following:

• small basket or container
• assortment of fruit
• plastic wrap
• Mustard Seed devotion (see below)
• beautiful bow or decoration

If you are doing this activity in your LWML group, take photos of the activity in progress. Seek permission from the individual to see if they are willing to have their photo taken with their basket. Submit the photos to share on your district website or in your district newsletter.

Gospel Focus

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

Devotion as You Plan

Use the Mustard Seed devotion, “Living in the Spirit … Help me be Fruitful”.  This devotion may be used both in the preparation of the activity and included in the gift basket. 

Prayer as You Plan and Prepare

Heavenly Father, Creator of all, thank you for sending Your Son, Jesus, to be our True Vine. Help us to serve You by serving others, letting them know they belong to You and sharing in the joy of being attached to Jesus. Let these gifts nurture their bodies as Your Word strengthens their souls. Keep us all attached to Jesus, for without Him we are nothing. In His most holy name we pray. Amen.

Download the printable PDF of this Mission Service Activity

Fruit Baskets for Seniors

The Gospel Outreach Committee would love to hear about, and share, your mission service activities! Please contact the Vice President of Gospel Outreach here. Thank you!

View past Mission Service Activities