5 Creative Ways to Connect With Your Spouse As You Serve {#31Days of Living Missionally-Day 3}

Are you familiar with the television show Extreme Makeover Home Edition?  One year, our church garnered inspiration from the premise of this reality program to create a unique Christmas Outreach called “Extreme Makeover: Christmas Edition.”  I signed up to help serve a family by decorating their home, purchasing presents for the children, and providing all the fixings for a holiday meal. Our group of volunteers spent the day at a home in our community, played with the kids, gave the parents a Bible, and shared the message of hope through Christ.  

That Christmas, I was still a single gal, but there was a handsome, mission-minded man on my team who became my husband a couple of years later. We learned from the beginning of our friendship that serving together was great fun and helped us to connect.  

Serving together requires planning.  Quarterly, we sit down with a calendar and schedule a day that we will intentionally break out of our normal routine and help someone in our community.

Here are Five Creative Ideas to implement throughout the Year

1. Spring/Easter
Invite the neighbors over for an Easter Egg Hunt in your yard.  Present the story of the resurrected Savior using an Easter story book or the resurrection eggs. Check this out.

2. Summer
Host a block party for your neighborhood with carnival games, face painting, a BBQ, and an evangelistic puppet show that shares the story of redemption. 

3. Back to School  
Adopt a single mom in your community and collect the school supplies and back pack for her kids.  Stop by the home to deliver the goodies, pray with the family, and read a storybook that present the hope found through following the Master Teacher, Jesus Christ. 

4. Fall  
Join a group of friends from church to perform a “flash mob” at a local park or mall.  Share an evangelistic drama that explains how Christ came to set us free from sin and death. 

5. Christmas
Spend the evening at the dollar store looking for trinkets to place in a shoe box in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child.  Pray for the child who will receive your box to come to know the Messiah personally. Check this out.

A mission-minded family will serve together.  Look for needs in your community and brainstorm with your spouse about how you can partner together to meet those needs in a way that works for you.  My husband is handy, and I love to cook.  My casserole dish and his tool box work well together.  Is there a single mom who could use some help with yard work?  Is there an elderly couple who needs help hanging their Christmas lights?   Look for creative ways you can serve side by side and connect with each other and your neighbors. 

 Read more of the 31 Days of Missional Living Series.

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About Lyli

Lyli Dunbar loves teaching.  For 17 years, she mentored teenagers in the Christian school setting, and now she has serves as Associate Director of Curriculum at Trinity International University Florida. Lyli married her Prince Charming in her 40’s and has a heart for encouraging young couples and singles in God’s waiting room.  She enjoys road trips with her husband, connecting with women through Bible study, and reading way too many books. Lyli writes about life lessons and faith on herpersonal blog. You may also connect with her on Facebook,Twitter, and Pinterest.

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