“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” - Romans 12:10-11
One of the highlights of our fall term is when our Upper School students, teachers and parent volunteers go out into the community to be the hands, feet and heart of Christ. This special day of mission and service is set aside as part of the formal MCA curriculum as each student signs up in advance for the ministry outreach where they feel called to serve. They partner with local ministries and organizations, such as Title 1 elementary and preschools, therapeutic horseback riding ministries, assisted living locations, the Art House, the Samaritan Inn, Chestnut Square, Meals on Wheels, Mission Regan, a donkey rescue farm, Habitat for Humanity, BedStart, Goodwill, food pantries, Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, and others. They look forward with eager anticipation to see the ways in which God will use their gifts, talents and willingness to serve as His ambassadors across our local community.
Our students demonstrate a heart for serving others as they accomplish whatever tasks are needed, with an unselfish spirit; whether it is physical labor, such as landscape work, organizing, painting and cleaning; or mentoring children, serving teachers, and building relationships with the elderly. The organizations often contact MCA to thank our students for their hard work. The notes of appreciation and gratefulness from the outreach locations are a testimony to the spirit of service our students embrace. In addition to blessing those we serve, our goal is to help our students develop a lifestyle of humility, serving others, and showing the love of Christ to all people, as Christ modeled and calls us to do.
The Upper School also has a Community Service Program to recognize individual students who voluntarily serve for non-profit organizations. Details for the program are in the Parent-Student Handbook. The form to document the time spent in service is in Resources & Forms; the forms are due each quarter to be recorded for the student.