Instead of attending a worship service Sunday morning, hundreds of Christians will worship through service.
Mission JC: In the City for the City, will send more than 400 volunteers from First Baptist Church and First Presbyterian Church out to city parks, public schools, social service organizations and multi-family residential neighborhoods.
"Worship happens in a lot of ways," said Pastor Melissa Hatfield, event organizer. "This is an important reminder love has to be more than words."
The event touched 24 projects with 260 volunteers last year. At its second run, Hatfield has arranged more than 40 projects.
Pictures and videos from 2013 are available at www.missionjc.org, as well as details and sign-up information for this Sunday.
"The first year was a fantastic event," Hatfield said.
For 2014, they invited other downtown churches to join in, and First Presbyterian answered the call. Other churches indicated they may participate in the future.
The concept of "sending" repeats throughout scripture, Hatfield said. As God sent his son into the world to save it, Jesus instructed his followers to go into the world and make disciples.
"Christ modeled for us what it is to be a servant," she said. "We need to practice it at every opportunity we can."
Mission JC was born through First Baptist's ministry team brainstorming in 2012.
"We wanted to find how we could encourage First Baptist Church to give ourselves away," Hatfield said. "God didn't create the church to be about itself."
That's why the traditional Sunday morning time was chosen for this once-a-year effort.
"We recognized Sunday gatherings at a building can be sacred, and we forget we're not here for ourselves but the community."
Sunday projects have been created to meet a variety of volunteer abilities.
In particular, Hatfield said they wanted to encourage families to volunteer together. Kid-friendly projects will include sorting donations at the local Central Missouri Food Bank warehouse and pulling weeds.
Some volunteer teams will host Kids Clubs in neighborhoods with games, activities and snacks.
Another group will greet and feed the neighborhood surrounding the Common Ground Community Center, where they will serve a free pancake breakfast.
Other volunteer work will include cleaning school buildings and picking up litter.
Cookies and care packages will be delivered to the police and fire stations.
Two Sunday School classes will be working at the church, preparing emergency bags for the American Red Cross and care packages for South Elementary School staff.
Coincidentally, the Serve JC volunteer event is scheduled for today.
"I think it's awesome to have a whole weekend where nearly 1,000 people will be loving on Jefferson City," Hatfield said.
Link: www.missionjc.org