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Eleanor drives sick friends and neighbors to the hospital two hours away. Daniel preaches at a nursing home. Vernon is a school board member and mentors jailed men. Dan and Dorothy repair homes and mow lawns for disabled senior citizens. Wesley writes letters to the editor on political and moral issues. Mike witnesses on the street. Charlotte provides a home away from home for college students. Bettina writes a newsletter on educational and social issues for her state. Jeremy holds Bible studies for teens in the public school. Debbie calls senators and congressmen on behalf of persecuted Christians. Steve and Carol help new homeschoolers. Don encourages young men who are struggling toward manhood. Marquis is a volunteer fireman. Barbara takes homemade bread to visitors to her church.

What do these people have in common? They are all using their skills, abilities, and interests to impact their world for the Lord and to help others. Though they minister differently, each serves as he is able.

Setting the Example. If we would have our children grow to serve God and man, we must set an example by serving. Matthew 4:23 tells that Jesus preached, taught, and healed throughout Galilee. He set the example for us with his service to those around him.

Our service may take many avenues: praying, teaching, advising, encouraging, visiting, writing, speaking, baking, cleaning, repairing, transporting, voting and others. Though we should not do our good works to be seen of men, those good works will bring glory to God if our attitude is right. Homeschooling our children allows us the opportunity of including them in what we do.

An Attitude of Caring. In some circles political posturing has reduced the idea of caring to a three-minute photo opportunity, but without a true attitude of caring, of love for others, our service will prove limited.

Matthew 9:36 says: “But when (Jesus) saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them....”

We develop compassion in our children by showing it ourselves and by teaching them. We commend those who minister to others, apologize when we are selfish, and praise them for showing unselfishness in their daily lives. We explain the importance of compassion in the Bible accounts that we read to them.

Songs, such as “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” “O to Be Like Thee,” “A Charge to Keep I Have,” “I Would Be True,” “More Like the Master,” “More About Jesus,” “We’ve a Story to Tell,” and “Rescue the Perishing,” brand Christ’s love for people on our children’s hearts.

As we teach history, we can hold before our children’s eyes heroes and heroines who served others: Katie Luther who ministered to her enemies during the plagues, Mother Theresa, Francis of Assisi, George Muller who built orphanages, Amy Carmichael who built orphanages and helped end temple prostitution in India, Samuel Morris, George Washington Carver who dedicated his brilliant mind to providing scientific and agricultural education for freed slaves, William Wilberforce who devoted his political career to ending slavery in England, David Brainerd who took the gospel to native Americans, and David Livingstone who took the gospel and medicine to Africa.

We have become a nation without heroes. Godly heroes set an example of serving for our children to follow. Years ago I asked my son who his heroes were. He thought a minute and told me his father, the son-in-law of reformer John Knox, and Judith, a disowned Jewish Christian whom the Soviet Communists killed because of her ministry to the Russian peasants. These heroes teach young people an eternal perspective on compassion and truth. Can movie stars and musicians compare?

Prayer. The suffering Christians of China have a saying, “Much prayer, much power; no prayer, no power.”

Acts 4:31 says: “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” The early Christians are later called those “who turned the world upside down.”

The world then was not an easier or better place to live than it is today. Yet, the Lord commanded his people to pray for God’s name to be honored, the advancement of God’s kingdom, God’s will, our daily needs, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from temptation in the prayer he taught the disciples. Paul commends the church for praying for him and the others who are ministering. He commands Timothy to pray for those in secular authority. The Psalms blesses those who pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We are to pray for the ill and for one another and especially for those who going through persecution as though we ourselves were.

Teaching our children to pray by example and admonition draws them into faith in God’s meeting of needs as their preeminent supplier. Prayer teaches and shows compassion as we intercede for others.

Our brothers and sisters who suffer persecution need our prayers for their daily needs to be met, for endurance in the face of persecution, for comfort during suffering, for wisdom, for Bibles, for good teaching, and for their families to remain faithful. Voice of the Martyrs (PO Box 443, Bartlesville, OK 74005, phone: (918)337-8015, Web site: www.persecution.com) publishes a global prayer handbook and map each January with updates on the spiritual situation around the world, as well as in its monthly magazine. Several other organizations provide regular information about suffering Christians. Christian Freedom International (PO Box 16367, Washington, DC 20041-6367) and International Christian Concern (2020 Pennsylvania Ave., NW , Box 941, Washington, DC 2006-1846) also provide newsletters.

Someone has said that if the gates of hell will be breached, they must be assaulted on our knees. Teaching our children to pray provides the Lord with the next generation’s warriors.

A Good Education. Children who have a variety of skills and knowledge have more options for influencing their world. Practical skills, such as cleaning, changing oil, and cooking, serve the ill elderly person, the single mother, the homeless as well as the person’s own family. Academics allow children to understand what is going on in the world and then to use that knowledge to influence others with cards of encouragement, letters to the editor, explanations of scripture, or speeches in public meetings.

Accept Differences. Some people do not like being involved in politics. Others are very uncomfortable around ill people. Some grow impatient with children. God did not give all of us the same abilities. He does not expect all of us to serve in the same capacity.

Moses confronted Pharaoh with God’s demands to let the Hebrew children go. Noah built an ark. Joshua led God’s people in the wars to claim Canaan. God sent Peter to preach to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles.

Our child’s way of serving may not be ours. One child may be extremely political while another likes to help elderly people. God has work for each and influences the world by each. We, as parents, have to prepare our children to the fullest to use their abilities for God. Then we must accept that they may choose not to use the same gifts that we have or not to use them in the same way. The mother who prepared the loaves and fishes for her son could not have known what Jesus would do with the gift the boy brought.

Political Involvement. Although you cannot guarantee that your child will share your interest in politics, you can give him an understanding of the process and the issues by learning them yourself. As you listen to those who know more, read about the issues, and study the Bible, discuss with your family what you are learning. Sometimes young people will suggest an angle or scripture that had not occurred to you. Being open to their suggestions encourages their involvement and helps them think in a logical manner.

When they are mature enough to sit through a meeting, take them with you to political meetings. They can also go with you when you vote to establish in their minds the importance of fulfilling their responsibility under a participatory government. Good government gives citizens both rights and responsibilities.

Study government and history in your home school, including the country’s founding. Give your students an understanding of their foundational documents. Read biographies about important leaders of the past. Take them to hear candidates. Allow your young people an opportunity to work as pages to state legislators for a day. Visit your state capital. Observe government at work in your city, county, the state, or the nation during field trips to see how the fire department, police department, court, city council, legislator, and Congress work.

Doing this will not ensure that your child will be politically active. Some people see little need to be politically active until something occurs that alarms them. Perhaps they will discover that a pornographic book store is opening down the street because their town has no legislation to control “adult” enterprises or the city will pass an ordinance to tax their church. When something awakens their political interest, they will have the ability to get involved because of the foundation you have laid.

It’s very easy to think that the people who impact this world are the ones with prestigious positions, money, or power. However, when most of us look at our own lives, we realize that those who have affected our lives the most are ordinary people who have given us love, compassion, kindness, and time.

The scripture does not reflect the world’s priorities, but shows the importance of the individual. We remember the woman at the well, the lad with the fishes and loaves, the sinful woman who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, the widow whose son was raised. Though Jesus dealt with the people in a group at times, he showed countless acts of dealing with individuals. Then those individuals went to their neighbors and families and friends doing what they could. What happened? Some of those people went to Thessalonica with the gospel., throwing the powers of the day into panic. Those authorities arrested some of those messenger of God with the charge that “(t)hese that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.”