As men and women are sent into "harm's way" (What part of the world is free from harm today?), we have an opportunity to remember and encourage them. This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with ministry. Here are some ideas to get you started.
If you live near a military base, you can give hands-on help. Many women are raising a family or having babies alone stateside while their husbands are away for months at a time. Sometimes these wives live in military housing far from their hometowns. They need a friend, someone to remember their birthdays, babysitters, and a hospitable place to eat holiday dinners when everyone else seems to be with family. I observed a simple gesture that spoke volumes when I saw an assistant pastor carrying the sons of an absent naval submariner around on his shoulders. This was something that their dad would love to do if he were here.
If someone in your church is in the military, you can send care packages. It is difficult to be overseas and working with strangers while enduring the constant threat of conflict. Nothing is familiar. Some troops don't get packages from home and, possibly, very little encouragement. Cards and letters relieve the loneliness and boredom, too. One of our women's discipleship groups sent packages to the unit of a young man in our church. The women gathered protein bars, beef jerky, flavor mixes for water, reading materials, sudoku books, toiletries, small toys for children the soldiers meet and money to cover shipping costs in what they called "sharing the love of Christ in word and deed."
If your denomination sends chaplains to the military, you can "adopt" one of them and their family. A chaplain may not be in the direct line of fire, but he is called to minister to those who are. Spreading the good news of Jesus Christ is a big task when there are many troops in your care. Pray for the chaplains to have energy for their tasks, wisdom in ministering to all sorts of people, Christian fellowship and strength to be faithful to God and their families. Wives need prayer, too, because they may carry a burden of ministering to other military wives while having responsibilities at home. One chaplain was especially thankful for the books and encouraging letters we sent. His wife received treats and items to pamper her, including restaurant gift cards, and his children got toys and other goodies.
Military personnel and their families are often lonely, in an unfamiliar place, under stress and in need of Christian fellowship. Think about people stationed near you, deployed people from your church or your denomination's chaplains. I encourage you remember them in word and deed.
I know of a military wife in a sister church who had to be hospitalized, leaving her newborn baby at home. Another woman in the church took the baby and nursed him until the military wife recovered. May we all look for ways to love others!
ReplyDeleteI have supported troops for several years through requests on the website www.booksforsoldiers.com. This is not specifically Christian, though there seem to be a lot of Christians on there who respond quickly and generously to requests for Christian reading material and music and to Chaplain requests because the Chaplains are usually supporting several troops. There is a sister site, www.biblesforsoldiers.com, whose purpose is to provide Bibles for troops. As far as ministry to soldiers they all say that mail is the most important thing; packages are nice, but letters or post cards seem to mean the most. Chaplains often request letters or small things to give out to the soldiers they support, especially when they have to visit Forward Operating Bases. What they need is often specific to the area that they are in, so an email to a specific Chaplain would help to clarify that. And, of course, the best thing you can do for the Chaplains and the soldiers is pray. There is a website specific to the Presbyterian and Reformed Joint Commission (PRJC) for Chaplains, pcamna.org/chaplainministries. You can financially sponsor a Chaplain through that organization. They also send out a free quarterly publication called The Guardian that has Chaplain prayer requests and their email addresses.
ReplyDeleteWe have a dear friend who is a Chaplain that is being deployed again soon and my father was a Chaplain at his German POW camp in WWII so this ministry is very near and dear to my heart.
Thanks, Jill for giving us some very concrete ways that we can support people in the military. I agree, prayer is so important and sometimes we fall into an "out of sight out of mind/prayers" mentality. But the soldiers need it. Wives, too.
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