Christian Service Christian Service
tatements from the journals of Year 11 students participating in the ‘Sharing Gifts’ programme, sum up very well the spirit of Christian Service. Our students are discovering how their faith in God can be lived out in service of others through interaction with people in need in the community.
years old but when you sit with an elderly person you realise that these people were 15 years old not that long ago, looking forward to the same things in life that I am at the moment.” Caz Matarazzo
“Through Christian Service, relationships develop between yourself and people who you never thought you would relate with. You know that you are a gift to them and that they are a gift to you. Then you know that God has touched your heart and helped you to love. You know that you are on the way to becoming a man for others.” Gerald Lillywhite
“I realised that there was a world beyond the big houses and leafy streets of my home: a world of cold nights and harsh environments. I began to see the plight and pain of less fortunate members of our society. These people now had faces and names that I knew, stories that I had heard and fears that I had tried to comfort.” Dominic Rose
“I see God in the joy of people removed from the world’s eye. God cares when no one else sees the pain. I was in some small way acting for God.” Matthew Bouwman
“This wasn’t a challenge of the mind or body. It was a challenge of the heart” Long Pham
S
Mrs Marya Stewart Director of Christian Service
“I learnt that people coming to the end of their life still have something to share. When I was talking to one elderly man, he told me about the greatest day of his life. I didn’t understand him clearly, but I felt that it was a special moment and it was quite significant that he would share it with me.” Tom Gee “The life cycle seems very long when you are 15
124
“I learnt that all people react the same way when cared for, that people begin to feel valued and develop a sense of belonging. These feelings are important to all people and this is all people need, to be cared for. “ Ben Wisby
The reflections on their experience of Christian Service reveal that at Trinity College we have many young men who are capable of great sensitivity and compassion. Given the opportunity to serve others they discover strengths within and come to understand that people who seem to be less capable and less valued by our society have a lot to offer. Marya Stewart Director of Christian Service
Mrs Stewart with students involved in the Food Collection programme.
