The Service pathway allows us to meet Christ through serving others. In service we imitate Christ by ministering to people, and we serve Christ because whatever we do for the least of our brothers or sisters we do for Him.

The image for service should be that of Jesus stooping to wash the feet of his apostles. This act was one of a slave to a master and yet was done to demonstrate to us a critical aspect of Christian relationship: that we must serve one another from a position of love, and indeed, that service through love is simple. In our own lives we have experienced levels of service that spring from love, not from duty. When we were babies, we were taken care of, changed when we were wet, fed when we were hungry, cleaned up and comforted when we were sick. Those who took care of us were not motivated by a master-slave relationship but instead acted out of selfless love.

As we travel on these pathways towards a deeper and more abiding relationship with God, we will often begin to act in a way that is counter to the beliefs of our culture. Today our society puts a high premium on independence to such an extent that the loss of the ability to help oneself or even the need for help is seen as a shameful thing. While being lazy and slothful is shameful, accepting help when you need help is one of the greatest gifs you can give someone. Furthermore, serving others is one of the best ways that you can spend your time. Our culture (and our culture is not alone) misses the point: an act of pure loving service is as beneficial to the giver as to the recipient. The examples of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples and our parents taking care of us as helpless infants are connected and expanded when we see ourselves as we should: as members of a vast family of believers. As followers of Christ, we share in a communion that is stronger than that of our earthly families. While blood is thicker than water, the blood that was shed for us is infinitely more potent than any human relationship. When you hold the tissue to the toddler's nose in the nursery, you are serving your brother; you are serving someone that you might be spending the rest of eternity with. When you fix dinner for a family in crisis, or when you leave your warm home to go jump-start a friend's car, you are afforded an opportunity to imitate the loving and patient service that Jesus modeled for us.

The attitude of service that we should take with fellow believers is fairly straightforward, but what about our service for those who are not our brothers and sisters in Christ? Once again we must look to Him who made the sacrifice. Our mission in the world is not a sales mission or a "souls for services" mission-it is a mission of witnessing. Part of that testimony is action. It is asking the question "Who is my neighbor?" Finally, it is acting through the Spirit to bring about change in an unbelieving world. We should never use our service as a way to feel superior to people. In service we must remember that it is God's job to work on hearts and that His work will often remain hidden from us. We may see the tangible results of our service-the meal prepared, the car pushed out of the mud, or any other task WE do-but we will rarely see the heart changed, the life set straight, or any of the things that He does. We see imperfect lives all the time and all around us, but in our acts of service, we help God penetrate into lives and begin transformations. The Service pathway is about working through humility to magnify Christ to each other and to plant the seeds of love in the world.