The Salvation Army’s International Headquarter Women’s Ministries Department has created an incredible FREE Bible Study called, Mission to Serve. These studies have been available all year and are still available and would be a great summer study. The following is an excerpt from this month’s study, #5 (scroll below to see lesson). Be sure to watch the video after you and your group have read the text, join their conversation!

Our lives today
As followers of Jesus we are expected to love in the same way he demonstrated love, by becoming a
sacrifice so that all of us would find life in all its fullness. ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down
one’s life for one’s friends’ (John 15:13). We can see around us that there are wounded people – perhaps
not physically, but a number of them are emotionally wounded by what is happening around the world
and in their families in particular. Broken families, economic disadvantage, physical complications, the
list goes on and on… People are emotionally upset, given no option to recover. They cry day and night
as they carry these heavy loads, but they may find comfort in the words of this verse of the great
healer, who invites everyone: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’
(Matthew 11:28). There are many people who pass through difficult circumstances, and comforters are
scarce. Empathy is important for those who are grieving. In my Asian culture it is mostly women who
weep for any unmet needs.
May we find courage to approach others, removing cultural barriers within our minds so that we
can be with them, to bring them back to being more emotionally balanced so that they are also
considered to be created by God in his image. The expert of the law discovered that a neighbour is
not necessarily someone who is a relative or a friend, but could be anyone, in any situation.