• Over 500 volunteers will participate in the 'Churchwide Serving Day' at Highland Park United Methodist Church.
• The event aims to support local partners fighting poverty across Dallas.
• Participants will engage in various service projects, including assembling hygiene kits and gardening.

An artificial intelligence-powered tool created this summary based on the source article. The summary has undergone review and verification by an editor.

For more than a century, Highland Park United Methodist Church has made service a cornerstone of its identity, and on Saturday, the congregation will once again transform that commitment into action during its annual Churchwide Serving Day.

The event, held every year on the day before Palm Sunday, brings hundreds of volunteers together to serve alongside local partners fighting poverty and supporting neighbors across Dallas. This year's gathering is expected to draw around 525 congregants, ranging from toddlers to those in their early 90s.

The roots of service at HPUMC run deep. The church's archivist, Kent Roberts, told The Christian Post on Tuesday that serving was the reason for the predecessor to the United Women in Faith — then called the Women's Society of Christian Service — which began at HPUMC before the church was organized. As early as 1917, when the congregation was just beginning to worship as a group, "the whole church got together to serve."

During World War II, church facilities supported war efforts, such as rolling bandages and Red Cross training. By the 1970s and 1980s, family and hands-on community involvement grew, including the creation of the Agape Clinic in 1983 and the Carpenters for Christ Habitat for Humanity initiative. The church became widely known as "the Church that Builds Houses for people."

The modern format of the event began in 2002 with the first "Great Day of Service," which supported 39 ministries — most of which had already been supported by HPUMC members for decades.

Participants will start Saturday morning together in Arden Forest, an outdoor worship space located on the HPUMC campus, where they’ll gather for breakfast, worship and an inspirational message from the Rev. Matt Tuggle, who assumed his role as senior pastor of HPUMC after former pastor Paul Rasmussen stepped down last month.

Tuggle’s message, he said, will focus on a key teaching from Jesus.

"Right before entering Jerusalem for the last week of his life, Jesus pulls aside his disciples and gives them a simple, profound instruction: for his followers, greatness will be defined as service,” Tuggle said. “People then and now define ‘greatest’ in a variety of ways. For followers of Jesus, greatness is defined as and achieved through service to others."

From there, volunteers will head out in teams to worksites throughout the city, partnering with 20 organizations. Projects range from low-intensity activities like assembling hygiene kits and hosting bingo games to medium- and high-intensity efforts such as gardening, painting, deep cleaning and building bed kits for families in need. Opportunities are designed to offer something for people of all ages, physical abilities and accessibility needs.

Laura Mendoza, director of outreach at HPUMC, said the church takes great care in selecting partner ministries.

"A majority of the organizations are designated as Outreach Partners who go through a yearly grant process with our lay-led Outreach Committee that includes site visits and extensive organizational vetting,” she said. “Other organizations that participate in Serving Day include those deeply connected with our Belong Disability Ministry and our Pastoral Care department."

The church's ultimate goal for the day extends beyond the immediate projects.

"Our hope for our congregants is always that they will find ways to put their faith into action and share the light and hope that comes through Jesus with others through the ways they love and support the community," Mendoza said.

"We hope that people will spend time connecting and learning with people of all walks of life. We hope they will be reminded and see how God is working and moving through Dallas, witnessing God's faithfulness and power in themselves and in others. We also want congregants to see the incredible work of our partners, hopefully finding a place they would like to commit more time in service to."

For partner organizations, Mendoza said the goal is mutual encouragement. "For our partners, our hope is that they will feel supported and uplifted by the work done on Saturday, that they can share the message of their organization and the strengths of their communities further,” she explained. “It is a time to enhance connection between our congregation and community partners."

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/over-500-volunteers-set-for-day-of-service-at-texas-megachurch.html