Aug 26, 2014

What and Why is SCSC?

by Linda Lawton

 

 

The “What” is easy. SCSC stands for Summer Christian Service Corps, which tells you a lot. When SCSC first started, the projects were six weeks long not counting Training, which constitutes basically an entire summer. As schools have gotten out later and started earlier and Conference has moved earlier in the year, that time was gradually condensed to five weeks, then four weeks. Now it is three weeks on site at the churches and a fourth week at Conference. The Christian part is fairly obvious. Students are asked to give us a brief statement of how they gave their lives to Christ and how their walk with Him has impacted them in terms of home, school, and work. Each student must be a member of a Seventh Day Baptist Church to be admitted to the program. As far as the “Service Corps,” they are trained to serve. That is the “What”. Much more important is the “Why”.

 

We are training leaders. We bring them together for a period of just over a week and we run them ragged. We train them to do Bible Studies, Vacation Bible School, Children’s Messages, leading worship and recreation. That is just the practical things they need to know to accomplish the immediate goals for the summer. What actually happens at Training is so much more than that.

We give them Pre-Training assignments that are designed to increase their spiritual growth exponentially. We deal with all kinds of spiritual issues when they arrive at Training in the attempt to prepare them for whatever they may face on project. However, when we send them out they are NOT fully trained leaders; it takes years to create leaders. Something that we as a Committee wish to emphasize to all the churches is that you are our partners in training these leaders. When they are “on project” at the churches they are continuing that training. In addition, we want the home churches to understand that when these students get home, that training should continue.

In SCSC we are committed to training Servant-leaders. Not leaders who say “my way is the only way”, but leaders who are willing to give up their own desires to serve the cause of Christ. The summer in SCSC is a sacrifice. These students give up the ability to obtain a job to earn money for college, but more than that, they give up their own personal rights. The ultimate goal is to instill in them a sense of God’s leading in their lives and give them the tools that they need to become fully mature in Christ.

That is what SCSC is about. It is not about providing labor for a few weeks for the churches, or staffing church camps or Vacation Bible School. It is about producing fully mature, dedicated Christian leaders who stand firm in the knowledge that they are well-loved sons and daughters of God. I feel very privileged to be a part of it.