Adding upon my earlier comment......
Service is service no matter what the intent and the benefits to the recepient are the same. Belonging to a religion that covenants to serve others is
a good thing and provides opportunities we would not normally have. I appreciate that about the Mormon church and any religion that performs humanitarian work. It's the most efficient system to provide help and I think many Mormons wouldn't serve as much without the wonderful church activities.
But I am critical of the church leaders when they plan service projects for image purposes, and missionary work. I have actually heard these motives mentioned at several service activities I was a part of. Why is it necessary to wear Mormon t-shirts unless they want credit for their good works? Humbly serving others with compassion and a pure heart vs. helping out to show people how good Mormons are. I know I've read scriptures that warn against doing good works for show. An example of this was when we were asked by the First Presidency (If I recall correctly, it was read by the Bishop in Sacrament) to give our donations to the to the church instead of the Red Cross so that the leaders could give it to the Red Cross in the LDS name. (after the Tsunami)
I had sent out an e-mail once to friends and family for a local Christian church that needed baby items. One relative responded very defensively with a whole list of statistics on the Mormon church's enormous contributions to humanitarian aid. It was a very odd reply since I had said nothing about the LDS church and was only informing people that if they would like to donate baby items, I was collecting them for this church. I was also sent videos and articles from her on how Mormons are the first to respond, better organized, and praised by communities and leaders all over the world. She said she would only give her donations to the DI/LDS church and didn't trust other organizations and that I needed to be very careful who I was affliating with. It was a very lengthy e-mail about how great the Mormon church is and how untrustworthy the others are.
While I don't disagree with some of the points she made on the benefits of supporting the LDS church humanitarian work, I think it's awful to disparage another faith's charitable work that way.
Despite members like the above, I'm sure most LDS serve with a compassionate heart. Even if the leaders have intentions to convert new members or improve the church's image, it is still serving those in need.
I believe the structure of the church with Ward families taking care of each other is brilliant. We all have stewardship over someone in the Ward to ease anothers burdens. When times of crisis come, the organization of the church makes it easier to provide aid. But there are times where I have received acts of service and felt very guilty knowing there are people out there in our community who need it much more than my family. I would rather the home or visiting teacher have made the dinner for the homeless or sick. You know what I mean?
We've seen LDS relatives and members that could afford to hire help and were not disabled, accept service projects to clean up their yard. I don't think it's the fault of the person receiving the service...it's the fault of the planning committee who was just looking for something to fill the acitivity instead of doing a little more homework in finding a person of great need. It's easier for them to plan things within the Ward.
When my spouse was EQ Pres, he was expected to move people every weekend. There were some families that genuinely needed the help, but for the most part it seemed like he was only a moving service. The help was
expected. Most of the time families weren't even packed and ready to go when he would show up so he would waste hours helping them clean and finish up. Helping families move is a nice way to support people in the Ward who do not have any family around, but I was irritated that people just expect it. There were many other causes more worthy for my spouse to sacrifice his weekend for. But he never complained about it and doesn't share my opinion.
We had a family member going through a difficult health issue with her husband years ago. They were newleyweds and living at home with her parents at the time so they had plenty of support. When this girl complained that she was getting tired of the hospital food and take out, the first thing her MIL said was "where are your visiting teachers??? They should be taking care of you guys! Get me their number and I will call them."
I asked her why they would need to call upon the sisters when she had plenty of family living nearby to help out. Her response was something like "that's what we are called to do as visiting teachers and it give us opportunities to serve." This person didn't really have a great need. Her healthy able bodied mothers should have been cooking for them since they were living there. That's the kind of attitude I've seen in all my Wards.
When I was recovering from surgery, we had so many people bring us meals, but I didn't want it. I was so grateful for it, it made life easier and made me feel very loved, but at the same time I felt terrible to accept it when we had the money to buy prepared food and relatives nearby who could help if we found ourselves suffering.
I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it seems like if someone is going to plan a service project, it should be for a person really suffering and it's most likely going to be found outside of their comfort zone. I would rather my visiting teachers use their energy and efforts to help someone who has no family or husband for support, living in extreme poverty, disabled, severe illness, in need of safe childcare, etc.
But at the same time, our Ward family is there to care for one another and ease our burdens so maybe I should embrace the service when it comes and stop feeling guilty about it.
