How Does the Church Care for Those in Need?

You can serve others in your community in ways big and small! The following principles can help you to know where to start:

1. Identify a need: Ask others in your community about service opportunities and nonprofit organizations in your area.  
2. Build meaningful relationships: Encourage others to serve with you, and remember that everyone you serve is a child of God who deserves to be treated with understanding, love, and respect. 
3. Make a plan: Plan solutions that meet immediate needs and help others become self-reliant. Ask yourself questions such as “What have I already tried to address this need?” “What would I like to try?” “How, when, and where would I like to receive help?”  
4. Share your experiences: Inspire others to serve by sharing in everyday conversations and on social media how your service has impacted yourself and others. 

Interested in serving a service mission? Service missions are a great opportunity for those, young or old, who want to serve non-proselytizing missions. There are a variety of missions to choose from to fit your needs, whether you would like to volunteer from home, at a Church-owned location, or in your community.

For example, you can serve in Employment Services Centers, Bishops’ Storehouses, or canneries and production facilities. You can also serve through facilitating Addiction Recovery groups, teaching self-reliance courses, or developing local humanitarian projects. Check out service missionary opportunities like these and more here.

At baptism, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pledge their willingness to “bear one another’s burdens, … mourn with those that mourn, … and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:8-9). Keeping this promise—or covenant—is an essential part of helping us become more like Jesus Christ.

So how can you keep this covenant to care? Although we will inevitably come up short as we follow Christ’s example of selfless service, we can still ease the load of others by being generous in sharing our time, talents, means, and efforts. We can follow the example of our Savior by providing emotional support and care, recognizing that those who are suffering often need an empathetic response as well as practical help. And we can provide care in a way that helps others feel God’s love and experience peace, even in the most turbulent of crises.

When you pay your tithing or donate to the Church humanitarian fund, 100% of that donation is used for caring for Church members and others around the world. While tithing money is used for other purposes, such as building and maintaining meetinghouses and temples and sustaining missionary work, the Church's donated funds are used to care for the immediate and temporal needs of those around the world. See what kinds of humanitarian projects your donations went towards in 2023.

If you’d like to donate to the Church to further the Lord’s work of caring for those in need, visit philanthropies.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

You don’t need money to make a difference. Donating your time and efforts to serve and care for those in your community can strengthen others and lead them on the path to self-reliance. Find opportunities to serve in your community on JustServe.org.