University Service Learning Project and Report Evaluation

This report analyzes a service learning project conducted at the Voice of Calvary Ministries (VOCM), a non-profit organization in Mississippi. The report examines the organization's adherence to Christian principles and its application of these principles in its community services, particularly in its Youth Leadership Development program. The student volunteer work involved collaborating with youths from diverse backgrounds at a local school. The report details observations of the organization's commitment to serving the community and spreading the gospel. It identifies key organizational behavior principles, such as ethical standards and a commitment to helping the disadvantaged. The report also applies a Christian worldview to understand the organization's mission and operations. Finally, it provides recommendations for VOCM to enhance its services, including leveraging digital platforms, involving more volunteers from diverse backgrounds, and using innovative methods to spread the gospel. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of VOCM's work in uplifting deprived individuals and guiding them towards a better life.

Running head: SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
Executive summary
The chief purpose of the report was to analyze the organizational behavior principles of a non-
profit organization and apply the Christian worldview. The organization chosen for the purpose
was Voice of Calvary based in Mississippi, United States. The report highlighted the
observations during the volunteer work at a local school under the Youth Leadership
Development program. After analyzing the volunteer work, it was found that the organization is
committed towards spreading the gospel of Christ through its various community services. The
report then provided three recommendations for the organization to improve its services. It
concluded with an overall summary of the paper.

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SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Volunteer work................................................................................................................................3
Organizational behavioral principles...............................................................................................4
The Christian worldview.................................................................................................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................7

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SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
Introduction
The organization for which volunteer service was done is the Voice of Calvary Ministries
(VOCM) based in West Jackson, Mississippi. VOCM is a Bible-oriented non-profit organization
that is engaged in numerous volunteer works including rehabilitation programs, youth programs,
government authorized programs and so on. The organization was formed in 1975 by Dr. John
Perkins with the aim to follow the words of Jesus and embark on a mission to serve the desolate
(Vocm.org, 2018).
The aim of this paper is to apply the Christian Worldview in order to present the
organizational behavior principles observed during the volunteer work. Further, the paper will
provide recommendations by which the organization can better its services.
Volunteer work
The 8-hour volunteer work was carried out at the Youth Center of VOCM, which
required the workers to collaborate with youths from different social, ethnic and minority
background. The collaboration was formed to assist the young students with their career after
school under the Youth Leadership Development. The volunteers were asked to form a team and
visit a local school to meet children who are about to finish their school life. The children mostly
belonged to the less fortunate backgrounds and had performed poorly in their respective grades.
The team worked with a total of 20 children with lowest rate of academic achievement. The team
comprised five volunteers among which, three were from different ethnic background. The
volunteers then visited the school and met the children. After that, the volunteers had an
enlightening session with the children where they asked about the children’s future ambitions,
their interests and difficulties they face. It was revealed from the session that the children had

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SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
unique and innovative ideas about what they wanted to do after school but they explained that
they had trouble performing well academically. It was then decided after the session that the
volunteers would hold after school programs for the selected students to help them achieve
academic excellence and develop themselves as great leaders.
Organizational behavioral principles
While working as a volunteer for VOCM, the most striking thing that came to focus is the
organization’s strong adherence to the gospel of God. As a Christian faith-based organization,
the members responsible for organizing volunteer works stress primarily on the path shown by
the Almighty to help the people in need. It has been aiding the distressed people since its
formation in 1975 with Dr. Perkins as the president until today when Philip K. Reed has taken
over the presidency. The youth programs initiated by the organization has helped more than 3000
youth from age 3 to 21 years alleviate themselves and lead a better life.
The principles of organizational behavior as observed during the 8-hour volunteer work is
understood better from the values upheld by it. One of the foremost values of the organization is
its commitment towards offering their services to every individual without discriminating against
any cast, creed, race, ethnicity or national origin. Other than that, it also upholds that it has been
called by the God to help the disadvantaged and the poor.
These values were clearly evident from the volunteer work where the team members
were involved in helping the children realize their potential through the words of God. The
volunteers were trained prior to the visit to the school about the ways to approach and behave
with the students and other school staff.

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SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
Maintaining ethical and moral standards is one of the most important requisite for a
volunteer worker working for VOCM. It was observed during the volunteer service taken up for
the Youth Leadership Development program. The team also demonstrated high ethical and moral
behavior with each member treating the other politely and with respect.
The organization believes in the value that rebuilding the lives of the distressed and in-
need people would lead to rebuilding the community. Empowering and supporting individuals
would help them work for their community, believes the organization.
However, it has been observed that certain areas are there where the organization could
work focus on, to provide more efficient and visible results especially in youth development
programs.
The Christian worldview
As per the Christian worldview, individuals view the world from the perspective of the
Bible. They base their whole life and actions on the words of Jesus (Schultz & Swezey, 2013).
Those who follow the Christian worldview believe in the infallibility of God. The VOCM is also
an organization that is entirely based upon the views of Christ and the gospel of Bible. The
mission statement of the organization is based on the gospel of Isaiah 61, Verse 4. The
organizational behavior principles also revolve around this faith of the members of VOCM,
which has been thoroughly observed during the 8-hour volunteer work.
Recommendations

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SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
The first recommendation for the organization would be to connect on digital platforms
with the youth. It is important for the organization to ensure that the words of Christ reach more
people in less time.
Second, the organization could include more volunteers from the local community who
belong to well-to-do families such that they could have the opportunity to understand the pain of
others. it would allow them to come closer to the God and be his true sons and daughters.
Third and last, the organization must use innovative ways to spread the gospel of Christ
that requires an individual to realize that helping others is a responsibility of everyone. These
could include making web stories and organizing street plays that demonstrate the ways by
which Christ helped others without any self interest.
Conclusion
It is therefore clear from the above discussion that the non-profit organization VOCM
bases its community services on the word of Christ. The organization believes that it is the duty
of each individual to work for the upliftment of the deprived people and show them the path that
leads to God. The present report shed light on the behavioral principles of VOCM by
undertaking a volunteer work. The experiences of working with VOCM have been mentioned in
the report it also provided some recommendations for the organization to improve its services
further.

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SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT AND REPORT
References:
Schultz, K. G., & Swezey, J. A. (2013). A three-dimensional concept of worldview. Journal of
Research on Christian Education, 22(3), 227-243.
Vocm.org (2018). Voice of Calvary Ministries History. [online] Voice of Calvary Ministries,
Jackson Mississippi. Available at:
http://vocm.org/about-voice-of-calvary-ministries/vocm-history/ [Accessed 25 Jun. 2018]