I was recently reminded of the inconsistency of my own opinion. A few weeks ago, I prepared to submit a scathing review of the Mark 10:45 service program to the Bagpipe. My main arguments hinged on the hypocrisy of the term “mandatory service” and the failure of Mark 10:45 to encourage service. But after a quick read and a short conversation, my judgmental opinion unwound almost completely. Skimming the Bagpipe’s latest publication, I found Luke Walter’s article on “The Conflict of Mandating Service.” It tells the familiar story of many Covenant students: Mark 10:45 is presented to the student body as a beautifully wrapped package of altruism and selflessness, complete with a biblical bow. Upon unwrapping, it reveals itself to be nothing more than a scam for indentured service.
Old Bagpipe publications like Walter’s support this conviction with titles like “Mark 10:45:Service or Serving Time,” “Impractical Service,” “Work Panic,” and, more bluntly, “Forced Service Doesn’t Work.” These articles contain valid opinions, but they hold in common their criticisms of the program. In a response to Walter and many of these authors, I want to defend Mark 10:45 in principle and practice at Covenant College.
While possible administrative failures of Mark 10:45 may have damaged the program's credibility, mandatory service is entirely appropriate and biblically consistent. Moreover, unpaid work connects students to their community and prepares them for real life in a way that academia simply can’t.
As I reflect on the program, I keep coming back to a conversation I had with Kimberly Crocker, associate director of Library Services, college archivist, and Covenant alumna. As she explained the program’s evolution, she tagged on a brief, but memorable charge: “In all work, you can bring glory to God. Our faithfulness means something to Him.” While we critique and complain, as we are so prone to do, let’s remember that our capacity to glorify our creator is present in all circumstances, regardless of our service placement or personal opinions. May this truthful reminder rest at the center of our conversation.
Mark 10:45, as administered by the college, appears incredibly weak and seems to damage the reputation of the program as a whole. While Walter does not address this in his article, this frustrates many students. The assignment of freshmen to departments feels careless and does not account for the actual amount of work required.
Students assigned to Alumni only have the chance to fulfill their hours during homecoming weekend—but 15 productive service hours each for eight students in one weekend is overwhelming. Meanwhile, students assigned to facilities rigorously track their cleaning, sometimes rising before the sun to get in their hours. One freshman complained that Mark 10:45 “is not the best way to encourage students to serve each other and our campus because it's not equitable across freshmen and is not well organized at all.” Some students get full credit for only a few hours each semester, while others work weekly so that their account isn’t put on hold. Still others fly under the program radar and get through freshman year without completing a single service hour. This lack of cohesion is confusing, especially considering that Mark 10:45 is not a new practice at Covenant.
Nonetheless, the principle of “mandatory service,” which Walter finds “conflicting,” is entirely biblical. The Christian life is a life of mandatory service. That’s what you sign up for as a follower of Christ. It seems paradoxical because it’s not how we think of service, especially in America. To our minds, if we don’t want to do it, then it can’t be called service. In reality, the Christian life is doing what you don’t naturally want to do. We are not our own. And Christ commands us to serve, which means that—contrary to our own opinions about Mark 10:45—service is not optional.
Walter protests, “Do students need to incur 30 hours of work to learn how to serve?” No, we don’t. But the problem is not that we don’t know how to serve, it’s that we don’t choose to serve. In the Reformed community, we have plenty of knowledge to go around. We lack action.
Intrinsically, service is denying ourselves; it is not transactional. With time, self-denial becomes easier and even fulfilling. Humans are ritualistic creatures. When I was little, my mom gave me a chore list every day and I had to complete all my chores before playing outside. Today, when I go home, I don't have a chore list, but I no longer need one—if I see dishes in the sink, I wash them. Similarly, Mark 10:45 encourages us towards ritualistic service so that it becomes our natural impulse. Many students come to Covenant College because our school unreservedly pursues correct theology. But more than knowing what is true, we must act on what is true.
Covenant College can’t just look different from secular schools in the classroom or the chapel. As a campus, we must operate differently. As students, we must live differently. Theology has to have practical implications.
Lastly, on the topic of “mandatory service,” I’ll note that no one is forcing students to study at Covenant. When we enroll at this school, we agree to the policies and practices of the school. This is a fundamentally willing contract. Similar to our contract not to drink on campus, we also agree to perform service for the school. We are necessarily under the jurisdiction of this school and are obligated not only to respect but also to pursue that authority.
Working for the school connects us to our community but it also prepares us for life beyond the classroom. Civil rights activist and former slave, Booker T. Washington was a champion of education. He famously established the Tuskegee Institute, an educational institution for African Americans. As he taught students, he required them to participate, unpaid, in the labor and running of the school: making food, repairing wagons and constructing buildings—labor that we may find slightly harder than cleaning up Carter after a preview weekend. Booker ran Tuskegee with the conviction that the real, tangible things in life develop our character much more than abstract academia.
Walter acknowledges the school’s allowance for off-campus volunteering hours, but he complains that the approval process from Student Development is a hoop to jump through. To counter this, if we are eager to serve, filling out a form for Student Development is an easy hoop to jump through. Unfortunately, we’re more prone to go out of our way to avoid service than to pursue it. As someone who has had the opportunity to volunteer with local organizations, the process is perfectly doable, and it is well worth it.
I was reminded recently of the inconsistency of my own opinion. One week, I hate Mark 10:45, and the next, I experience a total 180. Walter writes a compelling article, but he encourages readers to base their convictions of Mark 10:45 on their feelings. These feelings, however, rarely lead us towards service. Voluntary or not, service is mandatory for Christians (Matt. 20:26-27, Mk. 9:35, Jn. 12:26, Phil. 2:5-8, Gal.6:2, etc.,).
At times, fulfilling our service hours feels exhausting and meaningless. But here, I recall Crocker’s words: “Our faithfulness means something to Him.” Christ dignifies our labor and uses it for his purposes. As Washington expressed, the needs of the real world much more closely resemble hands-on service than they do rigorous theological preparation. While Covenant College can pursue better administration of Mark 10:45, we students can pursue a greater appreciation of it. Working for the school is not only practical, it is a practice of daily faithfulness.