Members of Napa’s First Christian Church usually spend Sundays at service inside their First Street building.

But this weekend members of the west Napa congregation instead braved the heat and spent the day in service to a neighbor.

Rallying behind the slogan “Don’t go to church — be the church,” some 300 members of First Christian descended on the Napa Valley Language Academy campus Sunday to give it a much-needed makeover.

With the assistance of students, school staff and Iglesia de los Hechos, a church that meets regularly at NVLA, First Christian volunteers did some landscaping, sweeping, painting and construction at the school.

“The whole idea is based on being a good neighbor,” said Allen Gallaway, pastor at First Christian Church. “This is really a part of what we are all about.”

Pastor Gallaway and fellow pastor, Jermaine Keller, latched on to a national community service campaign, Faith in Action, that urges Christians to practice their faith in a way that serves their communities.

NVLA leaders were glad to be the beneficiaries, as they had a wish list of chores that needed to be done on campus.

“In our garden, we really needed a shade structure,” said Deb Wallace, NVLA principal, citing one of the items that topped the list. “So they came in and they designed the structure and workbench.”

On Sunday, the grounds of NVLA were bustling with activity. Volunteers painted fences, raked leaves, picked up garbage, swept the grounds, spread wood chips and labored in the garden building.

Volunteers Alyssa Andrews and Makenzie Lane, both 8, and Jordan Lane, 10, said they couldn’t think of anything they’d rather be doing than painting one of the school’s many picnic tables Sunday afternoon.

Sarah Lane, Makenzie and Jordan’s mother, confirmed it. “You guys have been talking about it all week,” said to them.

The scorching weather aside, 10-year-old Annika Kenyon said she was having fun sweeping the grounds alongside Laura Sitter, 16, a Napa High School sophomore.

“I wanted to help people and help the environment,” said Kenyon, a fourth-grader at Pueblo Vista Elementary School.

“I just thought it was a good way to give back to the community,” Sitter added.

Although First Christian parishioners did not attend church Sunday, they started the day off on the NVLA campus with a service, conducted in English and Spanish, alongside Iglesia de los Hechos.

Iglesia de los Hechos Pastor Fernando Avila first heard about the event from Wallace and thought it’d be a good idea to involve his ministry, he said.

“The most important thing for us is to let the community know that we are here to serve them,” he said.

Wallace said the effort would do more than improve and beautify the campus; it also would strengthen community ties between the school and the churches.

“It’s a tremendous gift to our school,” she said. “And to see two churches do something on campus, that is true community support.”

To show its appreciation, the school supplied a barbecue lunch for the volunteers and offered a performance by NVLA Ballet Folklorico dance troupe.