My education says that I'm a teacher. That $100 000, 5-years-in-the-making piece of paper that says my name under "Bachelor of Education" declares that I have spent quality hours around children - teaching them, being relational with them and guiding their curiosity and energy. We have arrived upon the completion of one full week of work as Associate here at CGC and most of what I've been thinking about, planning for and working with are kids.
KZAMM, our children's ministry, stands for "Krazy About Meeting the Master"...I didn't make it up... That's exactly what I want the kids and the youth here to be - committed to a relationship with Christ, meeting Him and seeking after Him and listening to Him. I'm trying not to reinvent the wheel here in KZAMM, since some really good things have been set down already, but we finished our Super Church Sunday School this past Sunday splitting into three groups to pray. Each child was given a turn to share requests/praise and then given the opportunity to pray out loud. Children's prayers, as innocent and simple as they can be, are incredibly powerful!
CHILDREN ARE NO LESS A PART OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD BECAUSE THEY ARE CHILDREN. They are no less equipped for spiritual battle, no less able to hear God's voice, no less in tune with the Holy Spirit as adults. This is the vision that I have for both children's and youth ministry.
Which is exactly what I said to the youth on Friday night. We'd all gathered to have a bonfire, eat some homemade goodies, play some games and have some lighthearted conversation to kick start the year of youth. For me, this was the first time meeting most of the jr. highs/teens. (It's combined at CGC.) If you know me and know much about my previous ministry, I may be a teacher, but my education and comfort level only goes up to grade 6. These lovely people are older than grade 6. I thought I wouldn't have much to offer to these teens, simply because I know myself and my lack of expertise in this area. However, I do know one thing: TEENS ARE NO LESS A PART OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD BECAUSE THEY ARE TEENS. As part of my little introductory "Hey! This is me; I'm your new leader. I'm messed up, so don't expect perfection," shpeal, I told them that their relationship with God - a two-way communicative relationship - is most important. You can't just talk to God and not listen to Him as He listens to you. That's a dysfunctional relationship.
We left time at the end for questions. A young girl, no older than grade 8, asks, "How do you know that it's God when you listen?" I just smiled as I gazed into the dwindling embers. I got to talk about how the sheep know the voice of the shepherd, how God speaks to each of us differently, just as we'd speak differently to our parents vs. our friends, how God speaks through the Bible, through thoughts and visions and other people and prayer. Teens can hear from God just as well as any adult can. Some of the time I've heard from God the clearest was when I was a teenager. These youth need to know that and walk in that.
They are no less a part of the Kingdom.
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