Andy's Blog: A Personal Word
July 20, 2010
Jul. 20, 2010It’s Monday morning and the church is filled with children – hundreds of noisy children at Vacation Bible School. I like the sound of a noisy church. When it gets too quiet around here, then we are in trouble!
As I watched the 3 year olds - 8 year olds file into the church, my mind flashed back to Sunday morning when we commissioned 50 plus youth for a week long mission with SOS in Memphis. These youth are living out the les- sons they learned in Bible School: to be a disciple of Jesus. They are giving a week of their summer to work on home repairs with folks who otherwise would do without. Not long ago, they were singing, “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” at VBS. Now they are serving as the hands of Christ to the world.
At Trinity we believe that to be a follower of Christ is a matter of head, heart and hands. It is important to connect all the dots...to know about Jesus, to experience and love him as Savior and to serve him as Lord. Hopefully, as a church, we are doing those things that help our children and youth connect the dots...to know and serve Christ.
But we can’t do that alone. The line between those dots goes right through the homes. When our children are baptized as infants, we promise to nur- ture our children in the church, “that by our teaching and example they may be guided to accept God’s grace for themselves, to profess their faith openly and to lead a Christian life.” That’s a big promise to make! But it is a life giving promise – meeting the spiritual needs of our children is as important as meeting their physical and emotional needs. It is so rewarding to see the results of our efforts when our children grow into mature, strong, faithful youth and adults. It takes both the church and the home to make that happen.
Thanks to the over one hundred VBS volunteers, the adults who are working with our youth, and to the parents. It takes all of us to connect the dots.
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