Well I have just returned from "Kid's Camp" and I was utterly blown away. Isn't it funny how God can take something that you really didn't have any expectations for and suddenly you find God is laying out things in your heart in and your spirit that you hadn't even realised.
See the basic thing of the camp was not to approach the kids in a patronising way, but engage them in full on worship. Each night we would have a service, that would last around 3 hours! The kids would love it! And it wasn't that there were loads of comedy scetches involved. It wasn't because of loads of songs featuring actions. This was pure worship and teaching, something I admit I never thought would work with such a diverse age group, the youngest generally being 7 (with the odd exception, there was one 4 year old!!!) and the oldest punter being 14, though I know that many of the leaders learnt something, including myself, but I will explain that more in a minute.
From the first night, we had kids praising God, jumping around, hands in the air, bowing down, crying, being touched in the spirit, and God just doing awesome things. We saw people being broken of depression, young kids lives being touched, and changed, darkness lifting from faces!
It was an amazing time. Pastor Jo, would preach for 40 minutes at these kids, and they would just listen, silently, with no problems! How mad is that, that these kids would just listen, willingly, wanting to know the gospel truth.
I was in awe of this. I realised, that in my heart I had been longing for this for chidren. I know when I was a kid, I never enjoyed actions, I remember being told off for not doing them to a song, but here, they weren't having to do patronising songs, they were the songs that we would sing in every day Church and worship, from How great is our God to Blessed be to the entire Hillsong United collection. The kids engaged in this, and it was awesome to see, it broke my heart in fact. I was blown away by all that God was doing. I realised I had hidden much of my passion for childrens work away, trying to gear myself towards adult ministry, believing that kids couldn't engage like a teenager or adult, because that was the mentality I had been following. I was soo wrong! I found myself relearning things I'd forgotten, and realised some of the calling God has on my life. I have a call for children and youth work/pastoring, in the celcular and the church. I believe that I am destined for this, and that God is shaping me for this task.
Jeremiah 1: 9 says: "Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."
I have been appointed to destroy and tear down strong holds in the lives of children and young people that the devil has tried to take and steel from their true potential.
This is just one of the many things I have learnt in myself this week.
Another thing I realised, is that I often long for healing, believing that if God would reveal the healing in my life, that would be an amazing testiment to people around me, and it would be. However, I realised, that the true testiment, is worshipping God, even in the hard times, when my bowel syndrome is at its most extreme, and I truely suffer, to still worship and praise God, who is blessed in all sitautions, who is truely great in all worlds.
That is true testiment, and if I am never healed, even though I believe God has promised it on my life, then at least people would see the joy of my Father upon me, even in my suffering.
There are other things I have to say, funny stories, fun things, but I will post those in the next few days, as I reflect.
This Sunday, I am preaching at the kid's church for the Church I am out here with (Family Christian Centre), and on Wednesday, I am preaching to their youth Group. These are both God appointments. Please pray that I would speak only the word of God, and none of my own ideas.
In Christ,
Rich x
Servant in the Making.
See the basic thing of the camp was not to approach the kids in a patronising way, but engage them in full on worship. Each night we would have a service, that would last around 3 hours! The kids would love it! And it wasn't that there were loads of comedy scetches involved. It wasn't because of loads of songs featuring actions. This was pure worship and teaching, something I admit I never thought would work with such a diverse age group, the youngest generally being 7 (with the odd exception, there was one 4 year old!!!) and the oldest punter being 14, though I know that many of the leaders learnt something, including myself, but I will explain that more in a minute.
From the first night, we had kids praising God, jumping around, hands in the air, bowing down, crying, being touched in the spirit, and God just doing awesome things. We saw people being broken of depression, young kids lives being touched, and changed, darkness lifting from faces!
It was an amazing time. Pastor Jo, would preach for 40 minutes at these kids, and they would just listen, silently, with no problems! How mad is that, that these kids would just listen, willingly, wanting to know the gospel truth.
I was in awe of this. I realised, that in my heart I had been longing for this for chidren. I know when I was a kid, I never enjoyed actions, I remember being told off for not doing them to a song, but here, they weren't having to do patronising songs, they were the songs that we would sing in every day Church and worship, from How great is our God to Blessed be to the entire Hillsong United collection. The kids engaged in this, and it was awesome to see, it broke my heart in fact. I was blown away by all that God was doing. I realised I had hidden much of my passion for childrens work away, trying to gear myself towards adult ministry, believing that kids couldn't engage like a teenager or adult, because that was the mentality I had been following. I was soo wrong! I found myself relearning things I'd forgotten, and realised some of the calling God has on my life. I have a call for children and youth work/pastoring, in the celcular and the church. I believe that I am destined for this, and that God is shaping me for this task.
Jeremiah 1: 9 says: "Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."
I have been appointed to destroy and tear down strong holds in the lives of children and young people that the devil has tried to take and steel from their true potential.
This is just one of the many things I have learnt in myself this week.
Another thing I realised, is that I often long for healing, believing that if God would reveal the healing in my life, that would be an amazing testiment to people around me, and it would be. However, I realised, that the true testiment, is worshipping God, even in the hard times, when my bowel syndrome is at its most extreme, and I truely suffer, to still worship and praise God, who is blessed in all sitautions, who is truely great in all worlds.
That is true testiment, and if I am never healed, even though I believe God has promised it on my life, then at least people would see the joy of my Father upon me, even in my suffering.
There are other things I have to say, funny stories, fun things, but I will post those in the next few days, as I reflect.
This Sunday, I am preaching at the kid's church for the Church I am out here with (Family Christian Centre), and on Wednesday, I am preaching to their youth Group. These are both God appointments. Please pray that I would speak only the word of God, and none of my own ideas.
In Christ,
Rich x
Servant in the Making.
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