In Sunday’s small group, we talked about Moses. The story of Moses is one of my favorites to share with kids because not only does it have every element of adventure a kid could ask for, it also has so many faith lessons beginning with his mother. This little boy’s life got off to quite a rocky start with his mom hiding him for three months, then putting him in a basket and placing it in the Nile River. I’m a mother and it is so hard for me to wrap my head and heart around it. It had to take a huge amount of faith.
Talking about it from that perspective made me think about something for the first time. Was it a test of her faith in God to let Moses go? I don’t think so. I think it was a way to grow her faith. As I see it, to test your faith is for you to ask God to show you something; to grow it is for you to ask yourself to show Him something. To trust Him, not test Him. To seek to live out what He has called you to do so He can use you to change the world.
Change the world. That is our theme this summer at our two summer camps. We want to teach kids that they have the power through sharing their faith in God to “make waves” that can change this world. I can’t think of a better way to help them see what that means than for them to experience it through the love and faith they witness in their adult and student volunteer leaders.
Pastor Mark’s message from this past Sunday was so right! We are called to be His flesh – His body in the world – not just theologically, not just metaphorically, but LITERALLY. We are to be the ongoing movement of God from heaven to earth. We are to be a deployed people in this world. We are on a mission – God’s mission to change the world. We are called to be a SENT PEOPLE. Not people who allow our faith to sit behind “closed church doors.”
At Easter Jam, we shared with the families in our community that no matter how broken and messy things get in this world, Jesus is more powerful than any fear or any problem we have. I can’t think of a better time than now for us, God’s people, to get into this messy world and make it a better place. That’s what we are going to challenge our kids to do this summer, and that’s what I want to challenge you to do, too.
God used Moses to change the world, but first his mother had to grow her faith and allow God to use her. I believe God will use our camp kids to change the world, too. But to get there, first we need people willing and ready to grow their faith and allow God to use them. As Pastor Mark said, we need people who won’t allow their faith to sit behind “closed church doors.”
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21
