West Main

This week we will continue the article on Children’s Ministry by Pastor Johnny Johnson at Sticky Faith:

 

 

Leave Space for Questions and Doubt.  Eventually, a teenager wrestling with a healthy understanding of their faith will have doubts and questions. Church needs to be a safe place to wrestle with those things. If we allow the children in our ministries to ask questions at a young age, hopefully they will feel comfortable doing so when their questions and doubts get more serious.

 

 

Look for Ways for Children to Serve in the Church.  Shadow an usher, help with greeting, put the cups out for coffee. The possibilities here differ from church to church but the more children are serving alongside adults the easier it is to create inter-generational relationships.

 

 

Teach the Gospel.  Children’s Ministries can be guilty of teaching “law.” Children are concrete thinkers and teaching the do’s and don’ts is easier than trying to teach something as abstract as grace. When we do teach the moral side of Christianity, we have to be careful to explain why we live that way: Because of Jesus. And out of gratitude for God’s grace. More importantly, our children need to see the gospel lived out in our lives.

 

 

What ways are you seeing Sticky Faith lived out in the children’s ministry at your church? What other ideas do you have for starting young?

 

 

I am very proud of the incredible Biblical education our kids get at this church. Many thanks to all of you who have given countless hours in this endeavor. I look forward to this tradition continuing into the future, and seeing how God will continue to bless this body through you!

 

– Pannell

 

 

 

 

FEELING  THE  LORD  (PART  THREE)

 

 

Last week I wrote about how those who often compel solemn and sad feelings when coming to the Lord’s Supper misuse, if not misunderstand, certain passages from First Corinthians chapter eleven. The Apostle Paul warns the Corinthians, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (11:29-30). Now those who opt mostly for feeling solemn point to God’s disciplining certain Corinthians with illness and death for practicing the Lord’s Supper in this “unworthy manner,” thus “profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (11:27).

 

 

Now if the potential discipline of the Lord is illness or even death when coming to the Lord’s Supper on Sunday morning, I imagine a mood and atmosphere of solemnness, seriousness, and sadness is in order. After all, I might die if I do not correctly discern the Lord’s body. Over the years I have heard Lord’s Supper meditations use Paul’s words to warn us, “Brothers and Sisters, you had better be thinking about Jesus’ body right now, or God may discipline you with illness or death! Now let us pray.” Yikes! How should I feel right before someone serves me food saying, “You might get ill or die if you do not eat this correctly?”

 

 

What if my thoughts wander a bit when partaking of the Lord’s Supper? If I am not continually thinking of the Lord’s body when eating and drinking the bread and fruit of the vine, then God may strike me dead? If that is the case, then I am going to repeat the words, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” every second of the Lord’s Supper, so as not to take the Lord’s Supper in an “unworthy manner.” No matter how disciplined my thoughts when partaking of the Lord’s Supper, I will always have a feeling of fear that I might not be thinking the right thoughts.

 

 

But as mentioned last week, how or in what way were the Corinthians not “discerning the body” of Christ (11:29-30)? Paul says, “For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk,” and then concludes his thoughts by commanding, “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another- if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home- so that when you come together it will not be for judgment” (11:21; 11:33-34).

 

 

Certain Corinthians (most likely the well-to-do) were not sharing their food during the love feast surrounding the Lord’s Supper. Remember how in the initial days of the Church, the Christians “were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:44-46)? The children of God were known for their unity in love by their sharing with all whatever their needs.

 

 

Since we have been given everything we need in Jesus, we no longer act as the world does in hoarding our resources to the detriment of others. In allowing the poorer Christians to go hungry, certain Corinthians provoked God’s displeasure by displaying their disbelief in Jesus by their selfishness. We fail to discern the body of Christ when we neglect the physical needs of our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ (the Church). Paul reminds the Corinthians, “Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?” (11:22).

 

 

Now when coming to the Lord’s Supper we need to ask, “How do you feel about those who are poorer and more in need that surround you?”

 

To be continued . . .                                                     – Terry