Why Investing In The Next Generation Is Worth It
Every year our church invests into two events for the kids and youth ministry: VBS and Youth Camp. We have been doing these two events for so long that it would seem sacrilegious if we ever pulled the plug on them. But have you ever thought about why we do them? Have you ever considered why we roll out an army of volunteers and bring in a special speaker for VBS? Have you ever considered why we have multiple fundraisers per year and even encourage the church to sponsor kids to go to youth camp? Is it just because it is what we have always done and will always do? Is it because our kids and youth get a really big kick out of these two events? If we are going to call on the church to invest in these two events and the youth of our church at large, we should probably have a good understanding of why all the investment in the first place. I want to spend the rest of the time in this article to give a few reasons why.
Before I give you reasons why these two events are worthy of your support, I want to first say that VBS and Youth Camp are nowhere commanded in Scripture. Whether we do or don’t have these two events every year cannot be decided upon from any passage of Scripture. You may be thinking, “That settles it. We can do away with both of them and spare ourselves the money and the time since Scripture doesn’t say we should do it.” Not so fast. Scripture doesn’t tell us to or not to do these two events, but the principles in Scripture that we are aimed at accomplishing through these events gives us good reason to continue our investment into our kids and youth. I’ll start with VBS.
It’s easy to think about fun, games, carnivals, and the Scooter Cops when you think about VBS. However, VBS is much for than that. In a nutshell it's a fun setting that provides an opportunity for kids (and even adults) to hear the gospel and grow in the gospel for members of our church and people in the community. This is a great opportunity to ground our church kids in the gospel even further, but it is also a great opportunity to reach kids and parents who typically wouldn’t come to our church outside of VBS. Pastor Dylan and Bro. Andrew Linder do a great job of leading this event and making the most of the opportunities God gives them for these four days.
Over the past few years we have opted for a Youth Conference rather than a Youth Camp. This year, we are going back to the great outdoors by going to Youth Camp at Minnetonka Christian Camp. What makes this unique from what we do throughout the rest of the year is twofold. Number one, it gives our teens a chance to disconnect from the world and worldly entertainments. Being intentionally disconnected from things that often distract us from God gives us a space to reconnect with one another and the Lord. Number two, over the course of the week and hearing God’s Word preached twice a day just does something in the life of our teens. God has used this particular week the past few years to draw teens to himself for salvation. He has also used this week to deepen the faith in many of our teens as they come home resolved to follow the Lord in a new, reinvigorated way.
As you read this I hope you’ll consider how you can get involved. Here are four ways you can apply this article:
1) Serve in some capacity at this year’s VBS, it’s not too late. Contact Pastor Dylan today (316-993-0394) and let him know that you are interested in serving at VBS this year.
2) Come to the VBS Outreach this Saturday at 10am. We will meet here at the church and then strategically go out into the community and deliver invitations to VBS. If you can’t come but still want to be involved, reach out to Pastor Dylan and he can get you hooked up with a map.
3) Attend our youth fundraiser after the AM service this Sunday. These fundraiser’s go a long way in bringing down costs for camp. If you can’t attend, you can still donate on the app or website and simply designate your donation as “Youth Camp”.
4) Sponsor a kid to go to camp. Camp costs $225 this year and there are always kids who need a sponsor. If you feel like this is something the Lord is leading you to do it would definitely be appreciated.
Church, thank you for your past involvement in both of these events and I hope that you’ll continue to invest in both of these events as a way to keep on investing in the next generation of our church.
Before I give you reasons why these two events are worthy of your support, I want to first say that VBS and Youth Camp are nowhere commanded in Scripture. Whether we do or don’t have these two events every year cannot be decided upon from any passage of Scripture. You may be thinking, “That settles it. We can do away with both of them and spare ourselves the money and the time since Scripture doesn’t say we should do it.” Not so fast. Scripture doesn’t tell us to or not to do these two events, but the principles in Scripture that we are aimed at accomplishing through these events gives us good reason to continue our investment into our kids and youth. I’ll start with VBS.
It’s easy to think about fun, games, carnivals, and the Scooter Cops when you think about VBS. However, VBS is much for than that. In a nutshell it's a fun setting that provides an opportunity for kids (and even adults) to hear the gospel and grow in the gospel for members of our church and people in the community. This is a great opportunity to ground our church kids in the gospel even further, but it is also a great opportunity to reach kids and parents who typically wouldn’t come to our church outside of VBS. Pastor Dylan and Bro. Andrew Linder do a great job of leading this event and making the most of the opportunities God gives them for these four days.
Over the past few years we have opted for a Youth Conference rather than a Youth Camp. This year, we are going back to the great outdoors by going to Youth Camp at Minnetonka Christian Camp. What makes this unique from what we do throughout the rest of the year is twofold. Number one, it gives our teens a chance to disconnect from the world and worldly entertainments. Being intentionally disconnected from things that often distract us from God gives us a space to reconnect with one another and the Lord. Number two, over the course of the week and hearing God’s Word preached twice a day just does something in the life of our teens. God has used this particular week the past few years to draw teens to himself for salvation. He has also used this week to deepen the faith in many of our teens as they come home resolved to follow the Lord in a new, reinvigorated way.
As you read this I hope you’ll consider how you can get involved. Here are four ways you can apply this article:
1) Serve in some capacity at this year’s VBS, it’s not too late. Contact Pastor Dylan today (316-993-0394) and let him know that you are interested in serving at VBS this year.
2) Come to the VBS Outreach this Saturday at 10am. We will meet here at the church and then strategically go out into the community and deliver invitations to VBS. If you can’t come but still want to be involved, reach out to Pastor Dylan and he can get you hooked up with a map.
3) Attend our youth fundraiser after the AM service this Sunday. These fundraiser’s go a long way in bringing down costs for camp. If you can’t attend, you can still donate on the app or website and simply designate your donation as “Youth Camp”.
4) Sponsor a kid to go to camp. Camp costs $225 this year and there are always kids who need a sponsor. If you feel like this is something the Lord is leading you to do it would definitely be appreciated.
Church, thank you for your past involvement in both of these events and I hope that you’ll continue to invest in both of these events as a way to keep on investing in the next generation of our church.
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