hey AudOne family!
haha today I relieved my cg friend for her small group in our children's ministry (GKidz), along with another cg friend. haha sharing with you guys about this because it seems like God is pointing me to something but I don't know what exactly.
This is the 2nd time that I've served in GKidz & in a few ways it was quite different from the 1st time. During P&W, I just sensed that there were a lot of distractions around & it was affecting everyone (probs with amps, lyrics, children talking among themselves). I started praying for the problems & distractions around us to be resolved & dissipated & that the kids would come to understand the true meaning of worship. Praise was especially affected but I felt that we could enter into God's presence more smoothly as we moved into worship. As P&W ended, one of the leaders, Uncle D, came up & spoke solemnly to the kids. He asked the kids if God was real in their lives, if God was number 1 in their lives. Many kids raised their hands. Uncle D then said something like, "If God is really number 1 in your lives, why is it that many of you were not concentrating on worship & chit-chatting among yourselves? I have been observing you for the past few weeks & it seems like you do not respect God at all by the way you've been behaving." [Was quite surprised but realized that it was crucial that the children knew what they did wrong]. Uncle D spoke to them further about the importance of respecting God through worship.
As we were moving out to the classes, my cg fren, Hui Ting, told me that God impressed upon her heart that it was important that we discussed about the meaning of worship, instead of following the lesson plan given. We went ahead with that in mind & talked to our group of girls abt it. But as much as we explained with stories from the Bible (Moses & the tabernacle, etc, I asked the girls to open their palms & imagine a wooden nail being driven into their palms - they refused at first but did in the end - I was hoping that they would understand how much Christ went through for us), which the girls understood perfectly, it seemed like they could not grasp hold (I seriously have no idea how many kids can even do that) of the impact of how great it is an honor to be able to worship God like we are able in church, in our daily qts, because it is only possible through Christ's death on the Cross, are we able to enter His presence to praise & worship God.
Hui Ting & I had some time to debrief after Gkidz. We reflected on what we taught the girls & both of us realized that the girls really didn't seem to have grasped the true meaning of worship. I don't know if it's true but it seems like this is a universal phenomenon for all Christian kids whose parent/parents are believers & brought them to church when they were young - that there's little/no conviction of God's realness in their life (of course, there are exceptions). I then shared with her my past experience as a Christian kid.
My mom brought me to our family church (Church of Singapore, Marine Parade) since kindergarten. I accepted Christ at age 8. But a lot of times I felt left out because I didn't have close friends in church that I could talk to. When I was a bit older, I started dreaded coming to church, especially after my elder sis finished primary school & went to the teens' service. Even though I still attended church, I didn't know or fully appreciate why I went to church. I knew Christ died for me, but the full impact of His love displayed on the Cross for all mankind just didn't go deep into my brain or heart. I just didn't understand & there was simply just no conviction of how real God was in my life. It was not until when I was in sec sch that I started to understand & the extent of my understanding & conviction becoming full blown into what it is now, when I came back to God in 2006, after deciding to take my own path, instead of God's, twice.
A question has been coming back to me since then, I really don't know why. From what I've seen, friends who are also from Christian families (if I'm not wrong, every one of our band's from Christian families I think), from my siblings & kids I know, many Christian kids often are unable to grasp the impact of what Christ has done for us on the Cross, out of which comes an understanding of His grace & mercy, & in turn, a growing love for Him. Many (I repeat, there are exceptions) go to church because their parents bring them there, or because of friends, but not out of a pure desire of wanting to worship God, to be in fellowship or to be involved in His community. Is it only when they are older & have the cognitive capacity (if it is even needed when only God & the Holy Spirit alone can convict us) to be convicted of the realness of God in their lives? I believe there are children who have been deeply convicted of the reality of God, maybe it's just that I've not encountered any personally. I guess right now what we can do is to continue praying for the kids, to continue being good role models to them, living out true worship in our lives & in P&W, & to help build a strong fellowship among them.
What do you guys think? Did you go through similar situations as I did or had other experiences? Feel free to comment! (Hope I didn't bore you out.)
God, we pray for every child, that everyone of them will come to know You as their personal Savior, but more importantly, that You will bring about deep conviction of how real You are in their lives and in ours, so that each time we worship You, we will do it with all our hearts, knowing that You desire only all of our whole-hearted hearts, not burnt offerings or insincere & unnecessary acts of religiosity. In Jesus' name, Amen.
with His love,
xt
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