It All Comes Full Circle

Without doing too much catch up (I will do that in another blog to come sometime), I am now in children's ministry on Saturday nights. I feel completely unequipped and, ironically, having to teach a class of 4th-6th graders is scarier to me than approaching pimps on a dark night. Go figure ;)

Either way, God is continuously teaching me things through it. This last weekend was when he dropped a nice kick in the head through it...

Up until now I always saw the Prostitute ministry on Fridays night and the children's ministry on Saturday nights as two separate things. One night we are ministering to the lost and those who feel like they have no hope, and the next night we are ministering to kids through games, prayer, and Bible teaching.

But this last Saturday night it changed. I was standing outside watching the kids in our class playing on the playground. The two that specifically caught my eye were our two 6th grade girls... playing tag. "Wow," I thought. "On Friday nights I see girls their age selling themselves for money or for the acceptance of their pimp. And on Saturday nights, I see these girls full of innocence, still living out their childhood. What a contrast..."

And that's when it hit me. The two ministries are not unrelated. Not at all! They, in fact, completely feed into each other. In one, we are working to establish Jesus in children's lives so that way they do live an abundant life in Christ, capable of resisting the devil, his lies and his temptations in the world. In another, we are working to establish Jesus in these girls' (often times Children's!) lives so that way He can undo the damage that has been done already.

I thought about the girls on the street... Most of these girls grew up in church. Where were their children's church teachers now? What kinds of prayers did these teachers lift up for the children? For their home lives? For their love for Jesus? All of a sudden, children's ministry was not JUST 'Children's Ministry.' It became urgent. God opened my eyes to how important it is that I am there.

Jesus, I pray that I will be more diligent to pray for your little children and that you will use me to help establish a true love for You in their lives. Let me be used to prevent my Saturday night kids from becoming my Friday night ministry... I love you!