First Things First

Hey there, GCF.

The first three chapters of Ezra provides ample evidence that the most important thing to the returning Jews was worship. If you combed through your life, would you find similar evidence of the priority of worship? Here are some of the ways the evidence showed up in Ezra. Use these categories to evaluate the priority of worship in your life.

• The way you spend the budget
• The way you organize your family
• The way you spend your time
• The way you use your talent
• The way you express your emotions
• The way you evaluate your life

While you're thinking about Sunday, on a practical note, let me know how you feel about the new InfoCard.

May you find grace this week.

Pastor Ron

Kids

It's been awhile since we were in Mark, and awhile since we've thought through some issues. This one is simple:

What are we going to do with the kids?

That's what the disciples asked, and their answer was to send them away. Jesus got especially angry with this decision, and he rebuked his friends.

Yesterday at Grace Christian Fellowship we talked about what we "do" with kids. Here are some questions I asked that we need to answer:

1. How do we welcome kids? How do we show children hospitality?
2. How do we protect the hearts of kids? Are we reactive or proactive?
3. How are we clearing the pathway to Jesus for kids? What obstacles are we removing?
4. How are we blessing children? What does it mean to "bless" kids?

Ironic that when we were setting up tables for our ministry meeting, we used the tables the kids needed to eat on. I never considered that they would need the tables more than the adults.

The answers to these questions have to do with Grace Christian Fellowship's overall approach and philosophy of children's ministry. Do we see our role as glorified babysitters, caring for the kids so their parents can be spiritually fed? Or do we see children's ministry as actual ministry to children?

Or we could approach it this way: Would we have ministry to children if none of the adults at our church had children? Hmmm....

"Jesus said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

What do you think? What do we do with the kids?

Have a great week. Next Sunday, the beginning of an exciting new series, "Back Where We Belong."

Pastor Ron