Evan Doyle

5- The hour an earthquake struck the nation of Haiti.
6- The number of hospitals in the city of Port-au-Prince prior to the quake. It is unknown how many of these remain operational.
7.0- The magnitude of the catastrophic quake.
200- How many years it has been since a quake of this magnitude has been recorded in Haiti.
30,000 to 500,000- The number feared dead due to this quake, according to Haitian officials.
2,000,000- The number of residents of Port-au-Prince, the capital city and the city most affected by the quake.
3,000,000- The estimated number of Haitians the Red Cross is currently estimating need aid. This number may be higher.

I don’t know about you, but those numbers overwhelm me. I cannot even begin to fathom the destruction of human life and property. This quake has been called by some the worst natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere in over 100 years. The images (warning: very graphic) emerging from the nation are astounding. The nation’s infrastructure was already weak before this catastrophe. Now it’s in a state of chaos. No hospitals, no phones, no electricity, no clean water, no food, no transportation. Their president doesn’t even have a place to sleep tonight.

They need us as Christians to step up and spread the love and compassion of Christ. Right now more than ever we have an unprecedented opportunity to say with our giving, “God loves you.” I have literally spent time weeping today over the loss of life. Thousands of people are dead. People who haven’t lived a life of privilege like we have here in America, but people who have spent their lives in poverty.

Scripture calls us to this work. We cannot ignore it. One of my favorite passages of Scripture reads:

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him…

Isaiah 58:6-7

The following organizations, and many more, are accepting donations for Haiti relief. Please consider taking part in this effort. Literally every penny can change the life of a Haitian without a home.

Care
Compassion
Mercy Ships
Red Cross- Visit redcross.org or text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10
Samaritan’s Purse
UNICEF
World Vision
Yele Haiti- Visit yele.org or text YELE to 501501 to donate $5

“Angels! Were those angels? Why us, the shepherds? Why did we hear about his birth? I don’t know. But I know this is big. This is momentous. The One we’ve been waiting for is here. Let’s go and see.”

“Look, a new star. Is it the predicted one? Something is new. Something we’ve awaited has arrived. Let’s go and see.”

“I wish I had somewhere else to put Him. Something warmer to dress Him in. But I’m so glad He’s here. I may not be his “father”, but I feel a connection with Him like no child before. The one I’ve awaited has come. Can I see Him, Mary?”

“I can’t believe it. A teenager from Nazareth. That’s all I am. Why was I chosen? I’m so glad He’s here. (And I’m so glad He’s out!) The long awaited, momentous One has arrived. Let me see Him.”

Whether the world knew it or not, it was transformed on this day. He came to change things. The awaited One arrived. Not in the way anyone expected, however. All throughout the Christmas story, we see the unusual being chosen to do the extraordinary. They all ask “Why me?” They can’t believe that a glorious God would choose them. But He did. He chose to use them to bring peace to the world. Today, He’s chosen us to bring peace to the world. We’re called to be His Marys. And Josephs. And shepherds. And wise men. And temple workers. And stable-owners. We all have a part. And we can all rejoice in His arrival. Thankfully, we know that not only did He arrive once, but He’s arriving again. His Kingdom has been established for us to work in and love in and grow in and change in. One day not too far away, He’s coming to rule His Kingdom. What kind of kingdom are we preparing for Him? Are we anticipating His momentous arrival?

Live life all year in Advent mode. Anticipating. Have an incredible Christmas in remembrance of what He has done, is doing, and will do. He changes everything.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

Luke 2:14

Tonight was our annual Praise Dinner/Worship Service at my home church, Liberty Baptist. Every Thanksgiving week, we come together to enjoy a meal (like every good Christian) and have a service with testimonies and singing. I look forward to this service all year.

I was sitting in service tonight flipping through my Bible on the awesome YouVersion iPhone app. I felt that I needed to read Ephesians 2. I flipped (or tapped) over there, and read these 10 verses:

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:1-10, ESV, emphasis mine)

I got done reading that and those two little words stuck out at me. “But God…” Those two little words are the turning point. “But God” changes everything.

We are all, by nature, sinners living in the passions of our flesh. Then God “but”s in. His rich mercy and love don’t just save us from Hell–a powerful thing by itself–but they raise us up with him and seated us next to him. All for what? Just so he could show us His grace. That’s it. He saved us just to lavish on us his grace.

Even crazier? Not 10 minutes after I got done glancing over this passage the pastor starts reading it from the stage. God had a message tonight! I pray that it might stick with you like it is with me. Go out and remember God’s “but”. It changes everything.

I’ve really been inspired to write this post by a couple of things.  First was an interview with Leonard Sweet that is in the November/December issue of K! Magazine.  Second was a response we here at KidzMatter got in response to a question we asked in our newsletter several months ago.  These things have really gotten me thinking: how is children’s ministry going to cope with the future?

We live in a basically postmodern society, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  People in the church tend to cringe at the mention of the word “postmodern”.  It’s come to have a negative connotation to us.  But does it have to?  Postmodernism can only be just touched by these short words describing it: anything is possible, tolerant, diverse, loves options, lack of absolute truth. That last one is where we as Christians get hung up the most.  But why?

As part of one of the first truly postmodern generations in America, I can kind of speak from experience.  The modernists before my generation said that there was an answer for everything, that everything could be known, it was just a matter of time.  Everything was answerable.  Postmodernism refutes that, saying that everything is questionable.  Postmodernism in the church has taken what the generation before them did, and totally flipped it.  The postmodern church values tradition, yet loves new approaches; wants stability, yet flexibility; needs morality, but doesn’t want to force it; sees a faith with a horrible image portrayed to the world, and wants to change it.  Some scholars find this moment in Christianity so important they’re calling it the second Reformation.  That’s where we have to find balance.  We have to admit that there are basic truths in Christianity: God is head, the 5 solas of the First Reformation, and the basic truths.  But we have to be willing to admit that there are some things we can’t answer such as the exact future of the world and some of the more debatable doctrines of the Bible.  Striking that balance between the two is where our ministries have to head.  So what can we do to prepare our children for this future?

1. Teach them God’s basic truths. We have to firmly plant in the kids we reach every week the basic truths of God’s Word.  These are the final truths.  God has given us a basic set of beliefs, and we need to stick to them.
2. Allow them to probe and question. I thank God that I grew up in a home where I was allowed to question my beliefs, and figure out why I believed what I did.  During the early years of my teen life, I questioned a lot of what I knew.  I changed some of what I believed, and kept some of it them same.  I wasn’t just believing these things because my parents or church taught me them, I believed them because I felt they were mine to believe and I had a reason of my own.  Your kids have to be allowed to do the same.  It may not be easy, but you have to let them explore a little.
3. Don’t pretend to have all the answers. EVAN PET PEEVE VENTING ALERT: This is one of my biggest pet peeves with Christians- the ones who “have it all figured out”.  They have every answer to every thing, and bless God, you’re not gonna change it.  I HATE that.  There are some things we just can’t know in our Christian walks!  Don’t pretend like you know everything, and don’t be afraid to tell a kid “I don’t know.”
4. Give them choices. Don’t just lay down the law 100% of the time.  Give kids the opportunity to choose what they want to do.  Postmoderns value choice, and they need to feel involved and cared about.
5. Love them unconditionally. Let’s face it, kids are human too.  Sometimes they’ll do really stupid stuff.  Sometimes, they’re just a little quirky.  (Some more than others, amen?)  They’re never going to attach to you as their children’s leader if you can’t love them in spite of who they are.  If you’ve got a child from the inner city in your church who may smell a little funny, love them.  If you’ve got a kid with special needs, love them.  If you’ve got a kid from a broken home, love them. If you’ve got that kid that absolutely drives you nuts, love them. If you’ve got just an average joe kid, with a happy family and no real problems to speak of, love them just as much.  Jesus didn’t decide which people to love more, so why should we?