“Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.” (Malachi 2:15 ESV).
We have been working hard every night this week on WCC’s outreach event called “KidzFest 2014: Fire Island.” We decorated the whole church in an island theme. We wrote songs and Bible studies. We came up with activities and games to deepen the children’s understanding of the Bible stories we taught. Our adults and youth have dressed in islander themed outfits and labored every evening from 4:30 to 8:30 PM to inspire and teach the children about God and the Bible.
Why are we working so hard to reach out to the children of our city?
It’s because we feel specifically called and gifted to make reaching children with the gospel a priority at our church. We also feel called to partner with parents to help them raise their children to be like Jesus. We recognize that God has called parents to be the primary ones responsible for this, so we offered KidzFest to help the parents train their kids. And now, starting this coming Sunday, we’re launching a 4-week sermon series entitled “Kingdom Kids: Raising Kids to Be Better Than Just Good” to train the parents at parenting God’s way.
We’re thankful to God for giving us this vision for reaching the next generation with the gospel. He has trusted us with 205 children in attendance through the first four nights of KidzFest. Now, we’re praying for a large turnout for our Sunday services, with many new guests coming to hear their children sing the KidzFest theme song, “God of Fire,” written by Stephen Combs and led by our WCC worship team, StedFast.
We’re especially thankful that God would trust us with helping parents raise their children to be better than just good, but to be godly, children who grow to maturity in Christlikeness.