“Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.” – Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 9:22b-23 (NLT)
‘But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”‘ – Jesus, Luke 18:16 (ESV)
If you come to our church this week, or for that matter, you just drive by the building, you’ll see some pretty unusual features added to the architecture. It looks kind of like a superhero hideout. Even more, as you come inside, it looks like the bat cave.
What?
Yep. We’ve made some temporary modifications to make our building look like Batman’s secret base. Not only that, but we’re dressing like superheroes, and we’ve even written songs and lessons and designed crafts and activities around the superhero theme.
Why?
Let me give you five reasons:
- Because kids everywhere today are into superheroes and we thought it might be a good way to get kids who don’t normally go to church, to come to ours. We’re calling our four-night event: “KidzFest 2017: SIDEKICKS.” We know that our members will bring their kids to any kind of VBS type event just because we offer it. But we wanted to do something that would cause kids in the city, that don’t normally go to church, to beg their parents to bring them. As the apostle Paul taught, we are trying to find “common ground” with unreached families in our city in order to share the gospel with them.
- Because kids are the most open to the gospel. That’s why Jesus instructed His disciples not to do anything to “hinder” kids from coming to Him. We’re making our church kid-friendly because we want to give them the gospel in a way that they can understand.
- Because when we reach kids, we also reach their parents. One of the main reasons that people begin attending church is because one of their children starts asking “God-questions.” You know, stuff like: “Who made the world? What happens when you die? Who is Jesus?” Parents often need help with these kinds of questions. We want to be there to help.
- Because the “growth engine” of our church is our children and family ministries. God has trusted us with young families with lots of kids. We want to be good stewards of that trust. So, our annual KidzFest outreach is one way that we “lean in” to this trust that God has given us.
- Because we want to teach kids about the only true Superhero, namely, Jesus Christ! During our KidzFest, even Batman and Superman will have to admit that the only true hero is Jesus. And Jesus wants every kid to be His “sidekick!” In other words, Jesus wants kids to follow Him.
So, there’s five reasons that we’re looking and dressing like superheroes this week. It’s why over 100 adult volunteers are singing, teaching, playing and serving. It’s why we’ve planned and worked for months to prepare. We want kids to come to Jesus.
Every year this outreach has grown. For the last two years we have creatively thought of ways to expand in spite of severe space limitations. But in order to continue to grow, we will need to enlarge our facilities, and increase our efforts to reach kids and families in our city.
So, put your cape on and join us this coming week for KidzFest 2017! And be in prayer for how we can continue to grow in our ministry to kids in years to come!