The Church of Tomorrow?

For years we've heard how students are the church of the tomorrow. To be honest, I hate the statement for all kinds of reasons. First of all it assumes a definition of the church that is inaccurate. If the church is a group of people following Jesus and living life together, would we dare say anyone under 21 isn't a part of that experience?

Saying students are the "church of tomorrow" assumes students will lead someday, not today. Middle school and high school students who are growing in their faith are ready to lead now. We simply have to challenge them and give them space.

Here are a couple of examples.

Worship Experience For Student By Students

Last Sunday night we had our first student lead worship worship experience. I know, late July is a horrible time to try something new. That's one of the reasons it was so cool. You wouldn't have been blown away by the event being cutting edge or highly creative, it was actually pretty simple.

About 6 weeks ago we invited some students to think about what they would like to communicate to their fellow students. They chose 1 Tim 4:12. The "don't let anyone look down on you because you're young" passage. Pretty appropriate I thought.

We asked students to be a part of the music team, asked some students to pray consistently for the event, asked some students to help with tech and asked someone to teach. One student was mc and a girl who recently came to faith shared her story.

It was incredible! The sense of excitement was great from the students who were leading as well as the ones who were participating. Yes, I'm downplaying the work that went into the event a little, but the impact it had on our ministry was worth every ounce of effort our team put in.

Sandwiches For The Hungry Of Dallas

On our summer trips we challenged our students that mission trips and summer camp isn't a destination but a doorway. In other words, if those trips didn't somehow effect the way they serve at home it was a waste, well believe it or not they heard what we said.

Last Tuesday a few of our students showed up at the church to make over 600 sandwiches for a mobile soup kitchen. It wasn't my idea, they came up with it. I didn't discover the soup kitchen, they did. I didn't buy the sandwich stuff, they did. (I did provide my credit card). I wasn't even at the church when they met and made the sandwiches, the did it all on their own.



And yes, I'm really proud of them.

The interesting thing about 1 Timothy 4:12 is that it challenges the younger to set an "example" to the rest of the church. Setting an example means leadership. It means charting a course and showing the rest of us old people what it looks like to live out a radical life. A life that is consistently being transformed from the inside out by the gospel.

Students are the church of today. We must give them space and resources to live out the passions and gifts God has given them, then we must follow.

Jesus in a Prom Dress - Update

So proud of our girls. Here's an update. If you missed the original article you can find it here

http://david-inrepair.blogspot.com/2010/03/jesus-in-prom-dress.html

The Irving Womens Network highlighted the work that the High School girls have done with the prom dresses.

Here’s the latest count on items donated:

• Dresses: around 150
• Jewelry: between 30 and 40 necklaces and around 50 pair of earrings
• Shoes: about 45 pairs of shoes
• Purses: 25

Also, many people have donated beautiful mirrors and decorations! Thanks to all of you have generously given to the girls of Irving!

Shelley Lee

Jesus in a Prom Dress

This was written by one of our super star volunteer leaders, Mary Pruitt. Shelley is the associate pastor in our youth ministry at Irving Bible Church. She's an incredible leader. I'm so proud of our girls and their leaders.

Enjoy

Shelley first asked several high school leaders if we thought our girls would like to help set up a store for homeless teens to go and be fitted for prom dresses. Of course, we jumped on the chance, because we are always looking for ways to our girls engage with Jesus and serve others. We have amazing girls who love to serve. As Shelley described the project, I realize, this might be the ultimate girl’s service project ever! They get to donate their old dresses, set up a shop and serve all at the same time! We had a brief meeting with the girls and sent out Facebook messages as reminders. The girls showed up with old prom and banquet dresses, shoes and even a few decorations for the shop.

The shop is located in an old antique shop in downtown Irving. The space is lined with empty individual rooms; the prom dress room is located at the front of the store. When we arrived, the room was empty except for two racks, an empty jewelry case and a chair. When we left, the racks where filled with dresses, we had an area to display shoes, the walls were brightly decorated, and a mannequin in a beautiful gown was set up in the front window.

While we were setting up, we went to the back of the space to locate items for the prom room, and we passed other empty rooms. Shelley explained to me they were going to make one a room for baby clothes, so the homeless teenage mothers could shop for clothes for their children. There was a room that was devoted to young men. Another area would be for the teenage girls to shop for everyday clothes. Passing the empty rooms, Shelley and I discussed bringing the girls back to help set up more rooms.

We didn’t even have to convince the girls that our work there wasn’t done. Before we left, we had all caught a vision for what our roll might be. Several girls were talking about things they had at home to add to the prom room, and all agreed we should return to help again. Not only did our girls set up the room, they prayed for the girls who would be receiving the dresses and entering the shops. They prayed they would feel beautiful and they would feel the love of Jesus. They prayed for hope. I love them! And I love how Jesus works in us and through us, exactly as we are…even if we are 16 year old high school girls who most of the time think about ourselves AND even if we are 30 year old leaders who most the of time think about ourselves…I love Him!