Death is coming

The closer death creeps up upon me the less I am able to understand the reasons for life or living.

Yes I have experienced a close family member dying and unlike television it takes decades to handle such a thing. To think I am going to put my family through such a thing when I finally leave is more horrific to me than the thought of death itself.

My life was and is still a learning experience but when all said and done what am I to do with all this accumulated learning over my lifetime if I just die. There is no logic or reason to this.

Long ago I became aware that the God story that is sold to the majority is just a nice story to give mankind with a message of a basic layout of how nice life could be if everyone followed these ideas. Not many in life do and if one thinks about it the good and evil structures actually depend on each other. The good that can be experienced in life is only understood as good when there is it's opposite to compare it to. This is not rocket science only common sense in reality. I am not saying we need to experience bad but understanding in it is needed to appreciate the great things many of us can have in our lives. From birth to death there are many ways mankind helps his fellow man. How many ways can you help?


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Youth Ministry Outreach: An Important Tool

By Kensey Bressler


Children who learn the Gospel may leave their church early in adulthood, but they often return to God later on. This makes youth ministry outreach an important part of the ministerial budget. Children often get to the heart of a Biblical message with greater ease than their parents.

Large congregations often run successful programs. Their numbers already contain a contingent of young members attending regularly. These Christian kids invite non-believers to attend youth group, a less threatening environment than church itself. This can become a safe environment for children whose family lives are not ideal or who are feeling lonely.

If numbers become unwieldy, the youth pastor has a couple of choices. He can divide his week up to accommodate different age groups on different nights. He could also divide children and respective volunteers between different rooms of the church. Either way, very young children and teenagers are not all playing the same games and their different needs are addressed appropriately.

Games are an important feature of the night. All kids like food, too, and build an appetite as they run around playing capture-the-flag or Mission Impossible. A competitive atmosphere is sometimes created to encourage good behavior during the sermon.

A child is sometimes interested in the Bible thanks to hearing something from a Christian friend. He asks to attend Sunday school, even though his parents do not go to Church. The parent might attend to humor the child then realizes he is interested in the Bible too. It works the other way also, where parents make their kids attend Sunday school, an experience which can lead to lifelong faith.

When youth ministry outreach administrators can offer special events at low prices, families pay attention. They may be able to accept a bit of preaching if it means being able to afford soccer camp, photography lessons or cooking which might have been out of their price range otherwise. Many churches will waive fees for a family that is really struggling since they want everyone to feel included.




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