Pantano Christian Church

This weekend our students will lead the weekend services. It will be great! We have one of the very best student ministries going that is led by godly and gifted youth leaders and coaches.

I often hear folks say that our youth is the future church. I understand what is meant by that. They mean we must invest in our youth as they will grow up and lead us. And that’s true.

But the great mistake churches make is that it has treated youth (and children) as not being the church YET! That was dispelled last weekend as our CHILDREN led us in worship. They led us so well!

Far too often we’ve seen youth ministry as keeping kids out of trouble, providing clean fun and making sure they accept Christ. All these are good and vital, of course. But what we’ve missed is that our students, especially now, need to be passionate and committed to doing something for Jesus. They want to make their world different. They don’t want to be the church of the future; they want to be the church now. The church is the body and presence of Christ in our world.

Our student ministry is serious about that. We see discipleship (learning to follow Jesus) in the context of having an active faith and serving. Our youth are praying for and bringing their friends to Jesus. They are serving in practical ways. They are looking for God’s leading to make a real difference.

You’ll see and hear some great stories this weekend. But please, let’s not fall into the trap of patronizing these kids as the “future church.” They are the church now and we need to encourage them to live faithfully, powerfully and radically for Jesus.

This week we’ll do something we rarely do – we’ll take two offerings. The first one early in our services will be our regular gifts and offerings to the church. The second offering will be at the end and it will be for our scholarship fund to help send children and students that have financial needs to summer camps.

Together to make the world different,

Glen