21 Jan Life-on-Life Discipleship
As I have reflected on the number of stories and changes I have witnessed in the last five years in Grace Church Kids, there is a theme of life change and growth that continues to come to mind. It is the growth and development of the older students who serve with the kids. It is life-on-life lived out among our youngest with some of the greatest visible growth. I have watched as a number of young men begin serving in 5th grade as classroom helpers with varying levels of assistance to the lead volunteers. Often they begin by owning the responsibility of preparing snack or leading the preschoolers to big group. By the end of their first year serving, after mentoring from coaches, lead teachers investing, and through various student trainings, they have grown to connect with the children, to lead them through an activity, and to model worship while in big group. As they continue to serve over the years, their responsibilities grow as they mature, and often, the young men who were once in charge of snack are truly leading children.
Daniel & Michael Smith are two strong examples of the life change occurring in Grace Church Kids. The brothers have served faithfully for years in our children’s ministry program. As they have consistently served in classrooms, they have grown to be young men whom adult teachers request to move up with them. Children in their classrooms look forward to seeing them and connecting with them, and we have seen their level of responsibility, ownership, and leadership grow.
Michael says, “Serving in children’s ministry is more than an hour and a half on Sundays. It’s a highlight in my week to walk into a room and see faces of smiling kids walk in. You know that no matter how hard a week has been, you can put all of that aside and not only be able to be there for the kids you teach but to be filled with joy by them.” Daniel also echoes the enjoyment he gets from serving, “I enjoy filling a need in the church. I also enjoy getting to share my limited wisdom with the young boys I teach. It makes me feel useful.”
Seeing adults invest in young men and train them in leading others, owning responsibility (showing up on time, following through on tasks, and communicating schedules), and caring for those younger and weaker than they are is a treat. But to then see the students take their investment and in turn pour into the lives of younger children and by doing so, support and strengthen the adults in their roles is a real life representation of what life-on-life discipleship is to me.
Just as the coaches, adult leaders, and volunteers invested and encouraged the Smiths, they are now, in turn, encouraging and leading others. Life-on-life is multiplying life change throughout our adults, students, and children in Grace Church Kids.
-LeeAnne Cavin