Planting the Gospel.

This past weekend at the teen service we had a very intense lesson about God’s righteousness and mercy. Starting with small groups, the teens were asked to look up certain scriptures that talk about justification, mercy, righteousness, truth, holiness and love. Each small group has its own flavor from their leaders guiding the discussion. Beth and Erik who are just recently engaged have started helping out leading worship and a small group with high school students. They’ve had their own struggles with church but have been wanting to get more involved.

One of the girls in their group was Megan. She’s been coming for almost a year now but just tagging along with her sister. Rarely talks in the group and doesn’t really relate to anyone in the student ministry. She’ll come in, find a place all by herself and wait for the service to be over. She’s very short answered to anyone who tries to have a conversation with her and is fine with just being, alone.

During the discussion in their small group while reading the Bible, things just clicked in all the right ways. From the stories of Eric and Beth to the discussion from the other teens, things got very emotional. While the others in the group had their eyes reopened to the Gospel, for Megan it was like for the first time. In the groups they were using object lessons to relate to those big words like justification and righteousness. During the main lesson, Traci, the family minister, was teaching and asked the students what they got from the discussion. While some of the students were distracted by other things, other than the lesson, for Megan, she spoke. Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened as she explained how the thermometer shows how much God loves her. She described that the “red stuff” when it gets closer to the “light” rises and it’s like us when we get closer to God.

There are plenty of times that when we read or hear God’s Word it goes in one ear and out the other. Megan heard what God is communicating in His Gospel. It reminds me that when we set out to start Life Bridge we weren’t trying to plant a church. What we’re striving to do is plant the Gospel into the hearts of those in this world who are alone like Megan. I’d love to say that Megan instantly became included in the student ministry, but there are plenty of us who fail to hear that Word from God. This coming weekend we’re taking some of the students in the group to a retreat called Obsession. It’s a time to get away from the norm and become obsessed with God. Megan is still considering whether she’ll go or not.