eight:sixteenkids equipment: January 2012

One night at kid's church, I had the children make individual pizzas. I watched as some children worked hurriedly to pile on heaps of topping, getting as much as they could, while others carefully crafted their creations through meticulous assembly. After baking, the pizzas were returned to their makers. But before diving in, the children were told to switch pizzas with one another. You can imagine the protesting and even tears that erupted as prized pizzas were reluctantly passed around the table. Those who had grabbed feverishly and loaded their dough with toppings, were suddenly very unhappy to find a much smaller pizza sitting before them. Had I given the instruction from the beginning, I tend to think that most of the pizzas would have erred on the smaller side.

Thinking of others doesn't come naturally to most us. How often do we want to pile our pizzas and keep them all to ourselves? We need to be taught to consider others, as well as being nurtured and guided in our faith to develop a Christ-like love for people. Serving and giving are not encouraged by our commercially driven and self focused society. Sadly, even the church as a whole, does not serve in the amount it should. We have a world full of hurting and needy people. We have an abundance of opportunity to show who Jesus is, by helping others. Showing children how to help others now will lead to compassionate and active Christian adults.

God takes service to the needy very seriously. In fact, he tells us over and over how important it is for us to take care of others. The importance of helping people is made especially clear in the story of The Sheep and The Goats (Matthew 25:31-46). Here, God says that what we do for "the least" we do for Him. Who is "the least" and what can we do?

There are particular groups of people whom the Bible stresses we should help. Orphans, widows, and the poor come up multiple times. The common thread between the three groups is vulnerability; people without family to care, an inability to provide for basic needs, no resources, defenseless against the dangers of abuse, neglect, and sickness. Today, all around the world there are people who are orphaned or abandoned, elderly, mentally disabled, enslaved, homeless, sick, or starving and in need of help and love. We have the ability to teach children more about God and grow their compassion by creating opportunities for giving and serving.

What are you passionate about? Has God given you a heart for a particular group in need? If not, begin to pray for God to open your heart and show you where you can help. When you are excited, the children you get involved, will get excited too. Once you have a focus, find ways of allowing the children to actively participate. For example, you could: