Remember Your Creator...

When I think about ministry to children and youth one particular verse from the bible continually jumps into my mind-

Ecclesiastes 12:1 "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come ..."

In all of our children's and youth programs at St Alban's we are attempting to help young people remember their Creator.

What might 'remembering our Creator' look like?

• When we read His Word, we remember Him.
• When we pray to Him, we remember Him.
• When we spend time thinking about God, we remember Him.
• When we actually follow what His word tells us to do, we are remembering Him.
• When we seek His guidance when we are making a decision, we remember Him.
• When we meet together with His people to sing, pray, hear his Word and encourage each other.
• The biggest and most important way we remember Him is when we put our trust in Jesus.

What might the days of trouble look like?

• When people get serious with boyfriends and girlfriends and attention moves away from things like God.
• When people reach the HSC or go to uni, studying may take up most of their attention.
• Some people find the freedom of turning 18 a little hard to control.
• Going to pubs, clubs and parties becomes the big thing in some people's lives.
• When people get a full time job, work long hours and start to focus on their career.
• When people move out of home, have independence from their parents.
• When people put their deposit down on a unit and they start to focus on their mortgage.
• When people get married and when they have kids sometimes their thoughts can be consumed by family life.
• When some people's marriage breaks down and they separate from their spouse or get divorced.
  

Ministry to children and youth is exciting and important because its much easier to remember your Creator in the days of your youth. It is much easier to make a decision to follow Christ when you are young. Of course we shouldn't give up our outreach to adults and the elderly. But ministry to children and youth is just so strategic, so important, so crucial. The days of trouble, the days of independence, the days of responsibilities, make it harder for people to remember their creator.And as young people in our church grow up and hit 'the days of trouble' my prayer is that they would hold tightly to Jesus, that he would be the foundation they build their life on, and that he would guide and protect them through those days and keep them strong in their faith.

Adam