Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.:
Matthew 19:14
In the last five years, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time climbing on special needs soap box and preaching the special needs ministry gospel. I keep doing it, not because soap box climbing firms flabby glutes, but because I am passionate about reaching out to kids with special needs and their families. And because doing so follows the example of Jesus, who in Matthew 19:14, commanded his disciples to bring the children to him.
That’s why my co-author and I chose to use the verse from Matthew to begin our new book Every Child Welcome: A Ministry Handbook for Including Kids with Special Needs. Perhaps it’s also why the creators of the Red Card Kids chose the same passage as one of its key verses.
So many kids in this fallen world live in conditions inconceivable to you, me, and the children in churches in our country. Too many kids live in poverty. Homeless and hunger are the norm for millions. Others are orphans due to war and diseases like AIDS and ebola. Some are conscripted into armies as soldiers or sold by human traffickers into slavery. The statistics are heart-breaking.
Even so Jesus calls every child, every single child, to himself. Throughout his ministry he sought out the homeless, the poor, the oppressed, the sick, and the disabled. But how can we, as a church in a small rural town in Iowa, follow in his footsteps and seek out kids living in terrible conditions?
A good first step is to become educated about the lives of these kids who are precious in the sight of God. This summer, my home church is committed to educating every person, young and old, in our congregation about these issues. To accomplish that goal, Red Card Kids will be used as our VBS to be held during the Sunday school hour for eight weeks, starting May 31.*
Red Card Kids VBS is an opportunity for all of us, adults and children, to step outside of our comfortable lives, and experience in small ways how kids live in places far, far away.
If we are willing, God will use Red Card Kids to break up the ignorant, stony spots in all our hearts, from the youngest, the oldest, and everyone in between. He will then sow seeds of compassion into our brokenness. If we are willing, he will transform our compassion into passion that motivates all of us to climb on a soap box and preach the Red Card Kids gospel to our friends, our neighbors, and anyone else we meet.
Not because soap box climbing firms flabby glutes. But because our hearts are broken and soft. Because the compassion of Christ compels us to do what we can to reach kids who are sick, poor, homeless, hungry, orphaned, sold into slavery, or conscripted as soldiers. Because we are passionate about reaching those kids with the true gospel of hope and a better life to come.
I’m ready for Red Card Kids. My soap box ready for action. Will you start looking for your soap box and join me?
*If you live in or near Boone, Iowa, you’re cordially invited to join us at Grace Community Church each Sunday (May 31–July 26 except for the July 4th weekend) at 9:15 for our Red Card Kids VBS program. You’ll find the address and a map at the church website. If your church would like to do Red Card Kids, visit their website for more information.
