Methodist Children’s Home (MCH) youth spent the weekend
learning more about Christ and were invited to ask difficult questions related
to forgiveness and their own faith journey during Spiritual Development
Weekend. Kimberly Clark, director of spiritual development, and her team led
the activities that focus on spiritual growth.
The weekend started with a Friday evening concert where
Christian artists recruited by Pastors Ahmad Washington and Colin Campbell came
to the Waco campus to perform. This year, MCH welcomed Bus Seven, Capital G,
Jeremy Beggs and MxC for the concert. On Saturday, the day began with a worship
service with guest speaker Apostle T followed by a senior lunch. Sunday morning
concluded the weekend with a closing worship service in the chapel.
Clark said they want to show the youth different artists and
speakers who use their talents to glorify God.
“The Bible contains stories of God’s interactions with His
people throughout history but those interactions aren’t just contained to a
book,” she said. “God continues to interact and work in and through His people
now, and we want our students to be exposed to others outside of the agency who
are willing to share how God has moved and breathed into their lives.
“We like to expose our residential students to faithful
people in Waco and surrounding areas,” she said. “It allows them to connect
with the greater Christian community, gives them fresh faces and voices to
receive from, and hopefully encourages them to continue to find places to
worship once they leave our care."
The theme of the weekend was “forgiveness,” and the story of
David was central to the focus of the entire weekend and as youth looked at
Scripture to see examples of God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness.
Clark said this theme brought up many questions from the
youth such as: How do you forgive someone that has hurt you so deeply? How do
you regain trust after forgiveness is given? Why did God choose to forgive me?
Can you forgive when you can’t forget?
“This weekend was a great example of the opportunity this
ministry gives us to share the good news with our young people,” said Trey
Oakley, vice president for development. “We do so in a safe environment where we
don’t shy away from tough questions.
“Since our ministers’ focus is on helping build authentic
relationships with God and in our community, we don’t have to conjur up easy or
quick fix answers,” Oakley continued. “Sometimes we can say ‘I don’t know but
let’s trust God to heal, comfort and seek answers together.’ That’s an amazing
thing we get to do for all those we serve throughout Texas and New Mexico.”
MCH has hosted spiritually-focused weekends for almost 20
years, formerly called ReCreation Weekend and RARE event. These weekends continue
to be a time for MCH youth to dialog about and grow in their faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment