Good Shepherd.

The church my family belongs to has the Good Shepherd ministry. This is a ministry designed to help the homeless and less fortunate in our community. Throughout the year the children of the church are involved in several fundraisers, the big one being a dinner and basketball game against the youth. Every time the children score a basket the fans throw cash on the floor of the court and the younger kids scoop up the money.

In November and December Good Shepherd ministry packages up food baskets for Thanksgiving meal and Christmas Dinner for families or individuals that need help. A few years ago the children’s minister thought that maybe the Wednesday night children’s mission classes might like to help with that process. This may have been the best idea of her ministry, (not to downplay other decisions in any way). The kids LOVE this. This year I missed the night they did the thanksgiving baskets, but both boys reported to me about it on the phone.

Paul says it is the best night of Frog (Fully Rely on God, the name of the children’s mission class) of the whole year, and that this year he was a checker with Ushyra making sure the younger kids were not leaving anything out. He reported that the kids were going so fast it was hard to keep up with the pace. Matthew reported that there were some kids that had not had the opportunity to help before, and that maybe they thought it would be boring, but of course they were very wrong, as it was the most fun ever. When it was announced that the church had been able to supply 110 families with Thanksgiving baskets the boys were so proud. However, both boys assure me that they can do more at Christmas.

In the past I have been there when parents come looking for their children after service, and seen the children tell their parents, “I cannot leave yet, we are not done, do you see all those cans left?” They take it so seriously. Those children cannot leave until the last basket is packed, because there are real people in the community that will get those baskets, real people who need those baskets, there are names on the baskets, and those names are for real people, some they may know and some they may not, and this group of children takes ownership of that task. So, even though they can’t always behave in choir, and they run in the halls after Sunday school, and the 6th graders roll their eyes and wish they were youth, I love that mess of kids and love that I belong to a church that encourages them to take part in missions, and to reach out to the community they live in.