Faith Like A Child

I have had the privilege to spend the last 5 days as the photographer for my church's VBS. It was my second year in that role, and I loved (nearly) every moment of it. I love seeing the joy. I love watching Crew Leaders (all teens) interact with their crews of children. I love that, because it was my second year, I was able to get to know kids' personalities and interests this year rather than learning tons of new names after my summers away at camp. And I love worshiping with them.
You see, I've been struggling with worshiping on Sunday mornings at my church for a while. It's something about the atmosphere - not in the service itself but in the congregation. I go to worship at my church and it feels dead. There's no joy. There's no heart. I go there and I exist because to lose myself in worship would be out of place. It's felt that way for years. And it's greatly due to that reason that I've long considered finding a new church.
But there's something that keeps pulling me back in - the kids. And not just the young ones. The teenage kids too - actually, especially the teenage kids. Because I love them all - the ones who follow the rules and the ones who don't; the ones who have strong faiths and the ones who have none; the ones who are like me and the ones who aren't. I love them all. And I want to be part of their lives.
My faith grew more through the ministry of youth and children this week more than it ever has through an adult-centered ministry. Watching Crew Leaders share God's love with their crews unconditionally. Seeing stories of the Bible come to life in children's young eyes. And most of all through worship. Because when I worshiped with all the kids at VBS, they had that heart. Together we got lost in worship. The time wasn't about obligation; it wasn't about performance - it was about losing ourselves in praising God.
If only the other "grown-ups" understood this. The children and youth of the Church have so much to teach us. So much to share with us. I've grown up in a church environment that focuses only on preparing children and youth for faith in adulthood. What gets lost is what faith means now. In an age about relevance and authenticity rather than obligation, expecting that this "Church of the future" will actually show up in the future is absurd.
Even more importantly, in my experience, the children and youth are the ones who've got this faith stuff figured out. It's that childlike faith - believing undoubtedly, loving unconditionally, serving unquestioningly, and worshiping wholeheartedly. Not to say that no adult has this. The adults I know who have faith like a child are some of my favorite people on this planet. But it seems that the adults who think that it's the grown-ups that teach and the young ones that learn seem to always have the power - or at least they tend to get their way.
Tonight after an amazing week, I was plunged into a situation to the opposite end of the spectrum - from a place where I had hope for my church to a place where I understood once again why I struggle being there anymore. And my heart hurt. Yet in that moment came clarity - just because I'm an adult doesn't mean I have to submerge myself in their world. I will spend the rest of my life working with youth in the Church - because they're worth it and the adults who don't understand that aren't worth spending my time with.
This weekend I set out on an adventure along with four other young adults. We are starting Jr High and Sr High youth groups in an effort to give the youth a place that they can grow in both their relationship with God and with each other - because it's been a long time since the youth in our church have had something like that that's not Confirmation or something just like Confirmation. I'm looking forward not just to the faith-based part but also to simply really getting to know them. Because I love them. And they're worth it.