Author: Christ's Children Ministries

We recently received a text message from one of our ninth graders which said, basically, “Thanks, but I’m grown up now.  It’s been fun, but I don’t think I’ll hang around with you anymore.”

As I have thought about this young man and the searching of youth, I have remembered the “Lost” parables Jesus told his disciples and thought about those stories from a different vantage. Do you suppose that the lost coin “lost” anything in the experience of being lost?  The owner of the coin valued it and searched for it and cared that it was lost.  But did the coin realize that it didn’t actually fulfill its “Coin-ness” when it was just lying there lost under the corner of the couch?  Did it actually know that it was not getting to experience what a coin is really made for?  Then, there is the lost sheep.  Don’t you just bet that little sheep wandered off over the hill thinking the grass was greener and better and more fun to run through on the other side?   And the lost son.  We know that he had to find out the hard way that life was hard, the world was cold and it can be really tough for a young man trying to make his way in the world.  This is the story that makes my heart sore because it is only after he has gone through hurt and loneliness and broken dreams that the son realizes that he is missing out on his true birthright and comes home.

In our part of the world, temporary bad choices can result in consequences that last a lifetime.  It can also mean life or death. So, with a mother’s heart, I pray that our lost sheep will be protected from evil and violence and destruction.  I pray that this lost son will discover what he is missing without having to suffer consequences that are too harsh.  But, I also understand that he has to make his own choices and even choices for Jesus are best made by those who are choosing for themselves.  We so often do things out of conformity or expediency or because something better doesn’t seem to be coming along.

We’re not going anywhere.  We’ll keep checking in every once in a while.  If anybody’s looking, he’ll know right where to find us or he can call the phone number that hasn’t changed for twenty-plus years.  It is my prayer that every chance we get we live and breathe and model that being home with Jesus is full of every good thing, the really best stuff—things that are way better than a beautiful house, a nice car, fine clothes, a ton of friends, a great social life, achievement, awards, success—everything that American culture values.  Abundant life is even better than that.

 

We’d appreciate your prayers for our wandering sheep.  I hope you are living the abundant life or are hearing the invitation to come home where you belong.

     A lot of the best lessons I have learned in my spiritual life have come through my role as a mother.  Some of you may remember that my path into motherhood wasn’t just smooth sailing, but began with pregnancy complications that required complete bed rest.  Those first experiences of sacrifice for my children were the start of a journey into a deeper experience and understanding of God’s great love for me that I began to appreciate in new ways because of my own love for my children.

     Over the years, the tasks and experiences of being a mother have continued to shape and equip and form me as a person, as well as a servant of Jesus.  My greatest wish as a mother has been that I would notice, appreciate and support who and what God has made each of my children to be.  As a parent, it is sometimes easy to get caught up in something we want for our kids because we think it would be a good thing.  We can have lots of ideas about who they should be or what they should do.  But what I most want, is for my children to know God and to be who God made them to be.

     When I was younger, I didn’t value my role as a mother because I felt anyone could be a mother.  But as I have become older and, God-willing, a little wiser, I have come to understand that mothering has indeed been an activity that has brought to bear the greatest focus of my spiritual gifts and personal talents.  I have come to realize much of my approach to life and ministry has been birthed out of the training and formation that took place in the crucible of motherhood.

     And, look what God has done.  I have had the incredible opportunity to love and care for other people’s children over many years. This week my oldest godson took me out for lunch to celebrate my birthday.  We reflected on our twenty-year history together and talked of many things.  As we spoke of some of the losses in his life, he said to me, “But I have always had you.”   And by the wonderful ways of God, I have always had him.  I love him with all of my heart and have been richly blessed to be in his life for so many years.

     And by God’s amazing grace, I have been equipped for this ministry of companioning young people through life.  The things I do are the unglamorous work of mothering: feeding people, listening, driving people places, helping with homework, doing problem solving, giving lots of hugs.  But in and through all that, I get to try to offer each child a glimpse of who they really are: a person uniquely and particularly made, known and loved by a God who is completely and totally for them.  I get to support and encourage the formation of their faith in Christ.  I get to love and appreciate them.

     It is my prayer that each one of you is experiencing the joy that comes from being at work with God in the world.  We are so grateful for your prayers and for your gifts.

I suspect that summer goes by too quickly for any parent who is sending her first child off to college. But what a beautiful summer it was!  In spite of our record-breaking heat, we enjoyed so many blessings of being with kids and lifting up the name of Jesus. We had our little track squad participate in the Minneapolis Park and Rec summer track program and got to see the fellows win races and have fun learning a new sport. All three of our camps were times of growth and discovery and God was present in all the planned and unplanned aspects of the camps (including our son Ezra fracturing his collarbone on the last night of Manhood Camp during a too-thrilling game of Romans and Christians.)  We had a chance to go camping for a few days as a family and to spend a couple of days in Yellowstone National Park. We spent time as a church this summer preparing to send some of our young men off to college.

But one memory from the summer calls me frequently to prayer and reminds me why we continue to press on in our call to serve Jesus here in the city.  One morning in the last days of May our phone rang.  We haven’t changed our number in 24 years for a reason.  As is often the case, it was a young man we hadn’t heard from in almost eighteen years, a boy who, when he was ten years old, had been in one of Chris’s Bible clubs at Park Avenue Church.  We lost touch with him after his family moved out of the neighborhood, but Chris had heard reports of James over the years—gang life, violence, jail….  James was calling to reconnect.  He had recently returned to Minneapolis from living elsewhere for several years.  He came by to visit and told us his story.  After leaving south Minneapolis, his family bounced around the metro area for years.  His growing up was rough—addicted parents, abuse, no stability or security.  It broke my heart when I heard him say, “Chris, those couple of years of knowing you was as close to a father as I ever had.”

After fathering a child in Connecticut, James began to choose life.  He helped care for his son.  He returned to church.  He looked for work.  But, he had come back to Minneapolis after a falling out with his baby’s mother because his twin brother was here—the only other significant relationship in his life.  He showed us a folder filled with sketches and some prototypes and a patent pending—he had designed a number of educational toys and child items during his son’s infancy.  He hoped to find work and even pursue his dreams of designing and inventing.  We prayed with him and rejoiced in his desire to follow Jesus and live a life he and his son could be proud of.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I am on the front porch, praying with James before church,  as the tears rolled down his face.  Because of his gang tattoos(which are even on his face), because of numerous threats to his life received at venues as commonplace as the grocery store, because he had been chased and shot at and people near him had been endangered, because once you have a gang identification you are a marked person even when you want to live in peace, it had become clear that he could not make his new start in Minneapolis.

So often I wonder what would be possible if we had all kinds of money and resources…but we did what we could—we bought him a bus ticket back to Connecticut.  It all happened so quickly—danger was so imminent—I didn’t really even get to say goodbye.  Somewhere out there is a young man who is trying to find his way in the world and follow Jesus against so many odds.  I pray for James often and hope we hear from him again one day.

Thank you for your gifts and prayers which enable us to continue to serve Jesus and our neighbors here in south Minneapolis.

June 2, 2012

I was driving kids home when I asked them what they were looking forward to this summer.  Silence ensued.  I asked “Are you ready to be done with school?”  A resounding “Yes!” erupted from the group.  “So what are you going to do this summer?”  Some said play in the yard, some said go to the park, and others said summer school, nothing especially imaginative or fun.  

Summer can be a time of wasted opportunity for many youth here.  Their greatest excitement is over the absence of school, but many attend summer school for six weeks anyway.  There are many opportunities through the park and rec system and other agencies for children to be positively and constructively engaged during the summer, but these programs fill up fast and require an attentive adult to enroll them.  And any camping opportunity costs money which families just don’t have.  Many of our kids and families miss out.  

Our kids need camp, but it can be very hard to get them there.  Some families just need a little extra help.  I remember one of our moms; when she was ten,  I had to go to her house the morning of camp, wake her up, get her packed and bring her to the bus, so she could attend the most special event of her summer.  She became a Christian at one of these camps.  Today, when we have a camp one of her children is attending she has them ready and prepared to go!  

Our prayer for our kids this summer is that they can have fun, be safe, and grow spiritually, emotionally and socially.  We want them to have fun doing something besides staying in the yard and playing all day because the neighborhood in which they live is too dangerous for them to wander.  We want them to experience something besides the ennui of playing video games in a darkened room for hours on end.  We want them to be able, when school begins in the fall, to say something besides “Nothing”, when asked what they did this summer.  

We engage our youth and work with their parents to get them involved in sports like basketball and track, participate in service projects like helping a neighbor work in their yard or package meals at Feed My Starving Children, go swimming, go to the movies, or have a barbecue with friends.  We have three different camping experiences that we offer kids and families in which they leave their stressed and often violent neighborhoods and spend some time in a new place, doing new things, out in the country, playing and having fun and learning more about Jesus.  

Summer is a critical part of this ministry.  Our goal is to keep our youth positively engaged and provide opportunities for evangelism and discipleship…  but we need help.  All the experiences we offer are at no cost to our families but they do cost money.  We offer them in Jesus’s name out of the resources God provides… and we know He will provide all of our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4.20).  We invite you to participate in this ministry this summer by providing a gift which will help a child have a summer they will remember.  $300 will pay for one of our young people to go to camp, but any amount is helpful.  Thanks ya’ll!

Check out our new website at christschildrenministries.org!  It has a link to our new Facebook page and it also has on option for making tax deductible contributions online.

May 10, 2012
There are many instances in the Bible where the fruit of ministry is compared to the work of the farmer reaping a harvest.  We are experiencing a plentiful harvest this season for which we are grateful.  We have a bumper crop of students who will be graduating from high school this spring, including our own son Nathanael of whom we are very proud.  I’m really excited about this because the students I’m talking about are all Black young men from our inner city community who are set for graduation and going on to attend college.  This is a huge cause for celebration!  These are boys we’ve known their whole lives.  We’ve watched them grow up, taken them camping, done bible studies and church with them, led them to Christ, gone through all kinds of crises with them, and followed them through many changes of residence.

This is remarkable because you see, these boys aren’t supposed to make it.  According to the ONE Minneapolis Community Indicators report only one in three black students who started the ninth grade graduate from high school in four years.  We know first hand that these boys have had to deal with gun violence among their peers, transience, evading the pitfalls of drugs and gangs, family issues, a school system which often lets them fall through the cracks and a pervading sense of hopelessness.  If you are familiar with our ministry you know that the children and families we work with are typically the most needy and hard to reach.  Being small and grassroots we may have a graduate or two within our ministry community every year or so.  And sadly, when students graduate we are not often confident that they are prepared to pursue the next stage of life, be it college, trade school or seeking employment.  

A few years ago we had a sizable group of young people in our ministry who came of age to graduate.  Bright young men, and capable.  They had all been with our ministry from a young age, but sadly no one from that group went on to graduate or make a life for themselves as adults.  Instead, today they are involved in gangs, selling drugs, or just sitting around smoking marijuana.  

So it’s a big deal to us and our community that this group of young men have come to this point and are showing such prospect and promise.  We take this kind of success neither lightly nor for granted, but we esteem it highly for the accomplishment that it is.  Our ministry has played a significant role in the lives of these young men, joining with their families, neighbors and friends in helping them stay focused and in school.  They all have a desire to do something with their lives.  More importantly, they all see themselves doing something with their lives.  We give thanks to God for such a great harvest!

Our ministry is replete with young men and older now who have come through difficult circumstances and are leading positive, self affirming lives today;  but we rejoice now for this group of young men and invite you to rejoice with us.  Thanks for your gifts and support.

 

     Two weeks ago, we held a retreat with the board members for Christ’s Children where we reflected on the past years of ministry and looked ahead to the future as well.  When Chris and I started Christ’s Children eighteen years ago, our oldest son, Nathanael, was a brand new baby.  On May 24^th, he will graduate from De La Salle High School with high honors.  Last week he took a trip out to Yale in Connecticut and Columbia in New York City all by himself for a last visit before he makes his final college choice.  We are so proud of him—all his hard work over high school and being accepted at a list of excellent colleges. 

     But most of all, we are proud of the young man he has become and of who he is deep inside.  When Chris and I chose to embark on this life of ministry long ago, we knew that we were choosing not a job, but a style of life and a way of being in the world.  We also knew that our children would be integrally a part of our ministry. Our family is the welcoming circle that has been the foundation of the Christian community we wanted others to experience and become a part of.

     Choosing this life of urban ministry had impacts on our children—and for good or ill we have always had to trust that God would be there bringing good out of hardships and gifts out of challenges.  Nathanael, an introvert like his dad, has grown into his role as a leader and role model over the years in his own time and way.  It has brought great joy to this mother’s heart over these past years to see his special brand of gentle-kind-silliness that is perfect for the hearts of the young elementary boys who bask in the sunshine of his attention and care.  On our spring break trip, I smiled when we were choosing museums to visit and one young guy’s choice changed as soon as he heard which museum Nathanael was going to.  I remember the little jokes Nathanael played on his campers at family camp last year and how they still recall the highjinx at church lunches.  I think about how he plays basketball with them—somehow always feeding them the ball, never shooting himself, all the while keeping up a comical play-by-play to narrate the game.  I think about how he has modeled hard work and how they have seen him recruited academically by colleges, just as the boys have heard about athletes being recruited for sports.

     Nathanael actually chose to write his college entrance essay about our family’s lifestyle and its impact on him. In the essay he said, People might call or come knocking at the door at any hour. When I was little I complained sometimes, because it can be intrusive, but now I’m used to it and our lifestyle is one of my favorite things. Some people I see every week and some pop up out of the blue. I like that there are always people showing up at our house. It’s like having a bunch of brothers and sisters. Most are in middle or elementary school, some are my age and some are adults. Sometimes I play basketball or video games with them and sometimes they make fun of me for being a nerd, when I’m doing my homework. My favorite time of the week is Sunday afternoon, when people stay after church and play basketball or watch football. I appreciate the opportunity to be a good role model for the younger kids and to make them feel special. Our lifestyle has been a huge blessing to me. I am a natural introvert, and I shudder to think what a clumsy recluse I would be now if I hadn’t been gently forced into social situations so frequently. My experiences have given me a deep respect for the diversity that is found among all kinds of people.

    We are grateful for all that God has done in Nathanael’s life and for the gift of God he has been to us.  We are so thankful for God’s provision for us and for our family over these years.  While there have been hard times and obstacles, the joys are also real and deep.  We are grateful for the role you have played in our ministry story and for your gifts and prayers.

  

February 27, 2012

Greetings ya’ll in the name of Jesus!

Our winter has been very active, fun and productive.  Apart from our house church on Sundays and mentoring groups during the week most of our time this time of year is taken up with basketball.  This year we are working with eighteen boys ages 9-13 on two teams which  participate in the Minneapolis Park and Recreation League.  We’re very proud of this association.  Christ’s Children has been participating in this league along with local parks for twenty years.  For twenty years on Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays in the winter we have had our youth involved with healthy and active recreation and competition with their peers from all over the city.  It’s such great fun and a wonderful experience of community!

It’s had a great impact on our youth and families.  Being on a sports team is probably one of the earliest and most positive experiences of community that many children in the city experience.  The respect and pride which come with being associated with a park sports team is really remarkable to behold.  I chuckle to myself whenever I overhear one of my boys explaining to someone else what team they play for…  “Christ’s Children?  Which park is that?  It’s your church?  Oh…”  Over the years we’ve run the gamut of experiences in terms of team success.  Some years we’re at the bottom of the heap, losing many games; but other years we’re at the top, defeating all comers and winning championships.  Usually we’re somewhere in the middle, but every year on our team kids have fun, cultivate a positive peer group, learn how to improve their skills, and receive mentoring from Coach/Pastor Chris.  Most importantly to us they are exposed to the gospel through our practice time devotionals and opportunities to attend church or go to camp with us.

The experience of community goes beyond teammates and coaches.  We have our supportive entourage of parents and church members that come to games and cheer for the children.  One mother, who played on one of our teams herself when she was ten, commented last week  “I love being a basketball mom!”  One of my most memorable moments this season was when one of our parishioners came to a game to support the team, a white woman who has a shy and reticent personality.   One of our teenagers saw her at the game when he was warming up and came across the gym to give her a hug.  The expression of bonding and caring in Christ crossing cultural and social boundaries in that gesture exemplified our mission of Christian community.

There is a young man whose help coaching has been an integral part of this ministry.  He first showed up at practices about fifteen years ago to watch his brother play.  He had just finished high school then.  He kept coming every week and years later as I got to know him I began involving him in the coaching.  He progressed from helper to assistant coach to running practices and taking over coaching responsibilities for one of our teams.  He regularly helps out at camps and retreats as a counselor.  A husband and father now, he is growing in his Christian faith having consistent exposure to the gospel through his involvement with us.

It’s a busy time of year, but we are grateful for the opportunity to serve Christ here in this way.

We invite you to participate in this ministry through your prayers and support.    The Lord bless!

-Chris and Lisa