Psalm 78
Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.
We're not keeping this to ourselves, we're passing it along to the next generation-
God's fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done.
He commanded our parents to teach his Word to their children
So the next generation would know, and all the generations to come-
Know the truth and tell the stories so their children can trust in God
(The Message Bible)
As a Church Army Evangelist engaged in sharing the gospel with children, I have found the words of Psalm 78 to be a great inspiration as well as a constant challenge! How do we ensure the message is continually passed on to, and heard by each generation?
What Would Jesus Do? Would he text, email, MSN, blog, and upload his videos on my space and You Tube. As I surf the highways of the internet, it's good to see that the church is beginning to engage with others along the way. That's where I am too, just at the beginning, learning, trying to use this generation's tools to pass on the good news.
Back in 1993, I came up with the idea for Gospel Rock - a simple stick of seaside rock with the name of JESUS in red letters through the centre. It was an instant suck-cess! A fun, tasty way of passing on the gospel to children reminding them that Jesus is with them from the beginning to the end of their lives and that a Christian is someone who puts Jesus at the centre!
Fourteen years and 120,000 sticks of rock later, I find myself sitting at my computer still pondering memorable things to say - but this time for a very different generation. The message I'm typing won't be addressed to them in a school service or church but is going straight to them via e-mail. Unlike the Year 6's of all those years ago who didn't even have a computer at school, children today have better, more powerful computers than I ever had in their bedrooms - and they certainly know how to use them!
The challenge for us is to keep the gospel message through the sweet's centre and on its wrapper relevant. The stick of rock idea is now a theatrical character called Gospel Rocky, travelling around the UK in his own full scale theatre shows with a dozen singing, dancing children called the Rocky Kids. Locally. Rocky also has an established ministry around Stoke-on-Trent with production team members Carl and Mary in the guise of panto-style fun characters "Mother & hapless son".
