Dear Cornerstone Family,
When you hear the word missions, what comes to mind? Do you think of a missionary moving to foreign country? What about a church planter establishing a new church in an underserved place? Or what about a campus minister evangelizing at a university, or a non-profit organization serving the poor or needy in a community? Those are all important mission initiatives, but did you know mission doesn’t just happen outside the church? Mission happens inside the church, too!
A few years ago, we began the church year with a brief sermon series entitled, “From Generation to Generation.” In that series, we explored the mission-critical call of the church to pass down the faith from one generation to the next, to answer King David’s call in Psalm 145:4, “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”
I’ve asked our Children’s Coordinator, Mrs. Meredith Suits, to share with you about an amazing opportunity we have to pass the torch of the gospel onto the next generation this summer:
Like many in our congregation, I have fond memories of Vacation Bible School. I couldn’t wait to spend a week with my friends playing games, eating fun snacks, making crafts, and listening to the adults in my church teach us about the Bible through stories, skits, and songs. For years, I’ve held on to a pillow I made at our “Good News Stampede” (a particularly entertaining wild-west-themed VBS from the mid- 90s) simply because it reminds me of the precious memories I made as a child at my church and at VBS.
Cornerstone will hold its first official VBS this summer at Jim Warren Park from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on June 2-4. After so much missed time together, the VBS team is thrilled to be preparing for a big event for the children of Cornerstone. Our theme is “Run the Race,” and we will focus all our activities around the idea that the Christian life is often like a race— a race we can prepare for through spiritual disciplines like scripture reading and prayer, a race we can run with perseverance when we learn to keep our eyes fixed on the power of Jesus Christ, and a race we won’t run alone because we have our church family to help us. Our prayer is that our children leave VBS with a stronger connection to the community of believers that will help them live as disciples of Christ and finish the race marked out for them.
We currently have over 20 volunteers signed up to help with VBS in a variety of ways, and our team is so grateful for all the interest and enthusiasm we have heard from you in the past several weeks. Please mark your calendars on June 2-4 to pray for the children of Cornerstone—that VBS would be a time to reflect on their relationship with God and others and a time when they feel so deeply loved and cared for by their church—and please let me know if there are ways you’d be willing to help as we take this exciting step forward in our children’s ministry.
Let’s throw our heart and hands behind the mission of VBS and ask the Lord to use this effort to extend the legacy of faith to the next generation!
Your servant,
