Youth Ministry Kick-off: Keys to the Kingdom

Kristyn Russell
Sep 28, 2017
2 min read

On Sunday, September 24, about 180 middle and high schoolers gathered for an awesome kick-off event where we dove into what the Kingdom of God is like. We prayed, sang, made modern day comparisons of what the Kingdom of God is like, built little corners of the kingdom, added our gifts and attached our part to the other parts and to God’s heavenly kingdom through prayer (and yarn).

We learned that God’s Kingdom is “upside down” from what the world thinks is important.

We know from the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus says that we are the light of the world… we are actually reflecting the light of Christ out into the world and when we let that light go out into the world and we are only concerned about our own well being we see ourselves right side up… we are allowing all of that light to be directed right back at us… however when we scatter God’s light out into the world and allow it to shine into every corner it’s like flipping the spoon over… what do you see??? That’s right! When we scatter the light of Christ it turns the whole world upside down!!! What was up is down and what was left is right… The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, a treasure hidden in a field, a pearl of great price, a spoon flipped over…

One activity had the students grab one item from a brown bag and compare it to the Kingdom of God. Ask your daughter/son what grab bag item they compared the Kingdom to. Here are some examples of what the kids said:

-The Kingdom of God is like a pool noodle because: it keeps you afloat, the air pockets are like the many rooms, it saves us from “drowning in sin”, it’s “hole-y”, it’s flexible, everlasting, strong, reliable..

-The Kingdom of God is like a giant marshmallow because it’s pure, sweet, rewarding, full of “light”, tastes like heaven, is goodness from God, soft like kindness…

There were other items as well, a roll of tape, a cup, a pipe cleaner, a pencil… lots of wisdom and humor… So awesome!

Thanks for an awesome evening!