Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ – matthew 19:14
at the refuge we talk all the time about “community” and the importance of living life in the trenches together, learning the ways of Jesus and what it means to love and be loved. a critical piece of our community are our children. we believe we have so much we can learn from them. we believe strongly that they deserve as much intention and love as the grownups. we believe we need everyone’s help to make sure that each of our children are known and nurtured as valued members of our community.
one of the shifts we’ve made in this past year is starting together, with all the grownups and kids in the room at the same time, to be together at the beginning of each gathering. seeing their freedom, their inhibition, their joy is a beautiful gift to us all—and something to learn from. we think when Jesus said “let the little children come to me” he was pointing out to everyone “they’ve got the right idea here….watch them, learn from them, this is what i’m talking about when it comes to kingdom living.”
we’d love to hear some of your thoughts. what are you learning from the children at the refuge? what do you see each week that you want to integrate into your own journey?
ps: to check out our new quarterly refuge kids newsletter, click here. thank you christa and all the current volunteers for all you do to help cultivate safe & loving community for our kiddos.
ppss: this picture was taken at our back-to-school pump it up party last week. it was a blast for the kids & the grownups, too!