As we prepare for the launch of Living Word Fellowship in the Muhlenberg area near Reading PA this fall (Lord willing!), I wanted to share a little bit about our last outreach. We had the great privilege of hosting a day camp for students in 1st thru 3rd grade from July 21st to 25th at Jim Dietrich Park. With all the rain we’ve had this summer, we were a little nervous about being mostly outside all week, and so we were praying for good weather all week, and praise God that we did! Beyond that, we saw God work in a variety of ways throughout the week, and it was encouraging to see how He is moving in this area as we look toward the new church.
Day Camp Ministry
This day camp would not have been possible without the tremendous support of our sending church, New Life Bible Fellowship Church in Oley, and their staff and volunteers. Each day ran from 9am to 1pm, so we needed plenty of activities and volunteers to keep the students busy! We had different stations for activities that the students rotated through. My personal favorite was the station where students got to create and launch their own paper rockets. We also had a bounce house, played relay games, and kept the students cool with water games on the last few days (as it was almost 100 degrees on Friday!).
After our morning rotation of activities, we served lunch and then had our teaching time. Since we had a special guest on Friday, our teaching time went Monday thru Thursday, and we covered much of the Bible narrative over those days. We covered creation and the fall, Moses and the Israelites escaping from Egypt, David and Goliath, and finally the arrival of Christ. We then transitioned into a missionary story about Amy Carmichael for the remaining time until parents showed up.
Christmas in July Bible Lesson
On Thursday I got to teach the Bible lesson, which fell on July 24th, aka Christmas in July (Eve), so I found it fitting to teach on the birth of Christ. Here I explained three things about the nativity story: the “wow!” (that Christ came as a baby), the “ow!” (the sobering reality that he came because we’re sinners in need of saving), and the “how?” (he saved us). At one point during my lesson, my goal was to demonstrate how incredible it was that Jesus would leave heaven to enter into our world of suffering and pain. To make this point, I said, “imagine you live in a mansion, the greatest house you can ever imagine, and one day you decide you want to start living in a pig pen instead, with all their mess and slop.” As I was describing this, one student started audibly processing what I was saying and said, “why would anyone want to live…oh!” Exactly! Why would anyone want to do that? How much more so did the King of Glory stoop to enter into our world! It was moving to see students engaged with the lessons and understanding the crucial truths within them. For some, it may have been the first time they’ve ever heard the Gospel, and so how precious of an opportunity did we have to share the good news!
Cypher Spot Urban Arts Ministry
We had a very special guest on Friday during our lesson time. The Cypher Spot, out of our sister church in Lancaster, Christ Alone Fellowship, came out and ministered to the kids. Their mission is “utilizing the urban arts to reach the world with the gospel,” and so they featured a break-dancing class, allowed the kids to try DJing, and even performed some live music. To no one’s surprise, they were a huge hit with the kids! During their class, they talked about this being a healthy way of expressing themselves, and I saw evidence of this almost immediately. I saw students who struggled at times throughout the week fully engaged during the break-dancing class, loving every moment of it. The Cypher Spot is a powerful ministry with gifted individuals who have a heart for people, and we hope to partner with them in the future. I’d even advocate for a Reading campus!
By the end of the week, you could tell how much the camp had meant to the parents and students. One parent mentioned on the last day that her daughter was asking her at 7am if it was time to leave yet for camp (which didn’t start until 9!). Another parent connected with one of our volunteers so well that they actually met for lunch last week and is thinking of getting involved in some way! It was especially moving to see students thanking and hugging volunteers as they left for the week. Students I didn’t even get to interact with much during the week gave me a hug as they left. We praise God for this impact we had in such a small amount of time. We also made sure to give the students each a drawstring backpack with our new church’s logo. Inside the bags we placed some additional goodies with the church logo, as well as a Gospel of John and a postcard with our church’s information on it. Please pray for the seeds that were planted during this amazing week!
Looking ahead, we are in the final stages of closing in on the purchase of a building. As exciting as that is, there is still no guarantee, as we need to get the building approved to be zoned as a church. One of the primary concerns is parking, and so we are working with the borough on that. Our hope is to get everything finalized in mid-September, and work toward an October launch. Please pray that this process would be completed in a timely fashion, as there are several variables at play that could delay things. However, we have seen God’s hand in this from the start, and so we are trusting that He will provide!
Article by Church Planter Christian Lefko. You can find out more about Living Word Fellowship in Muhlenberg Township near Reading, PA at https://lwfellowship.org/