World Bible School

By Keith W. O’Neal, Brentwood, Tennessee 
Youth Minister
Concord Road church of Christ

The following was written for “Action” the World Bible School Newsletter, and I thought I’d share  it in the Youth Corner this week. Concord Road has always been heavily involved with WBS, and we feel it is important to continue that with our youth. We always need teachers, and teaching online is easier now than ever. If you are interested in becoming an online teacher see Dave Beasly, David Harper, Josh Deck, or Keith O’Neal. Parents...become a teacher with your youth and grade lessons together! Read more @ https://www.worldbibleschool.net/action/ 

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, what profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? (Ecc 1:2-3) The word Vanity, used 37x in Ecclesiastes, means “futility” or “uselessness”. The phrase Under the sun, used 28x, means “apart from God” or some would say a “humanist” worldview. To sum up Solomon’s wise conclusion, life under the sun (WITHOUT God) is vanity.

Some folks see Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes and think…how depressing, everything is meaningless, but that is not his point. Everything without God in the picture is meaningless. Too often we shield young people from this reality, if even with the best intentions. In the  name of “keeping them interested” we do every fun activity (under the sun) we can think of and are left wondering…why did they leave the church?

Our focus with young people…and really all ages, should take into account Solomon’s wisdom, everything without God is meaningless. We need to strive to show our young people their purpose and role in our church family. We need to show them that activities have purpose when you give Glory to God. The fact is, building relationships is vanity if we are not building them to the Glory of God. We need to show young people that relationships are important opportunities to encourage one another, spread God’s word, and serve His Kingdom.

That’s where the double value of connecting our young people with World Bible School is evident. Yes, through WBS we give glory to God by reaching the lost, but we can also use WBS to provide purpose to our young people. WBS is a game plan for how they can accomplish their mission as Christians…spreading seed, sharing the story of Jesus. By grading lessons and writing encouragement notes our young people find purpose and give God glory. By using Mathetis as a scaffolding for conversations they build confidence and see purpose in their relationships. WBS allows them to have the opportunity to learn the lesson that is paramount to living a faithful christian life…when you serve you are served. #GloryToGod