by Justin Lin

Sonlight is one of our church’s Children’s Ministries, and we serve the elementary aged children of the church. It has been a little more than a year since I applied to be a part of Sonlight ministry, and it has certainly been a joyful year. I remember praying to God for ways to serve in the church – a few weeks later, God answered my prayer. I went to a Members’ Meeting and heard the ministry coordinator ask if anyone was interested in serving in Sonlight. I had never thought I was particularly gifted, or even had a specific heart for children’s ministry. But I learned God doesn’t just ask you to serve where you are gifted, but he asks you to serve where He sees fit. He commands you to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” (Matt 6:23), and will faithfully sanctify you through it. Here are a few of the ways God has blessed me and grown me through my time serving the children of the church –

Humility

“‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God.” (James 4:6-7a)

As I joined the ministry, I quickly learned that children usually aren’t “adult / people-pleasers,” yet. I had been asked to lead the singing time for the children on the piano, and for my first week, I had prepared meticulously, listening to the soundtracks on YouTube from Sovereign Grace. I learned “To Be Like Jesus,” and “W-I-S-D-O-M,” and practiced throughout the week. When Sunday morning came, everything went as I had practiced, and as I closed the singing time in prayer, to my shame, I thought about giving myself a pat on the back for how well I thought things went. As quickly as that thought came, I was met with a chorus of multiple children yelling “Mr. Justin, you played that too slow! We always sing it FASTERRRR!” I was so offended – in my mind, I thought they didn’t know what they were talking about, that I played it how it was “supposed” to be played. But God caused me to realize that even in these innocent comments, my purpose was to direct hearts toward glorifying Him, not myself. There was always and will always be room for me to grow, and if I were to be counted faithful each week, I would need to grow in humility before God and these children each week.

Truth

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, or joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

Each week, one of the teachers will prepare a lesson from our curriculum, The Life of Christ. I’ve always been surprised at how these lessons are not only relevant for the children, but for the teachers as well. The truth of God does not change, whether you are a child or an adult – it is constant and always applies to your life. Just a couple weeks ago, we examined the different responses of the Pharisees, Judas, and Mary to Jesus Christ. In challenging the children to respond rightly to the Lordship of Christ, I was convicted to examine my own heart, and my response to Christ every day. When we teach lessons to the children, we strive to be doers of the words we teach, to submit to the word of God and grow in Christ-likeness. The lessons we teach in Sonlight are just as much for their souls as they are for us.

Love

“If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:46)

Many of the children in Sonlight are at the age when the “Sparklers’ cuteness” has somewhat faded, and the autonomous rebellion begins to shine. I learned that in their youth, they usually don’t thank you or give you the positive/polite feedback I’m used to hearing from adults. Thus, from a worldly perspective we have little or nothing to gain from them. However, true love and service expects nothing in return – as Dr. Street said, true love is not a “50-50 type of love.” The love we show these children should be a reflection of Christ’s love to us, that He loved us while we were in willful and sinful rebellion towards him. Our love for these children is nothing more than an extension of Christ’s love for us, a love that chooses to seek their good and benefit, no matter what they do or say towards us. It is a love of choice, that does not expect anything in return, and, Lord willing, if they are saved one day, I hope they can say that we showed love toward them. Serving in Sonlight helps us to practice Christ-like love.

I never expected to be blessed in these ways when I joined the Sonlight ministry, but God has been faithful to grow me in this time, in humility, truth, and love. During this time, I’ve seen that raising a child really takes the partnership of the church and family together to impress God’s truth upon young hearts in word and action. I pray that no matter how the demographic of our church may change in the years to come, that we would continue to be a church that loves the children of the church, and continues to help families to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord,” (Eph. 6:4). Praise God for our church, and all that he is doing in the lives of these children!