What is a church made out of?
If you would build a church were would you start?Would it be with a building plan and a trip to the hardware store? And after you've built it how long will it last?
I am in Bosnia I Herzegovina (BiH) right now. Helping with the annual summer camps. It's a lot of fun but a little stretching on the language side. We have just finished our first Kids camp of 6 days and are already busy with the second. And this is watt I believe we are doing. We are building the church of BiH, from the bottom up. We as the Global Challenge staff have had a long-term relationship with the Evangelical church of BiH for about 10 years now. And have faithfully sent a team each summer for most of that. My first visit to Boracko Jezero (the lake not far from camp) and the campsite Emek Beraka (EB) was in 2003. It was my first outreach and God really touched my life in those two months. It is actually were I received my calling to be a fisher of men. My second summer was in '06 when the world race was here for 5 weeks. And again God used the time here to speak specifics. Now in '08 God is still faithful.
How things work at EB is there is a long-term team of about 15 that sets up camp and then run the kids, teens, youth and family camps till the end. Now the first two summers I was here there was somehow an older crowd. Thus a little more spiritually mature. This year in the words of our camp director Vanja " we really have a young team". Meaning that most of the guys that are helping on EB is 21 or younger. Meaning they remind me of when I was that age. Not that responsible. Now I have to say that they are great individuals that have sacrificed their summer to come and work hard at camp. But they still need some discipleship. And that's watt Iv realised what God wants from me this summer. Just giving them some big brotherly advice and helping them into understanding Gods heart for them.
Now watts that got to do with building a church? Well these young guys have all been part of camp before. They have been coming to camp as teens, youth and now actually presenting camp. They are all here because of watt camp meant to them as young believers. Now some of them also have responsibilities at there local churches. And some will some day plant their own churches. But until then, most of them are the building blocks of the local church.
EB valley of blessings. Where each summer the church of BiH gets built up from the bottom up. With kids, teens, youth and families that get strengthened in there faith or hear the Gospel for the very first time.
Pleas pray for Gods supernatural protection on the lives of the kids. Lots of the kids and us have been under attack getting hurt and sick. More than watts normal.
Thanking you, missing you, loving you.
In Him we trust...
Anthony Jacobs