Operation Christmas Child at Work by Jessica Tucker

Isn’t it odd how mmhhmpfh years after graduating I still live my life by semesters? Summers off and everything starts new in the fall!

Well, I suppose, when you are teaching children, it can’t really be any different. Kicking off the new year with Roosevelt Community Church’s Girls Group this fall has proven to be a great encouragement to me. I feel a renewal happening in the student ministry at Roosevelt that probably doesn’t have anything to do with time of year. 

Transitioning the older girls out of girls group has been tough, but the younger girls are so excited about the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox project that we’re currently undertaking! Operation Christmas Child is a program that sends a box full of toys for children in other parts of the world who wouldn’t normally get presents. Additionally, It also gives the child who gets the box a free Bible class. We have been able to focus our attention away from the changes in our group “membership” (as the older girls move out, and the younger ones move in) to what God wants us to do to spread His Word across the world. I asked them what ways they could think of to raise the $25 needed to fill and ship each box, and I think every hand shot up in the air with responses. They kept firing ideas at me faster than I could write them down. But what impressed me was the fact that, even at the young ages of 7-10, they seem to really understand the WHY of this project. 

When we began explaining the project, we emphasized the spreading of the Gospel and changing of lives through generous giving. You see, the best part about the projects is that the children who receive these boxes also become a part of a Bible study that teaches them who God is. They learn that Jesus is God’s Son and that His sacrifice on the cross covers our sin and the power of His resurrection secures us into God’s family. We are freed from bondage of shame and separation from Him because He loves us so much. 

The gifts the children receive in the shoebox are representative of God’s grace toward us in Jesus Christ. They demonstrate that God’s family across the world cares for them as well, and wants them to know the joy of fellowship with our Father. In raising money to participate with giving these gifts, our girls at RCC understand that God’s grace is what changes us from being in the dark to being in the light. It changes us from desperation to acceptance in the family of God. It gives hope to the hopeless. God doesn’t just provide us with material goods and comfort; it’s His presence in our lives that comforts us, sometimes in spite of the things we have. Our girls not only understand this, but they are eager for others to know it too.  

It’s so exciting to see how the Spirit is moving in our young ones. I know the time they spend in the Word with their families and in church has deepened their understanding of the truth of the Gospel, but I hope that in participating with projects like Operation Christmas Child, they continue to LIVE the Gospel for the sake of the glory of our God and Father in Christ Jesus! I am so blessed to be part of spreading the Gospel with our kids at RCC.