Our SonChasers children’s ministry (in September 2018) began a 3-year chronological journey through the Scriptures, called the Gospel Project. You can see the passages/texts they will cover here (ignore the ‘Adult & Student’ line as that does not pertain to Crosspoint). You can also check out the 12 posters along the wall in the Crosspoint Family Room that tell the story.
From September 2015 through August 2018, SonChasers went through the same ‘Gospel Project’ journey. Lifeway has updated much of the content and tools that our teachers will use this time around, and several Bible stories that were not included before, have now been added in.
We are so excited to walk through the Gospel Project again in our children’s ministry. Here are two reasons:
To teach the next generation that the Gospel is of first importance
Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures
The life changing story of the Good News of Jesus was something central to the life of the New Testament church. The Gospel is not just a message that leads to the salvation of those who believe. It is also a story that enables us to understand who our God is, and who we are in Christ and apart from faith in Christ. The Gospel forms our relationships with one another in the church. For example, we forgive because He first forgave us (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13) and we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). The Gospel also calls Christ followers to go out and be missionaries. It is Good News that must be shared, and it is the heart of our children’s ministry to raise up disciples of Jesus who also understand they are disciplemakers in their schools, friend circles, and families. The Gospel is central to all of life.
To equip the next generation in their understanding of the storyline of Scripture and how Jesus is central to all of Scripture
The Bible is not just a collection of 66 books. It is not a collection of random stories that don’t relate to one another or to our own lives. The Bible is one continuous narrative from Genesis to Revelation, with the threads of the Gospel tying it all together. It is one grand story unfolding over the pages of the Bible, that reveals not only who our God is, but who we, as people are. The Old Testament is not disjointed from the New Testament. The God who we read of in the Old Testament is the same God who we see come in the flesh and on display in the New Testament. The Old Testament continually points forward to Christ, and we want the next generation to see that. That for instance the story of Jonah and a big fish is not just some really wild story, but it is a story that points forward to Jesus and exposes the fallenness of people.
Because the Bible reveals over and over and over again, that we are not the hero, but that Jesus alone is. So the goal of a Christian is not be like David or be like Mary or be like Paul (pick any Biblical character). Are there things we can learn from them? Of course. But ultimately, what we see in the characters of Scripture is their fallenness and as a result, their need for a Savior. We see them walking by faith in a God who is forever trustworthy and faithful, and yet as they walk by faith, they are not revealing perfection. They are revealing their need for grace.
Jesus is the hero. As Paul writes in Colossians 1:15-20, describing the centrality of Jesus…15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
We are excited to help the next generation see Jesus in all of Scripture and our prayer is that in their lives (both now and in the future), He might be first place in everything.
Our hope is that for Crosspoint households who are involved in SonChasers, whether it be from a child or children being engaged, and/or as a volunteer teaching or leading, that the Lord uses the content of the Gospel Project (and ultimately the Scriptures) to lead to disciplemaking conversations at home. To lead to moments of growth where we see the Gospel as first importance, where we grow in our overall understanding of the Bible, and where we see Jesus is the great hero.
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