NYCM

Steve Says

As most of you know I spent this last week at the Nation Children’s and Youth Ministries Conference (NCYM). It was a fantastic week full of Fellowship, Networking, and Learning. Our theme for the week was from Micah 6:8

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The three keynote lessons focused on how to do justice, how to love kindness, and how to walk humbly with God. While I cannot do justice to the lessons provided this week, I did want to at least summarize some of what was talked about. Essentially all these lessons dealt with how we, as Christians, should be treating those who do not know Christ:  Non-Christians.  

To do Justice means to meet them where they are and to give them what they need (the Gospel) in a way that they can understand and in a way that they would be willing to hear. We do not change the message, but we change how we deliver the message so that it might be accepted  (1 Corinthians 9:22).  

To love kindness means to show grace and mercy to the people we encounter. We have no idea where others are coming from, they could be in the midst of the worst season of their lives. We need to have a heart of compassion and be kind and thoughtful in our interactions with others because we DO NOT want to leave them with a bad taste in their mouth when they think of Jesus.

To walk humbly with God is about how we carry ourselves. It is easy to become full of pride and to be self-righteous. But Jesus was never this way. He changed focus in the middle of a lesson when a crippled man was lowered through the roof, He stopped in His tracks while on the road to heal a dead girl because someone touched His robes, and most of all He asked God to forgive the people who had crucified Him WHILE He was on the cross.  

We have an example to follow. The question is this: are we prepared to show God to the world?