By the Rev. Mary S. Hardin
For the Salisbury Post
Our young people yearn to know the truth. They search sometimes in wrong, undesirable places seeking a refuge for their souls. How can they be strengthened? How can they be empowered with salvation, hope, peace and wholesome recreation?
They cannot unless the body of Christ shows them the way, gives direction to their paths and leads, guides and teaches them about the love, power and greatness of our creator, redeemer and sustainer, almighty God.
Isaiah 40:27-30 gives direction to our concerns for our youth. “Have you not known? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.”
Christ has equipped the church, the body of Christ, with gifts for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11). God has empowered the church with the Holy Spirit to make us witnesses in Jerusalem (our own homes) and in Judea (our community) and in Samaria (outside of our comfort zones) and unto the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). Christ has given us the example of humility in serving others. We are admonished in Philippians 2:5-9 to let the mind of Christ be also in us. Christ made himself of no reputation, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death on the cross.
The body of Christ must work, minister, teach, preach and evangelize until we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).
Church, it is time for us to rise up to the call that Jesus Christ has given to the body of Christ. Our children and their families need not to be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the tricks of man. Our children need not to be deceived by cunning craftiness. Let us speak the truth in love to our young people all over the city.
Every church in this city is located near a project, an apartment complex or a community where they can reach out to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. The church of the living God is empowered to turn this city upside down by prayer vigils in every church. Church members and persons from the projects, apartment complexes and communities must come together and pray.
Church, let us pray, plan and “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20).Amen.
nnn
The Rev. Mary S. Hardin is associate minister of Soldiers Memorial AME Zion Church. The Rev. Dr. Grant Harrison Jr., pastor, and the Rev. Zacharias E. Allen Sr., associate minister, assisted in the writing of this article.