Consuming Children
The Staff team at St. Andrew’s took a half day to do some strategic planning for our church as a whole. During this, we reflected on Ephesians 4:11-12. As we did this it became clear that gifts of the Spirit are not objects, they are people. One of the team realised that they had felt inadequate for the task God had given them, asking, ‘Why would God ask me to do this when so many others could do it better than me?’ However, it seems that God doesn’t work like that, he is interested in the person, and it is the person that is the gift, whatever they may be good at, and all that Jesus wants, is our best. For me, this struck a cord with a subject that troubles me and with an article I read about Children and Consumerism (see Paul Butler’s series on Children Matter). Over the past 50 years, children have increasingly become targets of advertising and the consumerist culture. They are told by the media that they must have certain toys, wear certain clothes, look like a superstar and be the coolest person in their class. This has led to increasing numbers of children developing mental health problems and low self esteem. This is so sad. It hurts me so much to think that children are growing up in a world that tells them they are not good enough unless......
The truth is that every child is good enough. Every child is made by and loved by and liked by our Father God. He loves them for who they are, they are the gift, children are a gift to our world. The question is, how can we tell them? I encourage you to read the article and to consider how we might respond...
Wednesday, 9 May 2007