We Are God’s Workmanship – Program Idea

One thing I have been trying to stress to my youth is that they are all special, unique and loved by God and others. Every time I look at instagram or facebook I see youth begging their friends to affirm them. There are the “rating games” where kids asking others to vote on who is prettiest, youth competing for “likes” and just a general cry of “HEY LOOK AT ME, AM I BEAUTIFUL?”I want each my youth to know that they are beautiful, handsome, smart and created in the image of God himself.

So I stumbled upon this post from Thomas Christianson that talks about how God is an artist. I read these words to our youth. I read them slowly, deliberately, hoping each one would sink in. Here is one section I really liked:

If God is a painter, I actually think that he only paints one thing: a self portrait. But each one looks a little different. Some are modernist, some are impressionist, some are abstract; some are oil, others pastel and on and on and on.

If you put them next to each other, they’d initially look very different from one to another. But each one, if you watch as he paints, shares the same theme. It begins to look more and more like Jesus.

Then we took the chance to be artists ourselves. I purchased 12 canvases and paint. We divided the group up into smaller groups. I gave each one a letter that spelled out #WMUMCIMPACT. They had 30 minutes to paint their letter anyway they wanted to.

We will put these in our youth room where they will be seen when the youth first walk in. Hopefully they will serve as a reminder that we are all different, but together we are a portrait of Christ.