Sitting down to write this was a struggle that I’ve never really had before. I know why I put the project together, andI know exactly what I hope will happen because of it. But the question remains, how do I convey this to you? I suppose the project came around because of two thoughts that I firmly believe. One being, that our children need more than just us as parents in their lives. They need a collection of older children and other adults to help them grow into the well-rounded adults that we would love them to be. The second one would be that as Christians, we should live life together.
Discipleship is not limited to Bible study. In fact it is whole life study. In knowing these things, we set out to create something to train our children in the way God would have them go. A mentorship project, of course, made the most sense.So how do you go about naming something like this? We could be cheesy and call it the Padawan Project. It rolls off the tongue well, and would be a good laugh for some. Or, we could just call it the Buddy System, because essentially that is what we are doing. But, we wanted a name that had more power and meaning to it. Where would one turn for such a thing but God (and His Word)? Hence The Timothy Project.
But why The Timothy Project? Well there is this guy named Paul who is an AMAZING mentor. He spends so much time pouring into another guy name Timothy. The books of 1 and 2 Timothy are a beautiful display of Paul taking Timothy under his wing and exhorting him towards becoming a better pastor. It is an example worthy of repetition and emulation. We would have the students taking on their own “Timothys.” So now what is it?
Each student that is middle or high school aged in our church, have been paired with at least one child under middle school aged that is also in the church. The students have been given a set of responsibilities based on his or her grade level. The goal is to teach them to be responsible for someone other than themselves. This in turn will grow into understanding what it is to love and care for someone else. Our very own “Timothy Project.” We are providing the platform for students, kids, and honestly their families, to walk through life together. They will grow and mature together physically, emotionally, socially, developmentally, and spiritually! We are setting up our children to know what it means to live life together, and create a true family of believers around them. We cannot wait to see what God does with this ministry!
North Bullitt Christian Church 