Through a late change in scheduling, I ended up traveling to Summit alone, driving ten hours each way with just me and God and my mp3 player rolling through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia and the green horse country.
I picked out an audio book to listen to on the way -Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich. I knew only a little about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I knew he was a preacher, and I knew he was involved in a plot to kill Hitler. I figured there would be enough intrigue at least to keep me awake.
What I did not know, was that Bonhoeffer's theology was largely shaped while working with children. While serving in Barcelona, he built the children's ministry from the ground up.
"…in Bonhoeffer’s first Sunday, the children’s congregation consisted of one girl. In his diary, Bonhoeffer wrote, “That will have to improve.” It did. His winning personality made a good impression, and the next week fifteen students came. He visited the homes of all fifteen that week, and the next Sunday, there were thirty. From then on, there were always thirty or more in every service."
Bonhoeffer involved himself in the lives of the children. He visited their homes. Back in Berlin, he did the same with a tough, hardened group of teen boys who had run off all their previous teachers. With all of his formal training, his work with children helped develop his understanding that faith is more than a mental exercise.
"I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
One of the many great things about Summit is that it helps equip us to live our faith. Each year, the Summit grows in attendance and in the wealth of information offered. Ministries, non-profits, churches, and individuals unite with one purpose in mind - to honor God by caring for the fatherless.
Hands-on, dirty, time-consuming, costly, committed, sacrificial faith is at the core of ministry to children. We are "Throwing ourselves completely into the arms of God" - what a wonderful place to be.
