Earlier this spring, I heard about a Spiritual Activist Summit in Los Angeles for young people from ages 12-30. Since I live close by in Burbank, I figured I'd go, but honestly, I didn't expect to get much from it. At the end of the weekend, however, I found that the Summit had inspired me to get more involved in my own church community.
A couple of the talks, in particular, stood out to me. The first talk I attended, "The Bible—a Guidebook for Life," given by Dr. Elaine Follis, was about how the Bible is relevant to modern-day life. When I saw it on the schedule, I thought, Oh man, no one is going to be interested in this one. I had expected about five or six people to join me, but about 30 people came to listen, even though there were four other lecture choices at that same hour. It was uplifting to know I wasn't the only late-20-something interested in the Bible. Dr. Follis's talk highlighted for me, better than anything else to date, how relevant my presence and contribution is to the Christian Science movement today. It brought to mind my favorite Bible stories about service and contribution. For example, when Moses was charged with getting the children of Israel out of Egypt, he didn't think he could do it at first—and he didn't want to be a public speaker—but God gave him the words to persuade the Israelites of his mission. I really got to thinking about my own mission in life, and more specifically, what I could do for the church, instead of feeling like the church doesn't do anything for me.
I really got to thinking about what I could do for the church, instead of feeling like the church doesn't do anything for me.
