How can the church help these restaurant kids?
[Pastor Xu Dengqi’s response]
Interview/Zhang Lichun
Picture provided/Lu Caixiu
Palm Beach, Florida is a famous resort with numerous Chinese restaurants. Over the years, when Pastor Xu Denqi visited restaurants again and again, he could not help but notice the children watching TV, playing video games, doing homework alone in the corner, or sleeping on the dining table. Pastor Xu said that there are such lonely children in almost every restaurant.
Visit the child’s parents
Pastor Xu felt very sorry for these children. The Bible teaches: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) He was deeply worried that if these children had no one to guide them when they were young, they would go on the wrong path when they grow up. It's too late to go astray. When visiting parents of children, pastors often ask them if they want their children to go to church. He can come and pick you up. Most parents don't want it. This will be a hard job for the pastor! Not only did he pick up his children to go to a nearby family Bible study meeting on Friday, but he also picked them up early on Sunday to go to church. As long as a child is willing to come, the pastor will take the trouble to pick him up and drop him off again and again. Some parents experience the love of Christ from this selfless giving and decide to believe in the Lord.
Bring your children to church
How can the church help these restaurant kids? Pastor Xu suggested:
1. The church first enters the restaurant to gain trust:Only when parents feel cared for, understood and respected can they be willing to give their children to the church to learn the true way.
2. Provide community services to meet needs:Organize parenting education lectures for parents, parent-care tutoring classes for children, or other activities that meet needs.3. Cultivate young people to become ministers to restaurant children:Many teenagers in restaurants are full of resentment and bitterness towards their parents and society, and they urgently need someone to listen to their voices and open their hearts. The church coaches them to grow, provides character education, cultivates healthy and good relationships, and more importantly, builds them up in faith so that when they grow up, they can serve the children in restaurants.
Interviewee profile
Pastor Xu Denqi received a Master of Biblical Studies from Aldersgate College and studied for a PhD in Pastoral Studies at Knox Theological Seminary. Since 2001, he has served as the senior pastor of Palm Beach Chinese Christian Church. He and his wife Lu Caixiu have adult children Jacob and Yachen. Church website: http://www.palmbeachchinese.org/eng/information/history.htm