The afternoon heat was about to hit as we set up on top of the guest house to have a leadership meeting with Dan. Moise called for Chelo to come join us and Chelo jogged up, he hadn’t had a chance to eat yet because he had been working at Eglise de Grace Bercy.
As we met I looked down at the church, visible from our rooftop meeting, and saw an assembly line of the young boys that spend the majority of summer waking hours around our outer court gate. The age range 7-13, with helping hands and leadership from older teenagers and elders in the church, was literally setting the foundation for the church as they mounted bricks to add to the siding of the building.
(Please know that with the teamwork and way the work was divided, this was work but it was not a ridiculous amount of work for their age or at all a way that was taking advantage.)
I couldn’t help but swell with joy as a visible manifestation of what the church in Bercy is building was in front of me. Who is building the foundation? Boys, who will be young men before we know it. Men are hard to come by in the country, although there are many boys who can shave. These boys are not only OWNING the church, but being loved and working alongside older men who are owning the church and also owning the opportunity to train and pour into a younger generation.
To the guys lugging blocks and cement, maybe it was just a Wednesday morning coming together to get a job done.
But I saw what God can and wants to do in this community. I saw generations that can rise up, and boys that we have the awesome opportunity to pour into. I saw ownership – a key ingredient to sustainability.
Let the visual of these boys hauling building blocks become a prayer and a reality to the spiritual and leadership realm of Bercy. Pray with us for men to rise up – a task that does not happen at a church plant but instead in days, months, and years adding up to a lifetime of discipleship. This country will be transformed as boys are transformed into men of God!