We have had an amazing summer at Amberlea! We are so grateful to all that were able to be a part of it! We often think of church as Sunday mornings…. But as a people we are called to share with others, where we’ve seen God at work in our lives all the time and everywhere!

At Amberlea, we have an incredible opportunity to do that in the summer with the children, youth and families in our community. Due to generous donations from the people of Amberlea, we were able to hire 4 students as our summer staff who planned and led our summer programs. We started with VBC, our first time doing a full day camp with 47 children. For 6 more weeks this summer we offered our morning drop-in program called Breakfast Club to over 50 different children. Sprinkled in the mix was 2 weeks of Musical Theatre Camp that offered us a unique opportunity to connect with over 50 children and youth developing their performance and vocal abilities.

Each individual program presented its own unique opportunities and challenges in sharing God’s love. We asked the summer staff and some volunteers what some of the highlights were and in particular, where they saw God this summer. It is a blessing to read their responses.

Seeing the kids learn. At the start of Breakfast Club, they didn’t know any of the Bible stories. The kids asked questions and were interested in knowing more. We covered a lot of stories this summer!
The songs! The dancing and singing was the best! To watch the littlest ones sing and dance with all of their might praising God was amazing!
The hard questions! At Musical Theatre Camp, the kids were introduced to some new ideas and they weren’t afraid to ask some hard questions. They wanted to know more!
Seeing kids make friends! Kids didn’t want to go home at the end of the day. That’s a good feeling!
Growth of the youth staff and volunteers! It was amazing to see their desire to do good and to want to do more.
Children of other faiths and abilities participated in the programs! I’m glad we were accessible to all children.
The way kids talked about God! The way children talk about God and Him in their lives is different than us. They were more free about it. We learned by watching them.

We give thanks for this amazing team of staff and the amazing volunteers who supported them this summer. Pray with us for God’s blessing on their lives as they move into the school year. Pray with us that God will nurture the seeds that were planted this summer in all of the children, youth and families we met.

“Colossians 3:23 (NIRV)

Work at everything you do with all your heart. Work as if you were working for the Lord, not for human masters. “”