Are You Holding The Rope?

Mark shared a powerful story at our webinar yesterday afternoon about holding the rope.

He shared an excerpt from “Andrew Fuller: Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Mission” by John Piper regarding a meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society on October 2, 1792 that inspired the famous rope holder imagery.

“Fuller, more than anyone else, felt the burden of what it meant that William Carey and John Thomas (and later, others) left everything for India in dependence, under God, on this band of brothers. One of them, John Ryland, recorded the story from which came the famous “rope holder” image. He wrote that Carey said: Our undertaking to India really appeared to me, on its commencement, to be somewhat like a few men, who were deliberating about the importance of penetrating into a deep mine, which had never before been explored, [and] we had no one to guide us; and while we were thus deliberating, Carey, as it were, said “Well, I will go down, if you will hold the rope.”  But before he went down . . . he, as it seemed to me, took an oath from each of us, at the mouth of the pit, to this effect—that “while we lived, we should never let go of the rope.”

You and I are holding the rope in our Kids’ Ministries.

We are holding the rope for our volunteers, kids and the families that call our churches home.

The reason it is important that we continue to hold the rope is someone important is on the other side of the rope.

Whether we have 3 or 300 kids in our ministry, the rope we are holding is important.

It is easy to look at the success of another Kids’ Ministry or KidMin Leader and wish it was ours.

Let me encourage you in this…

God has you right where He wants you and holding the rope of the specific people He’s called you to!

One of my favorite scriptures to read when I am feeling drained or discouraged is found in Galatians 6.

“Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up.”

Don’t give up. Don’t give in.

If you’ve let go of the rope, get back up and start holding the rope again.

What you do matters, it is important and the lives of the volunteers and kids you are impacting does not go unnoticed by God.

So I’ll end with this question, are you holding the rope?

Comment below where you are and let other KidMin Leaders stand with you in holding the rope for your church, community and team.

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