Ministry
At the beginning of the year, I love going back to the beginning of the Bible.
The first book is Genesis, a word that literally means 'beginning' or 'origin'. And what’s interesting is that the beginning of something often tells us a lot about its purpose.
The way a chair is built tells us it’s for sitting. The way a house is built tells us it’s for living in. In the same way, the way people are made tells us something about what we’re made for.
Genesis 1 is beautifully descriptive, originally written like poetry, and it invites us to see God as the architect of creation. Over the holidays I built a LEGO bonsai tree using an instruction booklet where every step was laid out in detail. It reminded me that behind every design is a designer, someone who knows exactly how each piece fits and what it’s meant to become.
God is like that with us, but even more so. He knows every detail of who we are and what we’re made for. Genesis doesn’t focus so much on how the world was made, but why.
In Genesis 1:27 we read that humans are created in the image of God. That means our lives are designed to reflect Him and to exist with Him. When we know the Architect, we can grow into who we were created to be—this is part of what it means to be Building People with God.
There’s another purpose in the opening chapter of the Bible too. In Genesis 1:28, God calls people to care for the earth and to look after creation. So, our purpose isn’t only personal, it’s relational and outward-looking. We’re invited to be people who notice, protect, serve, and build up what God has made: our friendships, our classrooms, our families, our community, and the world around us. Just as God tends to us with patience and love, we’re called to show that same patience and love to others.
If I could sum it all up in one line, it’s this: we are designed to love God and love others, not because it’s a chore, but because it’s what we were created for.
Thought to ponder: If God is the Architect who knows you completely, what might it look like this week to trust His design—by taking one practical step to love God more deeply and one practical step to love someone around you well?
Andrea Campbell
Youth Chaplain