Let the Children Come to Me: Spiritual Help for the Team Member

By JR Miller

The real power in young people’s Christian group work is not in methods, important as it is to have the best of these, nor in equipment, valuable as this is, but in the team member’s own spiritual life. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts (Zechariah 4:6). This is the divine revealing of the secret of power in all Jesus Christ’s work. It is the aim of these nine short chapters to put emphasis on some of the vital elements in the team member’s life and work. This challenging and helpful book will also be of value to team members of all groups: Students, Home Groups, Twenties and Thirties, Mums and Toddlers, Seniors etc, as well as youth and children work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Tree Publishing
• Release date: Sep 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781913950361

Book preview

About the Book

The real power in young people’s Christian group work is not in methods, important as it is to have the best of these, nor in equipment, valuable as this is, but in the team member’s own spiritual life. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts (Zechariah 4:6). This is the divine revealing of the secret of power in all Jesus Christ’s work. It is the aim of these nine short chapters to put emphasis on some of the vital elements in the team member’s life and work. This challenging and helpful book will also be of value to team members of all groups: Students, Home Groups, Twenties and Thirties, Mums and Toddlers, Seniors etc, as well as youth and children work.

Let the Children Come to Me

Spiritual Help for the Team Member

by JR Miller

(1840-1912)

This White Tree Publishing edition ©2021

eBook ISBN: 978-1-913950-36-1

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

More books on https://whitetreepublishing.com/

Contact mailto: [e-mail]

The Bible verses used here are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by

Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this revised edition.

Cover illustration by Image by Prawny from Pixabay

Contents

Cover

White Tree Publishing Introduction

About the Book

About the Author

Author’s Introduction

1. The Team Member’s Commitment

2. The Team Member’s Aim

3. The Team Member’s Preparation

4. The Spiritual Element in Teaching

5. The Team Member’s Life

6. The Team Member Representing Jesus

7. The Team Member’s Spiritual Culture

8. The Team Member’s Bible

9. The Team Member and the Holy Spirit

About White Tree Publishing

More Books by JR Miller

White Tree Publishing Introduction

NOTE: Terminology in group work varies from church to church and from Christian organization to Christian organization. Young people’s ministries are described here as Groups, and the leaders, assistant leaders and helpers as the Team Members. The all-encompassing name Team Member avoids a sense of hierarchy and differing importance, because everyone is working together for the same ends, and every team member has a key role to play in the group.

This is an edited and updated version of a book by JR Miller entitled The Devotional Life of a Sunday School Teacher. JR Miller is one of our most popular authors. His books give helpful and challenging thoughts for living a Christian life of genuine, unforced gladness and power. Some words have been updated where they have either fallen out of use today, or changed their meaning.

Miller certainly sets the bar high, and some sections will be more appropriate for senior members of the team. The intention is certainly not to discourage team members who are still young in the faith, but who are keen to help others to know and love the Lord.

Here s a section from Come Ye Apart by Miller, published in 1887, also available in a White Tree Publishing edition:

... first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear (Mark 4:28). We understand this well enough in nature, but do we understand it in spiritual life? The beginnings of Christian life are very feeble and imperfect. We must not expect in young converts the maturity of character we look for in older Christians.

Grace begins in a small way. We have no right to look at once for the ripened fruits of Christian experience. But the wheat does not stop at the tender blade; it shoots up into a strong stalk, at last into ripeness.

Christian lives should grow. They have no right to stay always at the starting point. They should grow in knowledge, in power, in purpose, in achievement, until they put forth all the fruits of the Spirit, and grow into the ripeness of Christian experience.

Another thought that comes to mind here is that the beginnings of Christian life in young Christians ought to be most gently nurtured by those who are their spiritual overseers.

In all his books, Miller uses the name Christ far more often than he uses that of Jesus. Readers nowadays generally prefer to think of God’s Son as Jesus rather than by the more formal title of Christ, which means the Messiah or Anointed One. While sometimes keeping the name Christ in this book, we have made changes to that of Jesus, helping to make God’s Son more personal and immediate to us today. Miller’s teaching and doctrine are unchanged.

As always with our Christian non-fiction books, we have inserted references to Bible quotes in brackets where these are missing in the original. It may be that many authors thought they were writing to readers who were so familiar with the Bible that references were unnecessary, but we believe it is important for all readers to be able to check the words and context in their own Bibles.

The version originally used by Miller was the King James Version (KJV). However, we have used the ESV here. The wording of these verses is practically identical to the KJV and the majority of other Bible translations, but without the thee, thou and thy of older translations. Similarly, in Miller’s original words, these and similar words have been replaced in this White Tree Publishing edition.

There are nine short chapters in this book, followed by an illustrated list