Thank You for Looking After our Daughter
Joey Olivier
We celebrated a number of Class of 2022 graduates last weekend. My wife and I are amazed at how strong and grounded and talented and mature these young adults are. We are blown away by what they have pursued in their lives already, and by the dreams that God has placed in their hearts for the future.
But when the parents of one of our young ladies were standing in our home saying these words to us, my wife and I didn’t know how to respond. “Thank you for looking after our daughter.”
Our Missional Community (or “MC”, New City’s version of small groups) gathers weekly in our home. And it has become a landing place for a number of college students. On any given Wednesday evening, our group of 20-25 adults typically includes between 5-10 college students or recent graduates.
In our weekly gathering we share a meal together, catch up on life, share prayer requests, sing, pray, discuss the sermon, and apply the gospel in our own and each other’s lives. In other words, we live as family in Christ.
New City approaches college students in a fairly unique way. College students are invited into MC families. They are invited to participate, to bring a side dish for the meal, to serve, to lead. As they grow in their spiritual walk and their investment in the MC family, they are asked to take responsibilities for roles within the MC. They are asked to take a turn leading the discussion. They are equipped in how to help others apply the gospel in their lives. They are encouraged, and they are exhorted to encourage others. They are invited into smaller discipleship (“DNA”) groups where they can study Scripture, share struggles, and pray for one another. In short, they are adopted and discipled, just like any other adult of any other age.
And our MC is far from the only one. There are several MCs within a 10-minute drive of Mercer, and multiple of these MCs include a number of college students. College students inject another level of life and energy into our MCs, and for that we are extremely grateful!
God has been at work in our MCs, and sometimes His handiwork is most evident in our youngest participants. It is bittersweet to see them grow, to celebrate their graduations, and then to cheer them and send them off as they embark on their post-college journeys. God is doing a good work in them and through them, and we know and trust that He will see this work through.
“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
– Philippians 1:6
Because of this, when a parent is expressing gratitude for the investment in their son or daughter, we are even more thankful for the MC family that God has given us, for the body of believers that pour into these college kids and each other and us, and ultimately for God who provides it all.
For more information on our MCs: https://www.newcitymacon.org/mcgroups