What is the Christian’s perspective of 4-H?

Something that probably a lot of people don’t think about is the Christian’s perspective of 4-H. It’s something that really isn’t given much thought. I am a Christian and apart of 4-H, so I decided to step back and take a look at the Christian’s perspective.

Good Stewards

4-H focuses a lot on agriculture and teaching kids about the environment. Did you know that agriculture can be traced back to the Bible? It’s true. It’s called being good stewards. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” God created the earth and He created us to take care of the earth and to subdue it. Genesis 1:28 says, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” I looked up ‘subdue’ and it means ‘to bring land under cultivation.’ God told Adam and Eve to subdue the earth, or bring the earth under cultivation. Subdue also means ‘to take care of; to domesticate.’ So God told Adam and Eve and us to take care of the earth.

The Good Shepherd

Showing animals is a big part of 4-H. If you show sheep, then you probably know that a caretaker for sheep is called a shepherd. Did you know that the Bible said we are like sheep? Psalm 100:3 says, “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” So if we are the sheep, then who is our shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Psalm 23:1-2 says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” He doesn’t want anything bad to happen to us. That’s why Christ died. He died to save us from eternal separation from God.

The King of everything

4-H teaches a lot about leadership and being a leader. The definition of a leader means ‘a person or thing that leads.’ This means that if you’re a king or a queen, you lead an entire country/city/province. But did you know that there is a King that rules everything? Yes, He even rules the earth. Psalm 47:2 says, “For the LORD Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth.” God doesn’t just rule the earth. Isaiah 40:26 says, “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” This verse tells us God created everything; therefore, God rules over everything.

The Best Friend

When you’re in 4-H for a good while, you’re more than likely going to have made a friend or 2. But no matter how many friends you make, each one of them is, at some point, going to let you down. Jesus Christ is the only Friend who will never let you down. Jesus even calls us to be His friend. John 15:15 says, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

Our unique gifts and skills

When you enter 4-H, you’ll find that there are a bunch of projects that range from showing animals to sewing dresses to learning gun safety. 4-H has all these different projects so that you can find what you like or to enhance the skill you already have. Each and every one of us has something that makes us special. For instance, I love animals and love to show them at the fair and do outside activities. While my sister likes to sew and cook and do inside activities. God gave each of us a different gift/skill to use for Him. I Peter says, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” God gave us each a gift and to use it for Him.