More than a year ago, we got to know Carlos Cezar. He was invited to a youth meeting by a neighbor, Christiane, who is a communicant member. She is the only member of her family to participate in our church. When I asked Cezar last week why he continued to come after that first meeting, he said, “I liked what I saw and heard.”

At first we thought Cezar was really coming because of the pretty girls in the group who also attend church regularly. That would have been natural for a boy of 15. But we soon saw that, though he enjoyed the company of the girls, and in fact of all the other youth, he was coming to church regularly even if they were not in attendance, and even when he moved to another part of town. Soon Cezar was taking part in other activities of the congregation, helping the men make sidewalks, taking part in church cleaning, and such.

We saw another thing happen which has happened many times before in this congregation. The whole congregation took Cezar to their hearts because he had no family interest in his participation. Soon Cezar had a whole congregation family of Dads and Moms, brothers and sisters who were nurturing his faith and growth in the Word of God. And that led Cezar, now almost 17, to begin to study to become a communicant member.

This has happened a number of times in the past, that the congregation adopts a young person, sometimes even a child, who has come into contact with the Word and has no support for his or her interest at home, but wants to be part of us. These young people have gone on to be not only members, but teachers in our children’s classes, secretarial help, readers of scripture lessons in the services, and even secretary of the congregation.

The lesson for us all is that people need the love and concern of other Christians, not only as they come to faith, but always.