Good morning and welcome to class everyone. Thank you for joining the class and children's ministry. We'll begin with a word of prayer. So can I ask one of you to please lead us in prayer, please? Anyone? Yes, go ahead, Jefina. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you under the name of Jesus. I thank you for this day. Thank you for the class. We are about to have children are blessing from above Jesus. And we thank you God for Pasasalina who's teaching us on how to guide the children from their young age so that when they grow up God they won't drift away from the gospel but they will keep shining for your kingdom. God help us to apply everything that we learn in our life when we see the children so that God they will be built up, they'll be acute for your kingdom for your purposes and they will be yours forever. We give you all the glory and honor. Give us a good wife and connection throughout the session. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jefina. So last class we began looking at the importance of ministering to children. Why is it important for us to minister to children? And also we looked at the biblical basis and a mandate or the command for children's ministry. So in that we looked at God has a plan for children and that his plan includes family. The importance of the importance got placed in teaching children from scripture. We also saw the children were an integral part of the covenantal community of Israel. They were also part of the corporate worship that is praising and worshiping God, prayer, repentance, public reading of scripture and also salvation. And hence we pointed out that you know since children were part of the covenantal community in the Old Testament that is the lights. They're also part of the covenantal community today and that is of the church and hence they should be included in various aspects of church life. They should be trained and taught how to meaningfully participate in the various aspects of the life and the ministry of the church. We also saw that ministering to children was a priority for Jesus. Yes, the disciples did not think that children should be ministered to but Jesus did and he made time to minister to children. Hence you know ministering to children should be a high priority for us as a church and us as adults were part of the church. We also looked at a few more reasons why ministering to children is important. We'll just look at two more and then we will move on to what is the real essentials in children's ministry. The first thing is that children are the future leaders of the church. So we're just looking at a few more reasons why ministering to children is important. Children are the future leaders of the church. Hence the values, the scripture, the teachings, the doctrines that we instill in them at a very young age will remain in their lives for the rest of their lives and will also help us as a church to raise up a generation who would know would be rooted and strong in the word of God and also there would be a generation who will raise up the generation after them. We read in Judges that because the law wasn't taught to the next generation, the generations came about who did not even know the deeds of the words or the laws of God and they lived in sin. So it's important that even as we teach children at the very young age, they will rise up to be the future leaders of our church taking on the mantle, taking on the calling that is on the church and they will also in turn raise up the next generation after them even as they grow older. So the kids that we are teaching today would be the future evangelists, missionaries, pastors, bishops, leaders, apostles, whatever you can call them and whatever you can designate responsibilities to them. They grow up to be the future leaders and so it's important for us to give them a strong foundation, build them up in the word of God build them up in their walk of faith, in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Children are also ones who need to feel God's love so children's ministry can be a time when children truly get to experience God's unconditional love, just experience God's goodness, His favor, His faithfulness just know who the God who has called them, the God whom they serve, the God whom they worship and also it's important for us to raise up this next generation in the church of children who would know their worth in Christ, would know their identity in Christ, would know that they are loved by God so it's very important for us to root them in these basic truths because we really don't know the background that children who come to Sunday school or to children's churches or the background of the children we meet, what is going in and through their minds, their lives, what they're facing at school the challenges, the difficulties, some children can be bullied, some children can find studies difficult they're not able to cope up, some children are living in fear, some children are overwhelmed with the relationship that the parents are sharing maybe the parents are not in good terms, fighting, coming to the end, verge of divorce so they go through, even though if they're very very small, I remember one of the children's church ministers was telling me that I think it was last year, a child in grade 1 or upper KG, the teacher was teaching them how to trust in God, to share all your problems and needs and if they wanted, they had any prayer requests, personal prayer requests they can share with the teacher and the teacher can pray for them so this child, I think in upper KG or grade 1 I forget, mentioned that their parents are fighting and their parents are going to get divorced and the teacher was shocked because here was this grade 1, the child in grade 1 or upper KG so small but able to understand what is going on at home, how it's impacting her and she says I feel very sad ma'am, my brother is also very sad, I think the brother is now in 8th grade so it was very very heartbreaking, very sad so we think children at that age don't really realize, don't really know but they are going through a lot of challenges and so it's so important for us to teach them God's love, just know that God loves them, cares for them, is compassionate, gracious hears their prayer, answers them, they can speak to God, they can share with Jesus, the Holy Spirit is there to help them so we can think that whether children will understand or not, we don't have to worry because I think nowadays children the age that we are in they know much more than we were when I was in upper KG or grade 1 so it's so important for us to just give them these truths, just wait on the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit to help you what you need to speak to these children and sometimes just speak, decree promises speak over their lives, it's so important at a very very young age so any questions so far on these reasons why ministering to children is important, we looked at the various reasons any questions, any questions anyone has, anything you like to share from your personal experiences Yes, go ahead Japeela So as you said that today's kids they know much more than what we know I think last Sunday I was teaching in the children's church and I was surprised that they were asking me about why God didn't forgive Adam, why God didn't forgive me Satan and I think even in their age I never even had those doubts I was not bold enough even to ask those doubts on the stage when the St. Nicholas teacher teaches I'll be like yeah that's the truth and I'll just blindly follow and I think that's why I'm here but today's children they have this logical thinking at a very young age that they want to know the reasons they want to know why and what and when and where and I think the glass that we had last time really helped me when I went back this Sunday knowing that it's very important to prioritize it's not a place where we just give colour books and just make them colour anymore it was more like a sermon for me out there last Sunday where they were asking me some questions which I asked in my second year and third year of the year I feel like they are asking me those questions and I think it's really important for us to learn all these to be prepared so that they won't drift away from the gospel Yes, thank you for sharing John Paul you had asked what is the age for the child who joined the Holy Spirit baptism class so I checked with the mother she's now 10 years old so it was 2 years back so she should have been 8 years old Does that help John Paul? Okay, so we looked at the Biblical basis and the mandate for children's ministry We also looked at a few reasons why ministering to children is important Okay, so now we look at the real essentials in children's ministry Basically I just listed out 5 essential foundations for all church based ministry to children and these ideas were inspired by the free training at Children's Desiring God so I got this from their website So just looking at 5 essentials in children's ministry or how can we invest in children for creating in them a godly heart A heart that loves God, a heart that desires God, a heart that desires to love God and worship Him So the first thing is that children's ministry must be God-centered Children's ministry must be God-centered I don't know where my power point for those things is missing but Anyway, the first thing is that children's ministry must be God-centered What do I mean by saying that children's ministry must be God-centered? Any ideas? When we say that children's ministry must be God-centered what do we mean? Maybe not just games and activities but everything pointing out to God might be one thing Okay, yes, the games, the activities, the programs, the curriculum, everything It means that our teaching, everything that we teach we must emphasize who God is Emphasize God's character, his nature, his attributes, his greatness And we must help children see how strong, big and faithful and loving and majestic and awesome and powerful and compassionate and gracious can go on with the list that our God is How smart he is, how his wisdom is unsearchable, how satisfying our God is Not just for them to know the nature and the attributes of God but for them to also experience the nature and attributes of God So we need to get children, we need to translate our teaching into getting them into action where they're applying where they're receiving for themselves, they're seeing for themselves, they're encountering and experiencing God They need to experience God's nature, they need to experience his power and his greatness Look at what Psalms chapter 34 verse 8 says Can somebody read that please? Psalms 34 verse 8 Anyone? Psalms 34 verse 8 34 verse 8 Can somebody read that please? Anyone, the online students? Hello, we have 12 of you online, I think 11 of you online, can I hear some voices please? O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in him Thank you, Lynden, amen to that O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in him So children should not just learn about God but they need to taste, they need to experience They need to see the goodness of God, they need to see all of the nature and the attributes of God So children should experience God in such a way that for the rest of their life they need to have a desire for him A desire to know him, that relationship with him so that when times of trouble they're not running to unnecessary places They're not going to wrong places but they're taking their refuge, they're finding their, in God they're finding their strength in God, they're finding him as their help So the first real essential in Children's Ministry where we can invest in children for creating a Godly heart in them is that Children's Ministry must be God-centered The second thing is that Children's Ministry must be Bible-saturated it. We know that God has revealed himself, this great God who we cannot see, who lives in unapproachable light, who no man can see has ever seen, but this great God has revealed himself and one most important place where we know more about him or his revelations or his truth is from the Bible. So the Bible is the first and foremost book about God and sure we need to ensure that children bring their Bibles to children's church or Sunday school and we need to get them to open the Bibles and for them to read from it. So it's very important. It's sad when I see children even in 8th, 9th and 10th grade, they don't know where the books of the Bible are. I know some of us also find it difficult, but you ask them to read from the Bible, they struggle and I'm thinking, hey, these are children in 8th, 9th and 10th grade, they're reading such heavy textbooks in science and history and geography and they're not just able to read scripture, even if it's a familiar scripture passage or a familiar verse, they find it difficult to read and then I realize, hey, they're really not reading scripture, they don't have the time to read scripture or the discipline of reading scripture is not inculcated in them. You know, I had my best friend in school was, you know, somebody from another faith and I remember that, you know, what sometimes we stay back late in school for various activities, but she would say, hey, I have to run back home, I have to get back home. She actually stayed just over, you know, the boundary of our school. So boundary and then the next compound was a house.  And if she doesn't have time to change, she would just sit in her school uniform and then she'll have this teacher who'd come and to read from their holy book. So their holy book is not written in English, we're more privileged. It's written in another different language, you know, and they learn, you know, they learn all of those alphabets, they learn how to read. And by the time they come to grade five and six, they're actually, you know, able to read the whole of their holy book. And I'm just, when I looked at her and I just saw, you know, their enthusiasm to read God's word and I, and I say, hey, you know, I remember in my school days, hey, I'm, you know, have this book, The Word of God, which is from the true, true and living God. How much time do I really spend reading God's word? And that's when I really challenged me and I started reading the Bible because I seen my friend from another faith, from another religion. You know, so for them, it's, hey, even if you have a test, even if you have an exam, even if it is, even if, you know, it's going to get delayed, you have to first learn to read a holy book.  I remember we had friends from the same faith, good family, friends, during the summer vacation, they would spend their entire summer vacation just learning and doing the homework that their priests would come and teach them from, you know, to how to read the holy book. And if they've not done the homework, they would beat them black and blue. And this child was very weak and frail and thin looking, but her mother would never go and say anything to the teacher. She said, you know, they're teaching them about our God, teaching them about how to read the holy book. It doesn't matter. And I'm just so amazed at looking at their, you know, the zealousness they have for their God. It actually grew me in my faith, in my being zealous for the Lord that I worship the true and living God. So it's important for us to teach children, you know, to read the Bible from a very young age.  But when you're reading a common narrative or narrating a narrative, you can narrate it to them, but make sure they open it, open the Bible to know where the narrative is coming from. And not just narrates the narrative to them, but also help them to apply the truths in God's Word in their life every day. Now, you know, most of our children in our Sunday School and Children's Church, if you ask them to narrate Zachary's story, David and Goliath and, you know, blind men, Bartimieres and all of those things, they can, they can narrate those stories. But how has it translated? How has it helped apply those truths in their lives? You know, application is not something that we focus on. So we say, okay, children, you know, just like Bartimieres had faith, we need to have faith in Jesus, or we need to cry out to God for help. But, you know, we need to help them how in their own practical ways, in their own real life scenarios, how they can really implement it. When they come back next week, ask them how they have implemented what they learned. And that is very, very important. So even when they grow and they're reading God's Word, it will automatically become a lifestyle.  How am I applying it with my life? Okay, so that is something that we need to teach them. Otherwise, reading God's Word can become just a ritual, can just become like a chore that we do, like any other thing that we do throughout the day. Okay, so this way we can help them to teach them God's Word and also help God's Word permeate, you know, just flood their entire being and everything they do. Okay, look at what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. Can somebody read from that, please? 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. Somebody from your online student can read 2 Timothy 3 15. And that from his side, there are no idealist scriptures which are able to make the wife unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Abubakar. So here we see that, you know, Paul is telling Timothy, hey Timothy, I know from childhood how you've been acquainted with the sacred writings or with the law, with the scripture and this has made you wise for salvation. Okay, so if you want to see children saved, you know, what is going to bring them to that place to receive salvation is when they're acquainted or they know scripture or they thought from scripture. So, you know, teach them the scripture, help them apply the truths, get feedback on how they have applied the truths and also give them, you know, we've started giving them scripture passages in our children's church so our children know we have like workbooks or worksheets where they take home and based on the lesson that they're learning, we have scripture passages for them to read Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday throughout the week and then they come back and they share how they applied what they learn from the scripture passages that they read. So we're teaching them importance of reading scripture and also important of, you know, what did you learn about God and what are the truths that you learn from God's word and how you have applied it. Okay, so mere human, you know, work stories are not enough to guide our children to God. They need the Bible, you know, so only God's word can change their hearts. Like we read in Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 that the only the sacred writings can make them wise for salvation and for faith even wise to live their everyday lives. The third real essential for children's ministry is that children's ministry must be gospel driven. What do I mean when we say that children's ministry must be gospel driven? Any ideas? I think maybe the motto of this, when we say gospel driven, maybe the motto of this is to share the gospel. I'm just thinking like that.  Okay, thank you, that it must be good news to them, whatever we're teaching them about God's word, sharing the gospel. Yes, we must be intentional in proclaiming the gospel to the children and their families. Okay, you remember what Romans 1.16 says? All says I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. Okay, so we saw in Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 that it makes us wise for salvation and here it says that it's the power of God for salvation. So when we're saying salvation is not just the moment that we are saved, born again, but also how can we walk in eternal life? How can we live in that eternal life? How can we save ourselves from sin and from the situations that we face in life? And also we see the command of Jesus Christ in Mark chapter 16 verse 15. We looked at it last class, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole of creation. So gospel, when we studied Romans gospel for Paul is not just, you know, sharing how to be, how to come out from darkness into marvelous light, but for Paul, the entire scripture was the truth, was the gospel, was the good news. So like Abu Bakr says, we need to give them the good news.  I want to go to this place called heaven and because of that they accept Jesus as their savior. Okay, but, you know, the word of God says that, you know, we need to accept, you know, salvation is to make Jesus as our Lord and Savior of our lives.   We are in a better place and also that we enjoy eternal life here and now. But how many of us have really made Jesus as the Lord of our lives? Is he Lord over every area of our lives? Is what something is something that we need to, you know, every day on an every day basis surrender, you know, ourselves that he is Lord over our entire being over every area, every facet of our life. And I think this is what is important for us to teach children, not just, you know, make him the Savior of our lives where he saves us and so we are going to heaven.  The fourth thing is that children's ministry must minister to the whole family, right? Do you think children's ministry should minister to just children or to the whole family? Do you agree? Yes, no. Can you have some responses? Do you think children's ministry should concentrate only for children? And then the adult church should concentrate only to help out parents children's ministry also minister to the whole family? What do you all think? I think it should, it should mean despite the fact that they should at least have different sessions sometimes, but I think there are needs a time when everything is holistically being taught. Thank you. Yes, anyone else? You know, APC is involved in children's ministry in schools. So we have this project called Catalysts where we minister to children in schools. So before the pandemic, we were going to schools and teaching them just basically out of scripture, you know, we had a curriculum and also bringing out, you know, values and how to live, moral values and how to live their lives. But then, you know, during the pandemic and up post that, you know, there was a law that we're not, you know, forbidding us to teach and preach the gospel. So we thought, you know, everything will come to a standstill because we can't take scripture to schools. But then we thought, okay, how can we have inroads into schools? So we, we developed a life skill curriculum, which we're still writing. And so we started that life skill curriculum in schools. So we're teaching children now about emotions, how to handle emotions. So there was a child in the, and we meet for our, for all of our catalysts of volunteers and staff, we meet for prayer every Friday from four to five. And so the last Friday when we met, one of our volunteers was saying that, you know, a child in ninth grade came and said, ma'am, I understand all your teaching us. It's so good. It's so important.  And I'm struggling because, you know, I'm not able to do that at home because the challenges I face with my parents or my parents are being so difficult.  Why don't you teach the parents so that it'll help them and also to gather, we can actually, you know, work things out. Otherwise, just me doing things at home is impossible to do everything that you are telling me. And so the volunteer was saying, you know, telling me that we need to think about having parent teacher meeting. And she told us, she told us, I will do what best we can. She said, but you know, ma'am, I think this is what teaching us is important for you to even tell the parents. Okay. So we recognize that God is called parents to be primary the faith nurturers of children. But it's important as children's church ministers to partner with parents to assist them in fulfilling this cause because some of them are finding it difficult. It's challenging for them, which means, you know, we need to even serve parents as well as children. So how can we serve parents as children's church ministry or a Sunday school ministry? How can we serve parents? Any ideas? Is it possible to engage them on one or one teaching for the children? Okay. Have a one to one session with the children, with them. Okay. With them. I think that will also help them because there are some, there are some children that if you call them and they teach them and engage them in one on one discussion, you will see most of them will open up and you will know the area that you can also come in. Based on my experience here, anytime I go to the children's church, no matter how organized a Sunday is for them, not every Sunday. And by the time I talk to children, come and tell me this one of the, not finishers, I'm talking about children. You see, they will tell me what is going on in their home and their this and that. So from there I can be able to impart more and speak more of them. And if there's anyone that we need to engage the parents of those children, we will do so. So sometimes one on one engagement is also good to every children in children ministry. Yes. Thank you, success. I think that you're talking about mentoring, which is very important. Yes. Anyone else? When I look into my, my arc of fire as a school principal, it is very important to, especially during counseling sessions and juvenile delinquencies when kids little misbehave, we send them for their parents. And we try to, when a parent is around and maybe the dean of discipline or me around, we can ask them how we can inform the parents how the kids are behaving. And then we inquire the kids whether that makes their parents happy or even the parent can also come in and then we can go into the scripture to show the kids that when Christ was young, he used to do this and this and this. How do you see about it? I think it is very important in that way to engage parents, especially in, in performance and discipline. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Lubega. Thank you, success. So Lubega, did you say you were a principal of a school? Did I hear right? For the last 15 years. Oh, wow. You never knew that. Okay. That's really nice. Okay. So something that we do at our children's church, you know, is that we have a parent-teacher meeting. So, you know, we invite the parents and then we tell them what we are going to teach the children throughout the year, what are the topics we're going to teach them. We also have, you know, take-home activities.  So, you know, get your children, talk about with your children in different points during the week, get them to apply what they have learned. So the parents are also aware and so when a child is doing something, they can reiterate the lesson, tell them, teach them, you know, help them how to apply what they have learned throughout the week. Also, you know, in the same WhatsApp message, the memory verse is communicated. So, you know, the parent also knows. So when the parent is teaching the memory verse to the child, the parent is also learning.  We also have something called mentoring that we have. So in a class, say there are six children in a class and there are two teachers for each class. So, you know, I ask each teacher to choose three children. So one teacher handles three children, the other teacher handles three children, just mentors them. Like every Sunday after children's church just talks with a child, how is your week been or if the child has not come to children's church, just call them up, hey, what happened, we missed you. If it's their child's birthday or child is going through some challenges, you know, just mentoring them. And then, you know, also the weeks they're not in children's church, I request the children's church ministers, you know, to meet the child's parents and say, hey, I'm teaching your child children's church. Is there any challenges your child is facing, which I can help, I can keep it confidential, I'm here to help. Is there anything I can pray about for your child, for the family.  So, even if a parent is going through challenges and difficulties, you know, during the week with the child, the parent can call the children's church ministers and say, hey, I'm going through this, please pray, please help. You know, so that also helps in engaging the parents. Yes, like some of you said, when there is behavioral issues, we call the parents, we speak with the child and the parents, so the parent is also aware and together we are here to help the child. And if it's a problem with the parent, we also, you know, help them and counsel them. Okay. The fifth one is children's ministries about serving kids or serving children. Okay, what do I mean by this? The fifth, the essential, the children's ministry, the children's ministry is all about serving kids. Yes, Abu Bakr? Please, Maya, I have a question concerning the first point that says that children's ministries must be, must minister to the whole family. In some cases, perhaps children that used to come to church without their parents, how are we going to handle those stations? Because I started my ministry as a student teacher in my church and I discovered that we have some children there that were no, they don't have parents in our church. They just decided to come to church without their parents. Lord Jesus, they want to be a Christian where their parents are either mostly more traditional personally. So how can we handle those stations? Because there's no point to carry along with the children to tell them the curriculum, how we want to treat them, how are we going to handle those cases? So even in school, in school settings, I discovered that the parents, the the unlike parents used to influence their children. Why do you treat, used to affect their parents, their students, their children in the academics? How can we handle those things? Good question. Thank you, Abubakar. I think the first one that you said that children who don't come along with their parents, but they like to come to children's church, so they themselves are self-motivated to know more about God, to learn about God. So I think they will be motivated to apply the truths, to learn the memory verse. Of course, they will face challenges, so you can be like a parent to them, a mentor to them, like Paul mentored Timothy. You can be like a parent, a spiritual father to them, or we can be spiritual mothers to them, and just mentor them, build them up in the faith, strengthen them. Also, together with the child, pray for their parents, pray for their parents, for their faith, that they will come to faith. You can even visit their parents sometimes and introduce yourself if that's okay, if they are welcoming, and you can even share the gospel. But you, God has put you in a place where you can be their spiritual father, or the spiritual mother, or mentor, and you can raise them up to be godly men and women, godly children, and grow up to be godly men and women, and so you can have that profound influence in their life.  Sometimes even children can have parents back at home. They come with their parents to children's church, but from broken homes, broken families, their relationship with their families is no good. But you can be that bridge between their parents and them. You can be like a parent, and you can mentor and teach them. Does that help Abu Bakr? Okay, I think he lost his connection. Okay, we'll move on. Children's Ministry is about serving kids. What do I mean by that? What do we mean by saying that Children's Ministry is about serving kids or children?  So what can I tell them? Okay, I'll just tell them, you know, the story, you know, basic story from the Bible, I'll just tell them.   It's not about just going and saying, hey, I was rostered today and I was there and I did something, you know, at least I was there to minister. But it's putting our spiritual needs, our challenges, our difficulties behind and putting their needs before us. So, you know, ministering to children can be challenging. You know, our week was busy, it was very hectic. We didn't have time to, we know that our weeks are very busy and hectic. So we tell children's church ministers, hey, for teaching the next Sunday, the previous Sunday, you know, Sunday evening, take a look at the lesson, just read through the lesson. So the throughout the week, you know, you're mulling on it, you're thinking about it, you know, when you look at situations, when you read the news, when we look at something and say, hey, this is a good thing to share with the children, which will help enhance my teaching, something practical, something happens in your life, some object lesson that you can use. So I tell them, you know, prepare throughout the week, don't wait till Saturday night and, you know, just keep praying about it and ask God how to communicate these truths in a very relevant, in a very realistic, in a very creative way to the children and God, you know, as a creative God that we serve, he will give you ideas.  The other thing is, you know, don't minister to them based on what you are going through or your challenges or what you have faced in their age, but, you know, wait on the spirit of God to ask for your, for leading and guiding to know what they are going through, you know, so that you can minister to them their felt needs and what they are going through, okay. So, our ministry becomes great as we excel in this kind of service where we are faithful and committed. Jesus says in Mark chapter 9 was 35, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all, which means even putting our needs behind and serving others, okay. We'll come back after the break and look at more about how children's ministry is all about serving children, okay, after the break. Thank you everyone.