Reflections and plans
On 29 November BAUC leaders of Children’s Ministry Department came together to reflect how we did this year, and to discuss plans for the next.
We started off with a short thought about different noises in our lives and read the story in Matthew 21: 12 – 16 where priests and elders were not at all disturbed by the noises the money changers and traders made, while they were greatly troubled by children’s shouts when they praised Jesus for His miraculous work by healing the sick.
It brought us to the question: Do we nowadays value children in a church? Because if we do, then the ultimate goal of ours as a congregation (not just parents’) would be to show them Jesus and His wonderful work. Are we like disciples trying to keep children somewhere out of sight, so that adults can listen what Jesus got to say, or do we include them in our sermons? Children are not our future – they are our present, as somebody has said. We can be very grateful to God if we have children in our churches today.
Therefore, we have made plans to have a conference for teachers and parents in 2016 (9 – 10 April) in the BAUC. We hope that this will be an event where the children’s Sabbath School teachers, who already volunteer in our churches, find new motivating ideas, spiritual encouragement, fulfilling interactions, and time for a quiet reflection. But also that new people (maybe from among parents) would be encouraged and empowered to find their way to do mission in teaching children to love Jesus and to follow Him.
We hope to welcome also visitors from GC and TED who will share their experience and knowledge with us on this occasion. Please pray about the event that more people would find time and energy to come and participate, and that God would greatly bless our churches through Chidren’s Ministry. Thank you!