Albert Einstein said, “Once you stop learning you start dying.” Or how about this: “Never stop learning because life never stops teaching.” As followers of Jesus we would all agree we need a teachable spirit with hearts and minds that are seeking to learn more about God, ourselves, the young people we serve and minister with, and how we can be relevant to their generation. 19 experienced children’s ministry leaders from 14 countries did just that spending 5 weeks together at the Global Children’s Forum (GCF) Leadership Experience in South Africa. It is the first time this 9 month-long course has been run and here is what some of the participants shared:

[Read more…]

God’s Big Story is the amazing true tale of God’s restoration of shalom (wholeness) from the brokenness that sin has created.  Brokenness is evident everywhere  – in our relationships with God, with other people, with the world around us and with ourselves.  After God’s very good creation was damaged by sin, he has lovingly committed himself to this task of restoration – a task that will be completed at the coming of His New Creation. The wonder is that God invites us – and the children we serve –  to be participants in this outworking of His redemptive plan. [Read more…]

‘Going to the Edges’ was the theme of the GCM Equip 2016 (Global Children’s Ministries) conference held in Thailand last month. Workshops and plenary sessions run by KidsHubs, Family conversations and the 1for50 movement all followed this theme. [Read more…]

Children are like sponges and absorb everything they are taught. They also learn by watching what we do especially when we are not teaching. This is what is ‘caught’. One of the most powerful parts of scripture that explores this idea is in Deuteronomy 6. Every part of every day is an opportunity for kids to catch the magnificence of God and the Gospel of grace in a million different ways. This is why creativity and curiosity are so important for kids. The Global Children’s Forum (GCF) have recently reaffirmed the vision to see ‘kids everywhere walking with Jesus.’ This reminds us that disciple making is active. It’s relational. It’s ongoing. As a discipler we need to continually look for the opportunities and resources around us. We need to prepare for teachable moments that can come at any time.

Imagine spending time intentionally discipling the same 5 children for 5 years. What would be the outcome? What might those children become? Disciples themselves? Disciple-makers?

Here is a real life example serving this vision:

Madagascar
Gwladys, a former child TV star has a passion to equip children in creative arts and in developing a relationship with Jesus. She chose to disciple 15 children from the disadvantaged background in her church 11 years ago. She taught them media skills, hygiene and social skills while teaching them the Word of God. Gwladys started with the resources she had and identified the needs of the children. She created opportunities for them to be involved in their communities and discipling other children. This group together started KidsHubTV and children clubs 5 years ago. Now 11 of those 15 children have completed university studies while they were working alongside Gwladys in the clubs and producing videos to empower churches. They have joined as staff with Gwladys and continue to help her in overseeing 600 kids clubs and training leaders across the country. Gwladys has recently begun developing another generation of young leaders who are the 5 new presenters of their KidsHub TV programme. The discipleship process continues as these young leaders now train their peers and younger ones under the mentorship of Gwladys.

This story from Madagascar has sparked an idea of ‘5 for 5′ – focusing on discipling 5 children for 5 years. Using Gwladys’ 11 disciples as an example; if they went on to disciple 5 children each and that’s all they did for the rest of their lifetime and those 5 in turn discipled another 5 and so on – within a generation (65 years) 2.65 billion children would be discipled. Staggering numbers but true!

What about you? Are you intentionally discipling a small group of children? Could you? Maybe we could reach the goal of seeing ‘children everywhere walking with Jesus’ if we did.

Family and their immediate community surround children most of their growing years. Their influence on children’s lives emotionally, spiritually and career-wise is undeniable. Since the discipleship process begins for those in Christian households at home, how do we as families take the opportunity to not only disciple our kids but influence other families in our community?

A family living in a restricted country have used the KidsHubs Drama & Gardening sessions with a small group of 2 -3 other families as a way of meeting and growing together. The father responsible for leading the group spoke of how much the children enjoyed their time together because of the interactive nature of the sessions. He chose parts of each session to suit the different families in their group. He said the KidsHubs sessions “gave him courage” to try this new approach of small group disciple making with families.

Edwin works with poor children in the slums of Kampala, Uganda. In 2011 he first learned about KidsHubs and began to experiment with the idea of discipling children around a fun and practical skill. Today some of the kids from his first KidsHubs group have become leaders and lead their own KidsHubs groups. This demonstrates the power of multiplication and mentoring.