Children and youth can affect REAL change in their communities if they are empowered. This was what Gwladys, from Madagascar, had in mind when she chose five teens and five children to become part of the REAL team. It was an idea Gwladys developed while attending the GCF Leadership Experience School this year. 
REAL stands for:
Rely on God for the journey of Faith.
Experience the process of building the future
Authentic in every action
Lasting change for REAL members and their communities.
Gwladys’ heart was to show Malagasy people that children have incredible gifts and abilities to share with the Body of Christ if empowered. She wanted to show the REAL team that God’s word is transformational. And she wanted to create ministry resources by children for children.
The team has got off to a great start during the July holidays. After three weeks of training with Gwladys learning how to present, the power of sharing resources and training on how to share two different children’s ministry programs, they were ready. The team then traveled with Gwladys to 5 different regions of Madagascar and ran training for children’s ministry leaders from 218 different churches. In between training they would attend church services, giving their testimonies, singing and dancing. Gwladys said “leaders were amazed with the way the children taught them with passion, joy and lots of skills.”
At the end of their ‘tour’ they ran a children’s camp for 260 children, leading all aspects of the camp. Gwladys shared “we want the kids to develop their gifts and one dream is to build significant lives from childhood to ‘finishing the race.’”
What an encouragement to see children putting their faith into action – for REAL.