Sharing the Vision

I think every believer yearns to see children everywhere walking with Jesus but what about reality? How could that be possible? We’re talking two billion children in the world right now! Where do you start? You have to stop and think*.

    

This is exactly what people have been doing in small and large groups, with Pastors and leaders and children’s volunteers and families – sharing the vision and challenge to see Children Everywhere Walking with Jesus (CEWWJ).

In the Luzon District in the Philippines (recently in the news due to terrible flooding –please remember them in your prayers), Jasmin has been sharing the vision and running the small group challenge with 35 pastors in her church denomination. They met for a day looking at the challenge. Jasmin had them blow up balloons and try to keep them off the ground asking them to imagine that each balloon was a child needing encouragement and mentoring to walk with Jesus, protection and priority from the church as a whole. No young person should be forgotten or left to ‘fall’. They also drew pictures of what a child-friendly church would look like. Their conclusions? A church where…

  • Children are given priority and age-appropriate Bible study.
  • Has facilities (like toilets and playground) suitable for children.
  • Children bring other children with them to church and to Christ – children disciping children.
  • Families are supported by the church to nurture their children.
  • Intentional ministry to children is a priority of the pastors and young people are encouraged to get involved.

At the end of the CEWWJ Challenge the pastors went home encouraged to run the same challenge session with their congregation and a commitment to receive further training in ministry strategies to reach and disciple children. Jasmin wrote, “this (Luzon) is only one of the 11 Districts in the Philippines.  I will also do the same in those different districts.”

In Ethiopia, Seble shared the big picture of the state of mission and ministry amongst young people both globally and nationally today. More than 600 leaders from across Ethiopia were then presented with the CEWWJ vision. Seble said “The feedback was great, I also managed to direct them to the website and distribute some flash drives of the CEWWJ (challenge).”

In Togo the Children Everywhere Walking with Jesus vision statement is being painted on banners and displayed at large community KidsGames events. In Australia a small group of leaders who are part of a city Children’s ministry network, discussed each word of the vision using the Stop and Think questions in the Challenge.

So how about you? Do you want to see children everywhere walking with Jesus? Gather a small group and take the Challenge!

*Explore the ‘Stop and Think’ questions that help unpack each word of the CEWWJ vision.