As the weather becomes cooler and stores switch over to seasonal stock, the office buzzes with activity as we prepare for fall ministries. Preparing for fall ministries included hosting a training class for volunteers which grounded volunteers in the “Why” of what we do at CEF. At the start of September, Shelley and I attended a CEF staff refresher where I got to reconnect with friends I had made at the CYIA training week. We had a blast catching up, playing games, and hearing some powerful messages from Dale Hudson. I found Dale’s messages extremely encouraging, God certainly used Dale’s time in ministry to equip him with powerful moments of witnessing God’s goodness and faithfulness. At one point during his message, Dale used a length of rope measuring 168 inches long to represent the 168 hours of a week. An inch long piece of blue tape in the middle of the rope represented the hour of Good News Club we spend with children. If all we get out of 168 hours is 1 hour with children, we had better make that hour count. To say I felt convicted would be an understatement – it is easy to cut corners and brush off certain aspects of teaching as non-critical, but the object lesson reframed how I thought about the teaching process from outlining, to practice, to presentation. It all matters to make that one hour of club count! That was the reasoning we brought to our volunteer training class. We simply don’t get to be a part of children’s lives for great lengths of time (unless, of course, we have children of our own). But even then, do we really stay focused enough to bring children to Jesus, especially when we may only get an hour with them?
That was the challenge brought to our volunteers – the “Why” of CEF is that children are most receptive to the Gospel, and this openness to hear the Good News of Jesus lessens with age. If we want to see more laborers for the harvest, we must consider ministering to children as an integral part of our walk with Christ. Whether that’s ministering to your own children, or children at church, or children in the neighborhood, I challenge you to find ways you can begin sharing the gospel with children before they get wrapped up in a lifetime of sin and separation from God. In order to minister more effectively, I’ve begun training with two opportunities. the first opportunity is with ChristLink, a ministry oriented toward helping other ministries manage their online presence well – you can find out more about ChristLink at christlink.org. Through these trainings, I hope to learn how to tweak CEF’s online presence to maximize how many children we can reach with the Gospel! Additionally, Teaching Children Effectively is being offered by CEF at Summit International School of Ministry in Grantville. Another amazing ministry, you can find out more about them at summitpa.org. TCE looks to be another solid opportunity to hone my skills as a teacher as I learn how to share the Gospel, present Bible lessons, and teach verse memorization. That’s about it for September. I’m looking forward to continuing to apply teaching theory: to put into practice my training for the purpose of advancing the Kingdom by reaching children with the Gospel.
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