by an Alliance worker serving in the Middle East
My husband and I experience great joy every time students or graduates of the Bible institute tell us how they are using what they learned here in their own ministries. Recently, one of our students got a taste of that same sense of satisfaction.
It happened while I was meeting with three students who are beginning to lead a program for refugee children. We planned who would lead the different parts of the program: songs, a memory verse, the Bible lesson, games, etc.
Two of them—Leila,* a single woman from an Arab country, and Mariam, a married woman from another Arab country—had worked with these children last year. Rachel, a single woman from Africa, joined them this year.
Kids’ Ministry
As the three of them planned the program for their next gathering, Mariam told Leila, “Everything you taught me last year I took with me when I went home this summer, and I taught it to the children there.”
She was talking mainly about the children’s songs she had learned, as she did not grow up going to Sunday school. In fact, the idea of teaching children about Jesus in her home country was a new concept to her when she began helping with the refugee children last year.
The church is so new in her country that she had never seen organized ministry to kids there. Her family worshipped together in their home as the only believers in their city.
Increased Impact
But this summer, Mariam and her husband visited believers in different areas of their home country, and she specifically ministered to the youngsters too. The children even sang one of the songs she taught them at a bigger celebration where believers came together from different locations.
Leila came close to tears—tears of joy—when she realized how the Lord multiplied her efforts. She thought she was teaching a group of refugee children songs, and the Lord used her to teach another future ministry leader how to work with kids. Now children in Mariam’s country are singing praises to Jesus too.
It is an amazing thing to be a part of what God is doing in this region of the world, and we are so thankful. To Him be all the glory!
*Names changed
Learn More
Missions experts claim that 84 percent of those who accept Christ do so between the ages of 4 and 14. To reach the world’s most spiritually productive harvest field, the C&MA offers a number of children’s ministry resources. Check out Alliance resources for kids.