Susan doing a review of Zechariah at Kids Church in Term 2
Reflections
June has been an extremely encouraging and fruitful month in Kids Ministry. I rejoice greatly seeing how God’s word is transforming our little kids here at Kids Church. In Term 2, the kids church leaders have been wrestling through God’s word in the Old Testament book of Zechariah in our adult Growth Groups as well as teaching it to the kids every Sunday.
In the final week of the term, I had the great joy of preparing and delivering a kids talk which focused on doing a review of what we had learnt in Zechariah throughout the term. In addition, I instructed all the Kids church leaders to ask the kids what they learned in the book of Zechariah this term and capture the response on video. I thought the video idea would be an encouragement for the Kids church team, the kids and the parents – to see what the kids are learning each term. In the process of collating, watching and storing the videos from each leader, I was very encouraged at how much they had remembered and was extremely encouraged at how they were also able to recall the visions from Zechariah and remember what the vision meant and how it all points to our perfect priestly King, Jesus!
While I was recording the video for Norah, a year 2-3 girl, she recalled one of the visions that we had gone through in Zechariah. In her own words she described the vision of the two ladies carrying the basket containing wickedness to Babylon. She also remembered what the vision meant – which is God cleansing sins from his people. If you have some time to spare, please kindly check out the video that the Kids Church team had put together (starting from 14:36): https://www.facebook.com/stjohnscathedralparramatta/videos/331074958645921.
Also, I wanted to share another encouragement during the term about a K-1 girl called Nicole, who is part of the discussion group that I co-lead. I have been very encouraged by Nicole this term. On a particular Sunday during craft time, we were working through what a King looks like vs. what does God’s King look like, while all the other girls were drawing pictures, Nicole wrote a very long paragraph about God’s king – Jesus and how she is thankful for Jesus. Not only this, I had the great pleasure of speaking Nicole’s mum while she was waiting to pick up Nicole. It has been super encouraging to hear that Nicole loves speaking about what she has been learning at Kids Church at home. Her mum mentioned that she would go on for 30 mins or so. It brings the leaders so much joy when we witness the fruits of the gospel and how God’s word is transforming the hearts and minds of our kids!
Praise God for transforming the hearts and minds of the kids at Kids Church through his Word and the power of his Spirit.
Pray that the kids, the parents and the kids church leaders would grow in our knowledge of God, grow in our love and service for one and another.
God answered two of my prayers recently together in one! He answered my prayer of reading 1 to 1 with a non-Christian and my prayer that my younger sister, Martina would curious about the gospel. Great news: I’ve started reading 1 to 1 with Martina, who is not a Christian.
We started reading The Word one to one on John’s Gospel when the lock-down came about. We’ve been getting up at 6am in the morning and going to Parramatta Park for a light jog before we start reading God’s Word together. This is probably the first time, she had been willing and is free from her social / uni calendar to read the bible together and for that, I am thankful for the lock-down for presenting opportunities to share and read the gospel with her.
I have been encouraged by her curiosity and the insightful questions she had asked during our 1 to 1. I am especially challenged by some of the questions that was asked by her because I sometimes don’t know the answer to or am not sure how to answer it well. One thing I have learnt about myself during our 1 on 1 is that in the past, I have been quick to speak and answer all of her questions for her – especially trying to find the answers in different parts of the bible to answer on the spot. While this time around, I have learnt to be quick to listen and trying to answer her questions from the passage but also be okay with that fact that I may not have the answers here and there, I may not be able to answer all her questions in one go. Instead, I asked for future opportunities to answer these questions and continue to read the bible together to find the answers in the later chapters.
Sharing the link to https://www.theword121.com/ – great free resource if you would like to read 1 to 1 with someone who is curious about God’s word.
Praise God for answering my two of my prayers in one go during the lockdown. Praise God for the opportunity to read the bible with my sister!
Pray for God’s mercy on her that he would reveal himself to her through his Word and bring her from darkness to light!
The Marsden Fund 