Back to Children's Ministry

Since last June, when I joined my church Khanysia, I have been anxious to get involved with their expanding children's ministry on Sunday mornings. However, over the last year I have been sensing the Lord's desire for me to take a break...the wait to get involved also had to do with learning to be in a season of 'being' and not 'doing'. My world revolved around ministering to kids in the States and I know Jesus needed to show me this past year that my significance is found fully in him and not in the roles I am used to playing. I have also been refreshed by consistently being with the adults for a season and making deep friendships with my peers.

A year ago, Khanysia had to build a tent outside their main church building to house the expanding number of kids flooding in each Sunday. Today, over two hundred 3-12 year olds pile in for worship, teaching & sweets. Most of these children walk from the neighboring communities by themselves or with siblings. As you can imagine most Sundays are what I call “controlled chaos.” What amazes me is that the majority of the leaders are youths themselves, probably between the ages of 13-19. These young men and women have amazing servant hearts and incredible amounts of energy! Needless to say, I often feel quite 'old' as I stand in the back or sit amongst the little ones...but to be honest, that is what my heart loves best!

I am very thankful there are no hidden cameras in the tent. These kids love to dance and worship! They are obsessed with all the Hillsong Kids music and have learned very complex hip hop dances to go along with these songs. Each week, a group of teenagers strut their moves up on stage and these little kids have no problems following along...but me, ahhhh, I am always a step behind and normally stepping on some little girl's feet. I have already half jokingly chatted with a friend at church about some private dance lessons to catch up! My ongoing nightmare now is that the kids will be asked to sing and perform during the adult service...this happens every few months and usually the leaders dance alongside them in front of the entire church! I will keep you posted!

Last week I had a laugh when I helped out with the 6 year olds for the first time. Most of them speak very limited English so when I talk with them I must use a translator. The story told from the front that morning was on Ruth and I noticed that the teenager who spoke used no visuals and quickly mumbled the story that went completely over these little one's heads. So, once I had a circle of just the 6 year olds I thought it would be a good idea to recap. I was trying to get the concept into the kids head that Ruth did not return to her homeland, but went with Miriam to a different location. So I started telling the story in terms of Ruth being from the 'Western Cape' and Miriam from the 'Eastern Cape' (these are different regions in South Africa)...I thought I was smart but soon feared that the little ones now believed that South Africa was the location of the bible story...oh, well...whatever works right? Then as I went on to tell the story I was caught by the complexities before me...death, moving, bitterness, gleaning, kinsman redeemers & sleeping on the threshing floor at a tipsy man's feet...I couldn't translate all this! My story abruptly ended as I said she met a guy named Boaz, got married and lived happily ever after...the end.