VBS
Edna recently helped some local Sunday school teachers host VBS in their own homes in Chomisia and 150 children attended! During the one-day program God showed up in amazing ways: 12 children received Jesus as their Lord and Savior! The parents who attended the VBS were so thankful for the incredible opportunity for their children. This is just one of the many VBS programs being conducted, and each one has amazing stories of children coming to Christ and attending church because they were so impacted by what they experienced at VBS.
PASTORS FELLOWSHIP
Edna and Peter have been on a journey to build intentional relationships with pastors in Chomisia/N’dalat in order to help improve how pastors and Sunday school teachers work together. They have been meeting monthly with 12 pastors from different churches and will also conduct follow-ups to help the pastors implement what they are learning.
Pastor Peter leads them in discussions about “bottom-up empowerment” which explains how important every member of the church is, beginning with Sunday school children. Edna encourages the pastors to pray about everything, specifically the messages they share with their congregations. She explains that they should do this to ensure what they are sharing is from the Lord and not their own agenda.
SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER TRAINING FOLLOW UP
During the last Sunday school teacher training there were 25 Sunday school teachers from 3 different churches in Chomisia/N’dalat who came to learn how to be better teachers and help their Sunday schools grow. They learned about how VBS can help spread Jesus in the community to those children who don’t attend church, as well as different ways to prepare and present Bible stories and then to relate them to the children’s lives.
Recently, there was a follow-up meeting to see how things were going. When the ELI staff arrived, the teachers excitedly testified that the VBS programs they’ve conducted in the community have helped the Sunday school programs grow exponentially! The children who come to VBS enjoy it so much that they begin to attend Sunday school every week! God is doing wonderful things through these teachers. Rebecca, one of the teachers, said, “The training has created a lot of impact in our church Sunday school. We started with 20 children and now we have 30 coming every week. We thank God for this miracle. When one child receives Jesus, the heavens rejoice!”
“I have been in the ministry for the past 15 years. Edna has trained us on how to reach out to our children and now I know how to coach kids at all levels and teach them in a way they can understand. I thank God for lifting me from one glory to another. I also want to thank ELI for reaching out to us; the church is growing due to their trainings and we have now seen the light. The bible says,
We counsel them through the program, telling them to follow God’s way. The future of the church is the kids, so we ought to concentrate more on them!
I am dedicated to God’s work and I am always ready to serve the kids. Edna has made me realize the goodness of serving and also being a role model to the whole church, empowering them to work hard and be innovative in order to earn their God-honoring income. Thank you for the work you have done in this community!”
