A Big Step Forward in Burkina Faso:
The Children’s Department of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso is working toward a system for training all their children’s ministry leaders and teachers. In order to help them achieve this goal, we traveled to Ouagadougo this past month and taught a two-day “Training of Trainers” event. Eighteen people completed the training. With a bit more follow-up work, they will earn a level-1 training certificate, which will allow them to return to their region and begin training others!
This is an important step. Budget restrictions and scheduling often mean that if a teacher has to travel to a training event, only a small percentage of them can attend. But if the national church can send trainers to them, many more teachers can be trained. And better training leads to more effective teachers, which leads to more children discipled.
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Two Steps Forward in Togo:
June was a busy month for the Assemblies of God Children’s Department in Togo!
We hosted a round-table meeting for those involved in developing the national Sunday school curriculum for 2017. Their materials are already in use all over Togo and we are working with their directors and writers to add creative elements such as storytelling and object lessons to 2017 edition. Once completed, this will be the first curriculum of its kind- written by West Africans for West Africa. We are excited to see what they accomplish!
We also taught a “Training of Trainers” event in Lomé, similar to the one in Burkina Faso. Each of the 12 regions of Togo sent at least two representatives. We spent three days training on basic children’s ministry topics such as “Why Teach Children Creatively,” “Storytelling,” “Illustrations,” “Games,” and “How to Use Curriculum.”
This first group will return to their region and train others to be trainers, with the long-range plan that every church in Togo will have a chance to be trained in children’s ministries without having to travel to an event.
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Prayer:
Please continue to pray with us for these ongoing needs:
- Pray for wisdom as we make decisions about how to best engage with children’s ministries in different countries around West Africa. Each nation has unique needs and is in a unique place when it comes to children’s ministries.
- Pray for the upcoming trip to Cote d’Ivoire. The national church has a plan to plant 1,000 new churches by 2020. Phil will be launching an initiative to encourage pastors to build Sunday school shelters with each new church plant.
- Pray for ongoing financial provision for our ministry. We are getting closer to the end of our term and our funds are getting low. We are trusting the Lord to continue providing for each new project until we reach the end of the term and can focus on fundraising.
Thank you!
We appreciate everyone who partners with us through prayer and giving. We couldn’t do what we do without you, and our victories are yours as well.
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