What is the connection?

Last week Cami and I coordinated a camp for our church with 65 children and 15 leaders with the theme of “Rome”. Sixteen of the children (25%) came from Orthodox families, and for many of them, this was their first contact with an Evangelical Church. Cami and I were responsible for regiment I (6 to 8 years old). On Wednesday, the lesson came from Romans 5:1-11 “only Jesus and His Love can give meaning to my life”. The children each received coins they could use to bid on auction items. There were really popular items children could recognize the logo and there were “cheaper” candies wrapped in white paper. In the end the winning bidders received their prizes. Big disappointment – the popular items, were just empty containers and what was supposed to be in them, was actually wrapped in the white paper. We talked about our feelings and went to visit Paul. We found Paul in prison talking to Brutus about the love of Jesus and about salvation. In our small groups, Mihnea (8 years old) had a question that he could not wait to ask even before we started reading from the Bible. He asked me: “Alex, I really do not see the connection between the game we played today and what Paul told us. I know there is always a strong connection – please let me know what the connection is.” I realized then, how important it is for children to be taught consistently. Before you know it they demand to be taught the right way – the Biblical way. I asked Mihnea to have a bit more patience and to wait until we read from the Bible. We started reading Romans 5:1-11. “This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us”. All of the children realized that only Jesus and His love is our hope that never disappoints anyone.  The children then wrote a request for God to book a place for them in heaven. I was surprised how many children understood that only Jesus and his loving sacrifice is our reason to be with GOD eternally.

The undersigned Mihnea, “please book a place in heaven for me because I believe in Lord Jesus”
The undersigned Bianca from Bucharest, “please approve a place in heaven for me because I don’t want to be disappointed”
Request: “Lord please accept me in Heaven because you are full of Love and the best, plus I do good things.” Signed Loana

Children can understand the Bible, all of it, including Bible passages like Romans that are considered, by some, to be for adults only. We just have to find the way to connect the Truth with their life experience. Continue to pray for all children and their families and that the seed planted in their hearts will grow and bear fruits.

Alex Bruda

Romanian website launches this month

 

Every week there are children’s workers in local churches trying to come up with some way to impact the lives of boys and girls for Christ in their communities and their church. During the week they are carpenters, bank tellers and taxi drivers. On the weekend they are challenged with connecting the Word of God with the real lives of children that God has entrusted into their care. Every Generation Ministries is working to provide those children’s workers with great training and quality Bible teaching tools that they can use to to touch the lives of children.

If you are reading this blog you know the power of the internet as a content delivery tool. This phenomenon is not limited to the United States but a fact of life in many of the countries where EGM is serving. EGM is harnessing the power of the internet to expand the reach of our ministry. We are working with our national ministry teams to launch websites to provide streaming training videos and Bible teaching materials for children’s workers. Just a few weeks ago, our Romania ministry launched a new website where children’s workers can subscribe and receive Bible teaching materials and also streaming training videos. The teaching materials were developed by our Romanian staff and are biblically sound, developmentally appropriate, super creative and most importantly help children’s workers in local churches connect the Bible to the real life of children in their Romanian context. We already have over 300 subscribing churches and are excited to see what happens in the fall.  We have been very fascinated by Romanian churches in Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece, Moldova and …….the US who have subscribed to the website! Check out the website at http://resurseegm.ro/ . The website is in Romanian but you will find a translator button in the upper right for you to explore a bit in English. Every Generation Ministries has plans for launching Spanish and Arabic websites in the next few weeks. Find out more about our internet initiative and other EGM news at www.egmworld.org or like us on Facebook.

This Summer...from Daniel Watts, President Every Generation Ministries

This summer in Eastern Europe thousands of non-Christian children will attend summer camps and Vacation Bible School programs.  We need your help to make that possible!

My son, Caleb, is graduating from High School tomorrow and like all parents we have been reminiscing about his life. His first summer camp experience was the summer of 1993 in Poland; he was a just a few months old. Over 150 children from cities in northern Poland attended including a group of boys and girls from an orphanage in Koszalin. About two days into the camp, those children discovered that Marla and I had adopted a child; that news led to a heart wrenching experience.

Children began to appear at the door of our room in the main camp building. They would step inside and after exchanging a few awkward pleasantries would bluntly ask if we would be willing to consider adopting them into our family. They wanted a family, to experience unconditional love and have a place where they belonged. On one occasion, when I opened the door, there were 3-4 precious little children lined up waiting their turn to pose ″the adoption question.″

This summer, there are thousands of children who need to experience the unconditional love and forgiveness that God has for them and know that they belong in God’s family. Unlike that camp, Jesus is standing at the door of their hearts knocking to come in and transform their lives.

Ensenada, Mexico update...from Krysten Norkaitis

No One Is Too Poor To Give...

This is one of the topics that Daniel Watts, Jan Kraushaar and Krysten Norkaitis are teaching to a group of church leaders in Ensenada, Mexico. These materials were created with the intention to help national leaders raise funds for their EGM ministry work. We had originally planned to teach these materials exclusively to the EGM leaders but several local pastors and leaders were invited….bringing our total to 25 participants!! The leaders are soaking in the Biblical truths that we are sharing and several of them have shared great ideas of how they plan to put them into practice.

We watched an amazing video today about a movement that was started in a poor village in India in 1910. It is called Handful of Rice. If you haven’t seen it, I want to encourage you to watch it. It is amazing and will give you a glimpse into the topics we are teaching. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z__tqQXiKD8

The real transformation that God offers...

I am sitting at the desk of our EGM-Romania Director praying for our field research team in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The ministry in Romania is thriving and is celebrating nearly ten years of fruitful ministry. We are taking our first steps toward launching a new ministry in the DRC. In both places, we are working to see children transformed in Christ. Praying for the children of East Africa and serving alongside our team in Romania, I am reminded of the vast world of children and their varied needs. In Romania, there is an emerging middle class and along with the economic advances comes the hollow promise of true happiness through material wealth. In the DRC, our team is confronting the material plight and spiritual darkness that is so evident. In all of that, I am reminded of the real need shared by all children.

My colleague, Joe Cox stated it eloquently when commenting on the DRC "Their physical needs (though alarmingly acute) are not their greatest need." The Congolese have been broken by war, disease, poverty, corruption and violence. Enormous efforts from outsiders have been dedicated to meet the need for food, education and housing but most have not had any real long-term effect. Hopelessness has destroyed a spirit of initiative, even among Christians, and as a result, there abides a great spiritual need as the children are hungry to know the love of Christ and the life giving truth of God’s Word.

This is the greatest need; to introduce children to Jesus Christ and help them experience the forgiveness and new life that He has for them. Children here in Romania, in East Africa and at home in Southern California can experience the love, joy and hope that comes only through Jesus Christ. This is the real transformation that God offers and desires for boys and girls across the globe. I am praying that boys and girls can have all of their needs met in Christ Jesus! Thanks for joining in that prayer.

December EGM Mexico training trip.

Francie Overstreet and Krysten Norkaitis recently returned from a weekend ministry trip to Ensenada, Mexico where they held a trainer of trainers seminar on level two lessons.
Francie had the privilege of preaching in two churches to remind the church members how VERY much God loves children.  In one church, after she had finished her sermon, the pastor stood up and went through the EGM teaching model (based in Deut. 6) explaining why it is so important that we teach children this way! He challenged the church members, especially the parents, to take more of an interest in their children and make it a priority to teach them Biblical truths.  Krysten had the opportunity to interview the Mexico-Baja director candidates.  After receiving input from several wise Mexican leaders, she made a decision about who EGM wanted to hire.  We are hoping this talented Mexican leader will be able to start working full time as the Mexico-Baja director in mid-February!! In addition, they were able to hand out Teacher Tool Kits and they proved to be an encouragement to local Sunday School teachers.  Teacher Tool Kits are Ziploc bags filled with much needed teaching supplies. (The supplies are compiled by churches throughout the US who have hearts to help teachers in other countries.)

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Mexico Partnership Update!

Partnership is defined by Webster as "joint principles in business activity." It is a term that has been worn out in Christianity and even though I use the term frequently, I find myself drawn to visions of televangelists! We have an emerging partnership in Mexico, and last week I was reminded of what that should really mean. For too many ministries, partnership means foreign entities providing funds and national Christian leaders doing the ministry work. Last week, I was reminded that real partnership means working together; giving our hearts to see Mexican boys and girls know Christ and the new life He has for them. Last week, two of our American staff members were in Mexico attending important meetings geared towards major ministry expansion in 2012. In two separate meetings, an offering was taken and Mexican Christians made a significant financial contribution to the Mexico ministry. Apparently, they believe that partnership means we are all giving of our material resources. Little did they know that their gift of $250 qualified for our matching grant in Latin America and will be matched and become a gift of $500. That’s the kind of partnership that I know pleases God. Please join me in praying for the additional $20,000 that we still need to meet our matching goal of $60,000. We are $250 closer!

Mexico Partnership

We are very excited about the gracious manner in which God is giving us the opportunity to move our ministries forward in Latin America. We have a received a gracious $60,000 challenge grant for our emerging ministries in Argentina, Mexico and Peru. Every gift designated for these ministries will be matched 1-1, up to $60,000. We are well over half way as of December 6, 2011. One of these three countries is particularly significant to Every Generation Ministries; Mexico.

Certain countries around the world stand out as keys to entire regions. In the Middle East, Egypt occupies that position. In Eastern Europe, Ukraine is a gateway to impacting the former Soviet Union. Looking to the Spanish speaking countries in Central and South America, one can argue that Mexico is the key to impacting all of Latin America. With the largest Spanish speaking population in the world, a growing economy, the world’s largest city, close ties to the United States and significant growth in the Evangelical Church, Mexico is clearly a strategic key to the Latin American world. While Mexico seems to be a key to Latin America, certainly children are the key to impacting Mexico.

Over the last several years, amidst the widely publicized narcotics related violence, Mexico has experienced a widespread spiritual awakening leading to significant growth in the Evangelical Church. While the U.S. media has focused on the raging drug wars in border towns such as Juarez City, little attention has been given to the spiritual awakening in Mexico. In the southern part of the country there has been exciting evangelical church growth particularly among the indigenous peoples. In Mexico City and the north, thousands of people have confessed Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior. In an evolving world of mass media, internet communication, consumerism and the pressures of secular humanism, parents and families are looking for help in living a life of meaning and significance. As fear and frustration have gripped many in Mexico, people are searching for security, peace and hope. The cultural religiosity of traditional churches such as the Roman Catholic Church has left people searching. Most importantly, the Spirit of God seems to be stirring the hearts of people. Nowhere is this more evident than among children in Mexico.

In 2007, Every Generation Ministries met with church leaders from Mexico for the first time and we were invited to come and serve with them in ministry. We are now faced with the exciting opportunity to bring EGM’s unique children’s ministry model to Mexico. Nearly 30% of Mexico’s 107.5 million people are under the age of 14, and church leaders there are eagerly inviting us to partner with them to evangelize and disciple the children in their communities. We have established a growing network of contacts with pastors, children’s workers and teachers who fervently desire leadership development training and Bible teaching resources. Our friends in Mexico want EGM to partner with them and provide churches with innovative leadership development programs and creative, high-quality Bible teaching materials.

2012 will be a monumental year in our Mexico ministry! Thanks for praying, giving and joining us to see Mexican children transformed in Christ through His church!

You cannot sit on a two legged stool; it is very unstable. Just a few years ago, EGM realized that we needed a third leg for our ministry stool. Since our founding, we have believed in establishing national ministries that are staffed and governed by national Christian leaders. Those were the two legs. God has led us through a spiritual journey bringing us to the understanding that a genuine national ministry should also be funded by national Christians. This is not some economic plan, but rather a desire to establish a genuine culturally relevant ministry that can be even more fruitful in transforming children in Christ through His church.

Last week, we took a significant step forward in launching the Titus Project, a ministry initiative that will lead to fully funded national ministries in Hungary and Romania. Our EGM team led five days of training and now our Hungary and Romania ministries are launching new fund development work in their own countries with the goal of becoming self-funded by 2015. Other countries are soon to follow.

I believe this to be one of the most significant developments in Every Generation Ministries' history. Please join me in praying for this important effort. Find out more about the Titus Project at www.egmworld.org.