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On
Sabbath, May 12th, approximately 2000 children, parents and
guardians flocked Camp Verley for Children’s Convention 2007. The
main emphasis for this year was the launch of the Child to Child for
Jesus evangelistic programme, organized by the Central Jamaica
Conference Children’s Ministries Department.
This year’s convocation was a cut above the rest. The theme was “Out
of the Mouths of Babes and Suckling Has Thou Ordained Strength”, and
once again the children proved what God can accomplish in evangelism
when little hearts and minds are under the influence of the Holy
Spirit.
Sabbath School Highlights
The
day’s proceeding began with meaningful play- a simulated radio
programme hosted by the Bendon Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Children’s Division. The children used their creative energy to
glorify God through songs, exhortations and insight, besides
highlighting developments in the local mission field. The weather
report for example was as follows:
“Across the island there has been a strong high pressure area caused
by the forces of Satan. This has been bringing very dry conditions
of crime and violence for some time now and is expected to continue
unless the cool sea breeze of the Holy Spirit brings the calm so
well needed especially in central parishes…”, Jordan McDonald
reported.
This report set the tone for convention. The children of CJC are
currently on an evangelistic campaign termed Child to Child for
Jesus, and its primary objective is to rescue their peers from the
jaws of Satan. It has its base in the life of Christ and three
aspects of Christ are emphasized – Jesus the Word, Jesus the
Community Person and Jesus the Friend.
Child Evangelistic Programme Launch
Pastor Everett Brown, president of Central Jamaica Conference,
officially launched the Child to Child for Jesus programme during
the Sabbath School session. During his discourse, he pointed out
that the programme came at a crucial time and every church should
adopt it in order to prepare children for missionary work.
“The church has the facility and programmes from the cradle to the
grave to prepare people as worthwhile citizens on earth and in
heaven”, he said.
Pastor Brown added that the programme was designed to encourage
children to share the word of God with their peers and this would be
done during Bible Class. He further pointed out that this campaign
“would not replace the Pathfinder or Adventurers programmes” of the
church.
According to Sister Mary Cole, Children’s Ministries Coordinator of
Central Jamaica Conference, the Child to Child for Jesus programme
is designed to be administered from children to children under the
supervision of the Children’s Ministries Coordinators and their team
of Sabbath School volunteers. The children leading out in the
programme should be baptized members of the church and the target
group is ages 7- 14.
The aims of the programme are to highlight the importance of
spiritual training from children from an early age, the role of
children in sharing their spiritual beliefs with other children; the
early commitment of children to Christ through baptism as well as
the nurturing of the young as they grow in Christ.
The pilot programme for the Child to Child for Jesus programme was
conducted at the Bendon and Chateau Seventh-Day Adventist churches,
and the children were provided with training and study materials.
According to Sister Mary Cole, Children’s Ministries Director of
CJC, both churches were picked for two reasons:
“I shared the idea of the programme with a group of Children’s
Ministries Coordinators from the Bendon Church and Sister Bobby Blue
thought it was a great idea and suggested that her church was the
ideal place for the pilot programme”, she said.
The Chateau SDA church on the other hand was selected based on
inspiration. “I was visiting in the Bird’s Hill District on
assignment and was asked to preach at the Chateau Church. The appeal
was for children who were not baptized and when the children
responded I was impressed to share the programme with the church”,
Sister Cole explained.
Programme Report/Graduation Exercise
Reports from the pastors of the districts (Pastors Blundell Campbell
and Oniel Montaque) are that since the inception of the programme,
the children have grown spiritually and it has brought balance to
the church. Sisters Bobbian Blue (Bendon SDA), Yolanda Paul and
Karry Elson (Chateau) are the coordinators of the programme in their
respective churches. It was revealed that although the children were
excited about participating in the programme and were doing well,
there were still challenges.
“The challenge was with some of the adults accepting the programme.
Persons were of the opinion that the children are too young to
conduct Bible studies or to get baptized”, Sister Nelson, programme
coordinator at the Chateau SDA Church explained.
Shandean Cole, one of the boys that got baptized although his father
protested shared his experience after participating in the
programme:
“I learn not to fight or steal, and to pray and come to church…I
really want to go to heaven,” he said.
Interestingly, his father’s only remark following the decision to go
all the way in baptism was “make sure you go to church every
Sabbath”.
Sixteen children ages 8- 12 years successfully completed the
programme and were graduated. The guest speaker at the graduation
exercise was Pastor Thomas Rose and in his charge, he encouraged the
children to allow God to guide them:
“When we allow the Master to control our lives things will go the
way He wants us to go… He alone can guide us. Allow God to be in the
driver’s seat…be patient and allow Him to be the guide”, he said.
All churches in Central Jamaica are welcome to join the Child to
Child for Jesus Campaign. The programme covers a period of thirteen
weeks and the projection is to have the programme repeated every
quarter with the first 10 weeks committed to Bible studies and
community projects on Sundays. During weeks 11-13 the children are
sent on a trip, followed by a baptismal ceremony and graduation.
Convention 2007 was a reassurance that the future of the church is
secured based on the caliber of children in our midst. Our children
are dynamic and spirit filled and this was demonstrated in the
ministry of Renay Ellison (Clarendon; left), Kevonn Grant (St.
Catherine; center) and Natasha Wright (Manchester; right) who were
the special guest speakers.
-Juliet
Capper
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