More or
less 200 children gathered at the Word of Life Youth Center in Kabete, Nairobi,
Kenya last August 25-31, 2013 for the children’s camp meeting of Newlife SDA
Church. The venue was a serene place, surrounded with nature, with a very cold
atmosphere. The ages of children who attended ranged from 4 to 15 years old and
there were 5 non-SDA kids who attended the said event. The theme of the camp meeting was “Worship
the Creator” which was based on the Revival and Reformation theme of the world
church for the year 2013 “Revived By His Word”.
Elder Tom Ouma, the head of the Children’s Ministries department was the
chairman of the organizing committee.
Teachers,
parents and kids arrived on Sunday, August 25. Everyone was assigned their
designated rooms where they will be staying for the rest of the week.
The next
day, everyone was up at 5:30 AM and they all gathered at the football field for
the morning exercises and morning worship. Breakfast was then served at 7:30
AM. After which they would break out into their respective classes for
discussions based on the topic assigned for each day. At 11:00 AM, everyone
would proceed to the main worship hall for the Divine Service. Afternoons were spent for craft activities
and other similar activities. Dinner then was served at 6:30 PM then everyone
would gather again at the worship hall for the evening sermon.
Renelyn
Mendoza [the author of these updates] and Mayvilyn Ramos, child evangelists from the Philippines took turns
in preaching during the main worship services both in the morning and evening.
They preached on the topics on Daniel 2, Creation, Origin of Evil, Tithe Death,
Hell, Second Coming, Law, and Heaven, among others. The children learned more
than 20 memory verses as well as scripture songs. Everyone was attentive during
the sermons. They really enjoyed the beautiful pictures that came with the
sermons.
On Friday
afternoon several parents arrived to attend the seminar on parenting. On the
Sabbath day, the worship hall was packed as more parents came to join their
children for the Sabbath service.
It was
indeed a blessed experience. Several parents verbalized their gratefulness for
the wonderful experiences their children have gained from the camp meeting.
To be continued...
___________________________________________________________________________________
Last September
22 to October 5, 2013, Renelyn Mendoza and Mayvilyn Ramos, child evangelists
from Philippine Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism (PAFCOE) conducted a
two-week evangelistic campaign for the children, the first of its kind in
Africa, in Monato SDA Church, Got Rabour, Homabay County. While Pastor Philip
Gai, the Publishing and SOP Director of East-Central Africa Division together
with Kenneth Ouma, an evangelist, were preaching to the adults, these two
Filipino child evangelists also conducted a parallel evangelism program for the
children.
On the
first night of the program, more than 150 kids attended and they were
encouraged to bring their friends on the next day. The following day, more than
200 kids came and on the third day, more than 300 kids attended and the
attendance just kept on increasing every day. On the first Sabbath day of the
evangelism, attendance reached 500 and there were more than 800 kids on the
second Sabbath day of the evangelistic campaign. You can just see the
excitement in the faces of these kids as they kept on attending the programs.
Important
Bible topics such as Daniel 2, Law, Origin of Evil, Sabbath, Death, Hell and Millennium,
Heaven, Health were among the many topics preached to the kids. The children
really enjoyed the stories portrayed in powerpoint presentations. Not to
mention the scripture songs and memory verses that they learned each night plus
the coloring pages and the craft activities that were given out at the end of
the program.
A testimony
was shared of a Catholic girl who consistently attended the nightly programs.
One evening, while the child evangelist preached on the state of the dead, this
girl was intently listening and absorbing the truths that she was hearing for
the first time. When she reached home, she related to her mother all the new
information that she had heard from the program. And the mother, who happened
to be a co-teacher of a church member of Monato SDA Church, confirmed with her
the truth about the state of the dead. And then began a short Bible study about
the topic. It is indeed true that parents, who cannot be reached by the Word,
will know the message through these boys and girls.
At the end
of the evangelistic campaign, 74 committed their lives to Christ through
baptism, 47 of which are children whose ages ranged from 12-14.
Praises
to God for this special program of the Amazing Facts called Child Evangelism.
Now, more and more people are being reached by the gospel. Not just adults are
being led to the feet of Jesus, but most of all boys and girls, Jesus’ most
precious jewels. 
