Our family led a team of people with a passion for children’s ministry for a week packed with outreach to a remote, impoverished village in the mountains of Jamaica.
We visited 6 different public schools and were able to preach the gospel openly to over 3,000 students. The children attend schools that are in poor condition and severely lacking in resources. One school consisted of a large open room with classrooms separated only by chalkboards. In spite of circumstances, these children were joyful and eager to learn. They respectfully listened and responded to our program. We were able to bless many of the neediest students with backpacks and school supplies.
We assisted the local church in benevolent outreach to several of the neediest individuals. We were able to visit many of their homes which are simple makeshift shelters. New clothing and personal supplies were distributed to many families in dire need. We helped to paint the exterior of the church. Jonathan & Jordan enjoyed being clowns and entertaining the children.
In the evenings, over 100 children filled the church to enjoy a kids krusade service. Many children and adults responded to the compelling message of the Gospel. These children walked through rain and power outages with a desperation to attend the services. A training seminar for children’s ministers was held with participants from many denominations in nearby towns.
It was the last night of our kids krusade … we’d all had a long, hot week packed full of activities. With few hours of rest, the realities of life in a third world country were wearing everyone thin – although no one complained aloud. As we rushed to prepare for the evening’s service, we received word that the power was out across the entire village and there were no signs it would return soon. The local pastor informed us that we would likely have to cancel the service because it would be too dangerous for the children to walk along the roads in complete darkness.
While we were all disappointed to miss this service, there was an unspoken amount of relief knowing that we could relax for a few hours. After some time, we decided to travel to the church anyway just in case anyone did show up. We carried a couple flashlights and a small battery powered PA system.
I was unprepared for what we saw as we arrived at the church. Someone had already opened up the doors and lit candles in the windows. There were children walking down the path carrying whatever small light source they could find and the church was already half-filled with anxious children waiting to hear the Message. This brought us all to silence as we realized how precious and ripe were the hearts of these children that they wanted so badly to be in church this night. We couldn’t help but wonder how many children in our churches at home would be compelled to endure this much effort to attend church one more night.
Wiping away tears, we eagerly got busy with our makeshift service. We didn’t have the music and videos we’d planned to start with, but we had the love of Christ to share and this is all that mattered to these hungry souls. Oh if only we could all hunger and thirst for time with God in this way.
PRAY for our ministry
