Mama Therro teaches a group of children in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bible truths using the head, heart and hands question method. She teaches in three different locations each week.
Children aren’t the church of tomorrow, International Mission Board (IMB) missionary Kathy Shafto contends. They are the church of today.
It’s especially true in Africa where Shafto and her husband Jay have spent decades ministering. Not only does this continent have the youngest population in the world; but UNICEF estimates that by 2050, 40% of the world’s children will be from Africa.
“It just makes sense that African children are the church of today and the missionaries of the future,” Shafto said. “African church leaders have committed to sending African missionaries to the ends of the earth. This is also one of our goals as IMB missionaries in Africa. If we want to do that, we need to disciple children well.”
Shafto and a team of six children’s leaders in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, teamed up to create a curriculum to train and disciple those ages 3 to 18 to be Great Commission kids. The missionary said while her background is in education and she’s lived in different parts of Africa for years, she knew she needed other child experts to help develop this different way of doing discipleship for children in Africa. The team is made up of Kennedy Fuma, Mado Fumumguya, Therro Benza, Raymond Kemburiya, Regan Biloko and Nephtalie Mayala.
They host training courses in the curriculum that are designed specifically for churches that don’t have all the bells and whistles. Activities reinforce the lesson goals but don’t require purchase of supplies. The program is based on 15 years of learning to be a disciple of Jesus. Students will learn everything God has been doing in history, according to the Bible, and apply it to their own lives.
Children also learn themed lessons like prayer, evangelism, and service to God and society. The stories are taught orally.
“Learning orally doesn’t mean memorization,” Shafto explained. “Children learn the stories and retell them in their own words many times throughout the lesson. We want children to grow in grace and knowledge and be part of the local church.”
The lesson is taught through head, heart and hands questions. Head questions are when children learn the ins and outs of the story and can retell it. Then, they engage with the story with their hearts by answering or asking questions, maybe even acting out Scripture, so the information rests in their hearts. Finally, they figure out how this lesson can be put into practice through their hands and feet.
Mama Therro uses this method three times a week in her Kinshasa neighborhood. There’s no evangelical church in the area, so she hosts these learning times for children in different locations. One boy named Abner came to the Saturday club and learned to be a disciple. But when a new soccer club started at the same time on Saturdays, the 12-year-old chose to play soccer instead.
When a short-term volunteer team from Kentucky came to work with Shafto and Mama Therro, Abner came back to Vacation Bible School (VBS) Club for the special occasion. As the team led the children through the head, heart and hands parts of the lesson, Abner squirmed in his chair. When the question about “how to apply the lesson to life” came up, Abner shot his hand in the air.
The young man said he needed to learn God’s Word so he could share it, even if that meant missing soccer. He understood the importance of sharing the gospel now and not waiting until he was older.
“Children like Abner are vitally important to the church,” Shafto said. She knows from experience. When she was a child, a 10-year-old girl told her about Jesus. She knows that God has a place for Christian children in sharing and evangelism. “When they become Great Commission kids, their worldview grows and will be the missionaries of tomorrow.”
The IMB invites Southern Baptists to be involved in this project by:
1. Praying for children like Abner and asking God for children throughout Africa to be trained as true disciples of Jesus.
2. Praying for African churches and asking God for these churches to recognize the importance of children being trained up in the ways of the Lord.
3. Giving to the Lottie Moon Offering.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Sue Sprenkle writes for the IMB.)
