Puppet Ministry and Teen Outreach
Saturday, March 28, 2009
FRIDAY: Petőfibánya middle school
Above: Out of all the schools we travel to for this ministry, Petőfibánya is the only school that requires parent permission slips for kids to be excused to see the show. Thankfully, the children seen above were diligent to take those slips home and get signatures. Thank you for your prayers as we saw this one of the most attentive groups from Petőfibánya’s middles school to date. Many of these kids attend a Bible class that our Hungarian partner in ministry Miki holds each week. Initially Miki spent more time trying to keep order and dealing with distractions than teaching. After praying about these things, God has been gracious to help the kids to pay more attention.
Above: Miki leading our time of singing. I was thankful to see the boys singing with us and joining in on the motions. In the past, they sometimes stood with crossed arms, or distracting others.
Above: Erika sharing the “Wordless Book” giving meaning to colors that represent the Gospel message.
After the show, we distributed magazines with the Easter message and invitations to our VBS in the summer. It is our hope that we will see many of them again at VBS and continue to plant seeds of truth in their hearts.
Above: Ben and Ellie having some fun outside on the steep hill after the show.
FRIDAY TEEN OUTREACH
Above: Viki and Dia (top) and Niki (above). Our teen outreach is designed to be a middle ground for us to interact with the teens in the community. The majority of this night, we play games and have started weaving necklaces as well with the teen girls. We also work in a discussion time sandwiched in between the game time. God opened up a door with Viki, Dia and Niki in this discussion time. As they continued to weave, we began our discussion questions that dealt with questions of the future, of life decisions and death. Pretty soon the answers began to focus on Jesus Christ, and belief in Him. As I began to question them as to what they meant about “believing in Jesus” they couldn’t go into detail. I shared a bit of my testimony of believing in Jesus in my mind, and later in life believing with my heart, my whole being. I asked them if they would like to hear about God’s way for us to be forgiven, and restored in our relationship with God for eternity.
Since there happened to be a tray with two containers of beads, one red and the other gold, I began to use the bead containers to represent hell and the kingdom of God (heaven). I then brought out a red bead, representing mankind who is stained with sin and separated from God. I explained our need of a Savior and our lack of ability to remove sin. I then pulled out a gold bead, representing Jesus who was without sin, sent by God as the Savior. I explained that He willingly took upon Himself our sins (red bead), and could in turn give to us HIs own righteousness (gold bead). He was crucified as a sacrifice for our sins and on the third day He rose from the dead. I believe God was truly at work as I shared the Gospel. Dia began paying less attention to her weaving and more attention to the illustration. Niki would often jump in and offer various truths related to Jesus’ work. I challenged them to consider these things and know that the decision was theirs to make, but that indifference is just the same as deciding to reject Jesus. They needed to ask if they were willing to turn away from a life of sin, and turn to Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord of their lives. After this, Niki (who has attended our church for over a year) asked, “When is the next baptism class?” This brought more fruitful discussion about the meaning of baptism and both Niki and Viki said that they would like to find out more. Please pray for these three teen girls (Niki, Viki and Dia). I believe they are all close to making decisions to put their faith in Jesus. Before they do this, I want them to know the full implications of their decision. Pray that God would give them wisdom and graciously pour out HIs Holy Spirit in their lives to lead them to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
I happened to run into Viki the next day in town. She told me that she would be at church on Sunday. She also shared that she is trying to help her friend believe in God. Viki's parents are not Christians and it is apparent that there are problems in their home. This is the general makeup of the life of most kids in this town. Many of their parents are divorced or heading in that direction. I would venture to say that nearly all of the teens in town have no religious background. Although they have heard of Jesus, it has only been through the lens of a distant religious practice and not a personal Savior and Lord. Praise God that He is revealing Himself to kids like Viki, Niki and Dia.
Above: Out of all the schools we travel to for this ministry, Petőfibánya is the only school that requires parent permission slips for kids to be excused to see the show. Thankfully, the children seen above were diligent to take those slips home and get signatures. Thank you for your prayers as we saw this one of the most attentive groups from Petőfibánya’s middles school to date. Many of these kids attend a Bible class that our Hungarian partner in ministry Miki holds each week. Initially Miki spent more time trying to keep order and dealing with distractions than teaching. After praying about these things, God has been gracious to help the kids to pay more attention.
Above: Miki leading our time of singing. I was thankful to see the boys singing with us and joining in on the motions. In the past, they sometimes stood with crossed arms, or distracting others.
Above: Erika sharing the “Wordless Book” giving meaning to colors that represent the Gospel message.
After the show, we distributed magazines with the Easter message and invitations to our VBS in the summer. It is our hope that we will see many of them again at VBS and continue to plant seeds of truth in their hearts.
Above: Ben and Ellie having some fun outside on the steep hill after the show.
FRIDAY TEEN OUTREACH
Above: Viki and Dia (top) and Niki (above). Our teen outreach is designed to be a middle ground for us to interact with the teens in the community. The majority of this night, we play games and have started weaving necklaces as well with the teen girls. We also work in a discussion time sandwiched in between the game time. God opened up a door with Viki, Dia and Niki in this discussion time. As they continued to weave, we began our discussion questions that dealt with questions of the future, of life decisions and death. Pretty soon the answers began to focus on Jesus Christ, and belief in Him. As I began to question them as to what they meant about “believing in Jesus” they couldn’t go into detail. I shared a bit of my testimony of believing in Jesus in my mind, and later in life believing with my heart, my whole being. I asked them if they would like to hear about God’s way for us to be forgiven, and restored in our relationship with God for eternity.
Since there happened to be a tray with two containers of beads, one red and the other gold, I began to use the bead containers to represent hell and the kingdom of God (heaven). I then brought out a red bead, representing mankind who is stained with sin and separated from God. I explained our need of a Savior and our lack of ability to remove sin. I then pulled out a gold bead, representing Jesus who was without sin, sent by God as the Savior. I explained that He willingly took upon Himself our sins (red bead), and could in turn give to us HIs own righteousness (gold bead). He was crucified as a sacrifice for our sins and on the third day He rose from the dead. I believe God was truly at work as I shared the Gospel. Dia began paying less attention to her weaving and more attention to the illustration. Niki would often jump in and offer various truths related to Jesus’ work. I challenged them to consider these things and know that the decision was theirs to make, but that indifference is just the same as deciding to reject Jesus. They needed to ask if they were willing to turn away from a life of sin, and turn to Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord of their lives. After this, Niki (who has attended our church for over a year) asked, “When is the next baptism class?” This brought more fruitful discussion about the meaning of baptism and both Niki and Viki said that they would like to find out more. Please pray for these three teen girls (Niki, Viki and Dia). I believe they are all close to making decisions to put their faith in Jesus. Before they do this, I want them to know the full implications of their decision. Pray that God would give them wisdom and graciously pour out HIs Holy Spirit in their lives to lead them to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
I happened to run into Viki the next day in town. She told me that she would be at church on Sunday. She also shared that she is trying to help her friend believe in God. Viki's parents are not Christians and it is apparent that there are problems in their home. This is the general makeup of the life of most kids in this town. Many of their parents are divorced or heading in that direction. I would venture to say that nearly all of the teens in town have no religious background. Although they have heard of Jesus, it has only been through the lens of a distant religious practice and not a personal Savior and Lord. Praise God that He is revealing Himself to kids like Viki, Niki and Dia.