Youth and Children Ministry
“The commandment I give you today…You shall teach them diligently to your children…” Deut. 6:7
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6
First generation immigrants tend to depend on their respective ethnic churches for their spiritual, social and emotional guidance in their course of adapting to a new life in a new land and churches have been playing vital roles in providing those needs. This holds true for Oromo churches as well. To be able to carry on those services and grow, there is a need for the first generation immigrants to extend spiritual services to the next generation. One way of doing that is by establishing a ministry totally devote to this mission.
Given the existing realities of cultural, linguistic and life experience differences between the two generations, the task of planting our church services and activities into our next generation and hence continuing seeding the words of Jesus Christ into the generations to come has not be an easy task. After a thorough examination of the situation, congregation-level deliberations, many consultations with parents and getting advises from fellow churches that experienced similar situations; our church has set Youth and Children Ministry as a top priority and embarked on a strategy that could lead to a sound improvement:
paying close attention to individual and group needs of children,
listening to comments/suggestions of our kids and parents and tending to it as quickly as possible,
providing additional resources in a form of hiring a professional youth and children pastor.
Providing basic Christian education to ages 12 and above and baptizing them.
At present our church provides Sunday schools to about 150 children divided into five age groups by 15 volunteer teachers, led by a Youth and Children pastor and a volunteer consultant. Children ages 12 and above are also attending Basic Christian Education.