by Addie Gerlach
“Loving Jesus and Those He Created” is the phrase around which our church operates. A summary of the Ten Commandments, this phrase influences and guides what we teach, what we learn, and how we serve each other and those around us. Over in Kids Worship we are guided by the same phrase. Usually children hear from the Jesus Storybook Bible, an amazing children’s Bible which narrowly focuses on God’s rescue plan and Jesus the Rescuer. Hearing stories about Jesus helps us learn to love Him, but it’s only half of our church’s mission.
July is Missions Month in Kids Worship, a time to focus on the different people God has created and how we can love them. We are all missionaries whether we stay local or move and adapt into a different culture. This year the children got to hear about four unique mission fields from individuals in our church with a passion for the lost and hurting.
First, Merry Davey. Merry has been a missionary for over 40 years and has served in Chile, Mexico, and Spain. Merry grew up in Bethany Baptist Church, one of The Vine Church’s parents. The Vine currently supports part of Merry’s ministry. Merry shared a bit about Spain’s culture and the children were enthralled with the props and snacks she shared. She shared some simple Spanish phrases, a slideshow of life in Spain, and a bookmark activity. You can read more about Merry here: https://www.abwe.org/work/missionaries/merry-davey
Caleb and Tavia White shared about the work of Compassion International, started in 1952 to care for Korean War orphans. Compassion serves 27 countries around the world. Most known for child sponsorship, there are many additional ways to support the work. The children in Kids Worship raised money toward the “chicken fund” which gifts chickens as a source of protein and income for families in need. Over two weeks, the children and others in our church were able to raise $173: the equivalent of 4.5 chickens for Compassion International. To learn more about Compassion, visit https://www.compassion.com
Thang Pham and his family shared about their work with CRU, whose mission is to spread God’s truth, partner with local churches, and develop leaders who can reach the city for God. Thang and Jen primarily serve at the University of Washington campus so the children were greeted with lots of purple and gold. Go Dawgs! Thang is a regular teacher over in Kids Min, and it’s a beautiful thing to have a current elder serve in this role. Thang led the children through making bookmarks that listed someone they can pray for. The Pham family are supported partly by The Vine Church and more information about CRU can be found here: https://www.cru.org
Our last week of Missions Month highlighted Pam Hamilton’s recent trip to Kazakhstan through the local organization Kazakhstan Bound. The children heard a little about Pam’s life and career: how God called her to short term missions during retirement from her teaching and school psychology career. Part of Pam’s trip involved gifting coal to those Kazakhstani in need due to poverty, to prepare for bitterly cold winter upcoming. She shared many pictures of the different people she met and places she visited. The children learned how to say “My name is” in Russian, the dominant language in Kazakhstan, and wrote their names in Cyrillic script.
Now that Missions Month has come to a close, Kids Worship has stepped back into teaching God’s rescue plan thru the stories of the Jesus Storybook Bible. For the second year in a row, Missions Month gave a breath of inspiration to children that the world is bigger and grander than they may realize, that they too can “Love Jesus and those He created.”