Kids Church - Leveque Edition

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of going to Leveque with about 15 Children’s Church leaders and 15 Village of Hope kids.  We spent all Friday afternoon going house-to-house passing out flyers to inform parents about the launch of Children’s Church in Leveque.  

We wanted the parents to know in advance before we just showed up with our crazy games and loud music.  Plus it was a way of inviting all the kids…and there are a lot of kids in Leveque, beautiful kids. 

The following Monday we pulled up to the pavilion with a canter full of Mission of Hope children workers.  I was only along for the ride and to take pictures.  It was beautiful to see so many kids already in the pavilion, waiting for church to start!  That first Monday we just planned to sing, dance and play with the kids.  

It was a time to get to know the kids and more important…for the kids to know us.  We held multiple dance contests…to the music of Israel Houghton, sang fun, action-filled songs and spent the last 30 minutes just playing with the kids.  We had soccer balls and jump ropes and it looked as if everyone was having a blast.  To be honest, I don’t know who was having more fun…the kids or the helpers!  

As our first time together was coming to a close, we circled up all the boys in a giant circle and the girls in their own circle.  We counted the kids as we passed out Jolly Ranchers and we had 141 kids!  (And I am still amazed and thankful that we had enough candy…with only 1 piece remaining!)  Throughout the afternoon I received the same question multiple times from the parents of Leveque…”when are the white people coming?”  And when I would explain that they weren’t, they seemed confused.  I told them that Monday Kid’s Church is 100% run by the helpers/volunteers from Mission of Hope Church.  And once they grasped the concept that Mondays were all about Haitian Christian leaders wanting to spend time with their kids…they smiled real big and just said, “wow”.

Last Monday we went back for our second Monday Kids Church.  This time we had more of a service planned for the kids.  We still played a couple games and of course sang those action-filled songs, but we ended with a Bible Story.  For the month of April, at our Kids Church on Sunday mornings, we have been talking about having Hope because Jesus is alive!  So we shared the same lesson on Monday at Leveque and the kids were so well behaved and listened intently.  

After the lesson, we split the kids up into small groups to ask questions about the lesson they just heard and passed out Salvation Bracelets.  Because of all our wonderful teams at MOH who donated the Salvation Bracelets, we had enough to share with the adults too! 

I now look forward to every Monday afternoon and the chance to just love on so many of God’s beautiful children!  And it will be very bittersweet when the day arrives that I no longer go out on Mondays.  I will miss it, but it’s exciting to see our Haitian team stepping up and taking ownership of Children’s Church…both in Leveque and here at Mission of Hope.  I am blessed to work with an amazing group of young people who love the Lord and genuinely love the children of Haiti.  Life transformation is truly happening among the next generation, right before my eyes!