Amazing Encounters During Our 4 Day Children’s Outreach!!

Children’s Ministry Monday-Thursday

The team had the privilege of ministering to the children and young adults in both Heliopolis and City of God this week. It was a powerful time! We saw the Lord really moving among the children. During the children’s time, Troy and Michelle spent time discipline the young adults in walking in more freedom of heart and mind.

On Monday, Steph and Tiana spoke about Creation, the Cross, and Salvation. They spoke to the children about how God created us because he wanted a family, but because of sin we need the blood of Jesus to forgive those sins. Once we believe in Jesus and invite him into our lives, we are part of God’s family again.

The children were very receptive of the teaching and about 20-25 children gave their lives to Jesus!

The kids also enjoyed learning, singing, and acting out our song for the week, “God’s Not Dead.” They also did great a great job learning the memory verse for the week, John 11:25.

The ministry time also included a time of prayer at the beginning, a game of Simon says, and soaking. One boy gave a testimony of seeing himself in a field of flowers during the soaking time. After this, the children were blessed with a snack and given brightly colored crosses to finish out the day. It was very encouraging to see how the children responded to the love of Jesus as we loved on them!

On Tuesday, Joe and Denny shared with the children about our identity in Christ. They put on a skit for the children that touched on the amazing love of God, the heart of the Father, and about stepping out and sharing your faith in Jesus with others.

During soaking at Heliopolis, one boy saw himself in Heaven enjoying the presence of God. A little girl saw a picture of Jesus sleeping with her, keeping her safe.

At City of God, we had the opportunity to pray for salvation with one of the boys! We were also excited to see that the children remembered both the song and memory verse and they enjoyed the message that was released.
We passed out bracelets to the children reminding them that God saw them as his family and wanted to give good gifts to them as his children.

On Wednesday, Christy and Andrew shared with the children at both locations about how God created them with a heart to worship Him. They taught them that worship to God can be simply being thankful for what God has given us. They asked the children to speak out some of the things they were thankful for. It was powerful to hear these children declare out things they were thankful for! They taught them that our worship to God is also a weapon against the enemy. They did a skit where the enemy wore a sign saying, “I steal, I kill, I destroy. Andrew played the role of the enemy and as Christy sang out and spoke out the things she loves about God and is thankful for, the enemy ran away.

They then asked the children if they wanted to come up to try it! At City of God, 1 child came up and began to pray out to God and the enemy fled. All the children cheered! Then, another boy came up to try it, and he sang a worship song from his heart, and the enemy (Andrew) fled again! Everyone cheered again as the children were reminded that our worship has power over the enemy! A very little child came up last and was saying things he was thankful for- his house, family, food, and the same thing happened- the enemy had to flee! It was a powerful time of impartation of the power of worship and praise to God!

At the end, Christy had all the children gather around her and sang over them about how we want to draw close to God and know him more. It was such a sweet time! Many saw visions or felt God close to them. They closed the lesson by passing out noise makers to the children and sang “Let it Rain.”

On our last day of ministry to the children on Thursday, Angie and Bethany taught about the Holy Spirit. It was so encouraging to see the children engaging in what we were sharing about! We had Denny and Tiana help us with re-enacting the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) and had 4 children at each location come up to help us by being fire and wind using the dance ribbons over the disciples in the upper room. It was powerful!

Bethany then explained how Holy Spirit is a person, our friend, and also fire. Angie explained about how Holy Spirit lives on the inside of us, changes us from the inside out, and wants to bubble out of us to touch the people around us after we did an object lesson using a bottle of coke and mentos. For those who have never done this experiment, the Coke bubbles up and out of the bottle after you throw a mentos in. She then finished by telling the children how the Holy Spirit gives us power, courage to pray for or minister to others, and eyes and ears to hear His voice so we can discern what He is saying to us.

At Heliopolis, Troy talked to the children about being filled with the Holy Spirit as Angie and Bethany sang over them. Troy prayed for the children to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A few boys said they felt joy and peace during the prayer. One boy testified he spoke in tongues for the first time too! During soaking, many of the children said they felt the presence of the Lord. The boy who had seen the field with flowers on Monday saw the same picture, but this time Jesus was walking with him. Another girl saw a picture of a man with a staff. A few of the other children shared that they felt or saw things also.

At City of God, Bethany talked with the children about being filled with the Holy Spirit and Christy prayed over them while Bethany and Angie sang over them. We called up the children that specifically said they wanted to be baptized in the the Spirit and the team laid hand on them and prayed for them. They all said they felt the presence of the Lord and joy while we were praying.