Getting Better at What We Do!

Kids matter, and we believe the time we spend with them has significance, for now, for the rest of their lives on this earth, and on into the next life too. We want to make the best of the time we spend with kids, on Sunday mornings, in religious education classes, at Film & Pizza nights, over morning tea, on church camps, and everywhere else. So last weekend four of our members went along to the Ministry to Children conference, out at Mount Evelyn, which is about an hour to the east of St Jude's - a bit less when the traffic is good! It was good fun meeting lots of people from other churches, and we heard some really inspiring talks from Wes Stafford, who is the President of Compassion International; there were lots of great electives to choose from, I wanted to be in two or three places at once - connecting with boys, how to create experiences for kids, how to manage classroom behaviour, great storytelling techniques, and lots more. There was a 'marketplace' of excellent resources, too.
One of the highlights for me was hearing from two primary school children, a brother and sister, who visited Cambodia recently and were inspired to raise funds for children there who can't go to school because they have to work to help feed their families, so they are trapped in poverty. Those two kids stood up and explained what they are trying to do, and how, and they invited us to help them help Cambodian children. You can find out more here. I had a lump in my throat, being challenged by such young ones to be more generous, and to try to make a difference in the world. It reminded me that Jesus said we need to be like children, to be his kind of people.
Now to put what we've learned into practice!