⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Relationship
v. 5-6: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your hearts. Ministry to children begins with the children’s worker’s heart. As they love God, that love flows through them to the children. As they live according to God’s commandments, their example teaches the children. Relationship is the foundation for their ministry.
Transformational Goal
Experiential Activity
v. 7: … when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Teaching should be intertwined with what children experience every day. Model Children’s Workers create an activity that takes learning past a cognitive exercise and into an actual experience. Children need to experience the feelings connected to the objective of the lesson. Within the learning process, talking and hearing are valuable, but experience has a lasting impact.
Truth
v. 7: Impress [these commandments] on your children. Model Children’s Workers teach the Bible to children. The truth of scripture is effectively taught not when Children’s Workers repeat a traditional story just as they learned it or when they teach straight from the curriculum, but when the Bible itself is studied, read and taught to children.
Discussion
v. 7: Talk about them… Many children are taught as if the Bible is a collection of stories that have no connection to their real lives. Through an open and honest dialogue, Model Children’s Workers help children understand the scripture as more than a story. What we do is discuss with the children how the Bible applies to them, individually and personally.
Response
v.8: Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your home and on your gates. The Word of God should affect what a child does with his or her hands. It should affect how a child thinks with his or her mind. No child should leave church without knowing how he or she can personally respond to the Word of God. Model Children’s Workers give children practical opportunities to respond to the Word of God.
God's Word
The Bible is central to EGM's mission, providing both the framework and substance of our discipleship training. God's word is shaping not only what we teach but how we live, lead, and grow together in Christ.
God's Church
As the primary partner of EGM, the local Church serves as the object of and driving force behind our mission. Rooted in the Great Commission's call to make disciples, EGM comes alongside local churches to help them fulfill this charge.
God's Vision
Pursuing the fruitfulness of the Word of God that is present throughout Scripture, EGM seeks to expand the knowledge of the Truth through its missions around the world, helping people experience the transformational love of Christ.
Special Needs
We partner with international churches to create a fully functioning special needs program in national languages, including online support for special needs teachers and ministry leaders.
Trauma-Informed Training
Children's leaders who have the opportunity to work with children who have experienced trauma are equipped through a specific training as they learn to serve and care well for children who carry the heavy burdens that come with trauma.
