A Biblical Model of Discipleship
We partner with churches around the world to EMPOWER and MULTIPLY their ministry to children.
Children's Worker Development
EGM realized at the founding that God is working worldwide through gifted national Christian leaders. They know their language and culture; and they are intimately familiar with the spiritual needs of children in their communities. They are well-acquainted with local churches and children’s workers. EGM equips children's workers to build meaningful relationships with children, create experiential Bible activities, share God's Word creatively, lead children in discussion, and help them respond to God in their daily lives.
We believe that Deuteronomy 6:4-9 provides five simple qualities of transformational teaching. Each one is essential to the mission of giving every child a chance to respond to God’s Word.
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.
Experience
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.
Biblical 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.
Bible Teaching Resources
Transformation begins in the life of a child when they understand how God's Word applies to their daily lives. EGM partners with local Christian leaders to create Bible teaching resources that connect God's Word to the daily lives of children within their unique cultural context. Local leaders write, edit and publish Bible curriculum shaped by the enduring principles of discipleship found in Deuteronomy 6, with activities, teaching, discussion questions, and response opportunities that are relevant in their culture and heart language.