Jesus, the Children and Me
For years my husband and I have prayed for an opportunity to share the Deditos materials in Colombia, where we plan to serve long-term. This year God abundantly answered our prayer!
During the pandemic, my husband Kevin was teaching online classes at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia and one of his students, Manuela, was passionate about children’s ministry. She needed materials when her church was forced to do Sunday School over Zoom. Manuela and I began meeting monthly and she began using the Deditos videos and lessons with kids from her church.
Kevin, Manuela & Sarah
Manuela was surprised that even over Zoom the kids were captivated by the videos. She came to love the lessons, which are largely based on questions that lead to dialogue and application. She began reaching out to hurting children differently as we talked through what pastoral care for these children would look like. She challenged other teachers from her church to grow through studying a book I recommended, and by teaching systematically through Deditos not once, but three times! One of the other teachers said, “Every time I study the lessons, I learn something new for myself.” This is because each lesson has a short Bible study for the teacher that asks thought-provoking questions.
“Every time I study the lessons, I learn something new for myself.”
It has been a joy to see how Deditos has brought fruit in the lives of Manuela, her fellow teachers, and the small group of children they serve. But this is just one church.
This spring as Kevin and I planned a trip to Colombia as a family, we dreamed about a Sunday School teacher training event where I could share about Deditos more broadly. Since we have three small children, my time is very limited. Manuela eagerly agreed to help me, and we planned away in the evenings over Zoom an event called “Jesus, the Children and Me.”
Little did we know how well attended the event would be! At the beginning we expected about 30 people to sign up, or 50 if we were lucky. The seminary staff promoted the workshop to their entire network of churches, not only in Medellín, but around Colombia. In addition to the in-person event, a Zoom event was organized a few days later for people in other parts of the country. In the end one hundred and forty Sunday School teachers attended the in-person training, and fifty attended online!
“The goal of the first half of the workshop was to challenge teachers to examine their own hearts toward children in light of Jesus’ teaching.”
Participants brainstormed ways to show love to struggling children and selected one specific action to put into practice with a child they knew.
The second half of the workshop was about Deditos. Participants were invited to experience for themselves how Deditos videos bring a fresh telling of well-known Bible stories and how the lessons are put together pedagogically using many different tools for learning. Manuela led the group in analyzing a Deditos lesson, pointing out the different kinds of questions and the pedagogical structure of each lesson.
“I told my pastor, it’s not just a video for the kids to watch. It has lots of excellent lessons with applications. It’s really well designed.”
After the training, an email went out to all participants about how to download the Deditos materials for free and inviting them to fill out an online form if their church intends to use Deditos. Seventeen churches have already signed up, serving a total of seven hundred and forty-two kids!
“Those lessons have excellent pedagogy.”
It’s exciting to get the word out about Deditos to so many churches that need good curriculum. But even more exciting for me is the relationship with people like Manuela, who are becoming better and better equipped to train other Sunday School teachers.
One of the women who attended the workshop, named Carolina is also a student in the Biblical Seminary’s Bible Institute. She reached out to me after the event because she feels called to train teachers from her own church, and possibly other churches, using the materials we have developed. I am thrilled to talk with her, hear her passion and continue a conversation, trusting that God will use this to continue bringing fruit for His kingdom.
