CANORA - “I enjoy meeting kids and families, and reaching them for the Lord.”
Rachel Engel is only 16 years old and about to start Grade 12, but she’s already in her third year as a leader with 5-Day Clubs.
5-Day Clubs are put on by Child Evangelism Fellowship throughout both Saskatchewan and Alberta.
From Aug. 18-22 Engel was in Canora, leading daily one-hour 5-Day sessions in the backyard of Sarah McKenzie.with about a dozen neighbourhood children, mostly from the age of five to 13.
“We sing songs, learn memory Bible verses, and I tell them stories,” said Engel. “They can also win prizes.”
Recordings played by Engel helped the children learn different faith-based songs, and actions to go with them helped make the learning fun.
One of those songs was called Stop & Go, which included the lyrics, “Stop, and let me tell you what the Lord has done for me. Go, and tell the story of the Christ of Calvary.”
Each of the five days, Engel taught the children a different memory verse. After reading the verse to them a couple of times, she also used other ways to help with the memorization, including a game called “Ping Pong.” Engel started by saying the first word of the verse, then the kids read the second word, and they alternated back and forth all the way to the end of the verse.
Then, they all read the verse together again, but pretending they were all about 300 years old and using their “old person” voices.
Those children who recited their memory verses after each lesson received memory verse cards as prizes.
Memory verses for the week were:
Monday: John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Tuesday: Mark 10:14 “Let the little children come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of God.”
Wed: John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Thurs: John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Fri: Mark 16:15: “He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’”
Children earned prizes for attendance, for completing the daily lessons, and for bringing a friend to one of the sessions.
During story time, Engel told a story called No Darkness At All. The story continued all week, so the children had to keep coming to the Club to hear how it turned out.
Hamid was 11 years old and had a younger sister, Kinza, who was blind. They lived with their mother, but their father was dead. Also living with them was their stepfather and an old woman.
Like many families in the region, money was tight. When the old woman found out the girl was blind, and told the stepfather, he got the idea to sell Kinza to work for a beggar to make extra money.
When Kinza’s mother found out one night, Hamid heard her in a long and intense argument with the stepfather. “No, you can’t do that to Kinza,” she cried. But the stepfather was determined to go ahead with his plan.
Hamid knew this would be horrible for his sister, but he couldn’t think of a way he could help.
The next morning, the stepfather yelled at Hamid, “Get up and go look after the goats.”
After doing his chores, Hamid found his mom, who was grinding corn. She gave him a special look, and told him about the time when he was a baby, and got really sick. She found out about a missionary nurse from England, but she had no money to pay the nurse. But the nurse said, “I’ll look after Hamid for free.” She gave him medicine, and he was healed.
The nurse then told Hamid’s mom about Jesus, and how He loves the little children.
“Take Kinza to this missionary nurse and she will get looked after,” said the mom.
So, the next night, with Kinza strapped to his back, Hamid waited for his stepfather to fall asleep, tiptoed around the goats, and left home.
After a long walk filled with danger and uncertainty, Hamid found the nurse.
He laid the sleeping Kinza at the door and left, because he felt the nurse was more likely to take in his sister if she was alone. And the story has a happy ending, as the missionary nurse looked after Kinza and protected her from her stepfather, while Hamid overcame his fear of darkness and learned about the love of Jesus.
Engel also shared Bible stories about the healing miracles of Jesus, including healing the blind, crippled, and even a person with leprosy.
She then told the story about Jesus talking to a large crowd of people, and there was a group of children who wanted to meet Him. The disciples of Jesus said He was too busy, and told the kids to go away. But Jesus saw all this and told the disciples, “Let the children come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of God.”
“So this is an important lesson for all of us,” said Engel. “Jesus is never too busy for any of us, we are all welcome.”
In closing, she gave the kids the opportunity to make the decision to give their lives to Jesus, followed by closing prayer.
“Lord thank you for these kids and for a fun time today. I pray that they may take what they learned today and remember it. Amen.”
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