To facilitate a truly global conversation, we ask Christian leaders from around the world to respond to the Global Conversation’s lead articles. These points of view do not necessarily represent the Lausanne Movement. They are designed to stimulate discussion from all points of the compass and from different segments of the Christian community. Please add your perspective by posting a comment so that we can learn and grow together in the unity of the Spirit.

A response to:

Big Vision Simple Ideas – Wendy Strachan

The Kolfe congregation of the Ethiopian Mekane Yesus Lutheran Church is located in the western tip of Addis Ababa and has a very vibrant children’s ministry.  This church has an elementary school in its compound.   Reverend — who is the senior priest in the Church shared with me about two amazing encounters he had with two boys who were students in his school that left him without choice but to take children and work for and with children seriously.

The first encounter was with a very naughty boy in the school.  The Pastor was so annoyed by the young boy that one day he spanked the boy very hard.  The boy left the Pastor quietly and started to do the unexpected after a few days of this incident. Every school day the boy would come to the Pastor’s office, open the door forcefully and leave without saying a word to the Pastor.  This happened several times until the day the Pastor decided to ask the boy to forgive him. 

The second experience of this Pastor is the opposite of the above.  The priest observed that one of the boys in his school had pants that were not tight enough on the waist and that they troubled him when he was playing and running with his friends.  The boy had to interrupt playing to pull up the pants back to his waist every now and then.  One day this Pastor called the boy to his office and sewed the pants for him so that they became tight.  After that, this boy came to the Pastor’s office every day of school and greeted him before going to his class.  This happened, as the Pastor told me, till the boy completed elementary education and left for a high school.

Reverend Kebede told me that these two experiences with the children taught him a big lesson about the importance of giving attention to children.  He took these experiences with the two boys as God speaking to him and about the ministry of his church regarding children.  The word of God says “God may speak in one way or in another, yet man does not perceive it” (Job 33:14).  It is good that Reverend Kebede perceived the lesson.

This story came to my mind as I read Wendy’s provocative statement – “I wonder if the missions movement itself was influenced by some of these children….” , in her blog entitled:  “Big Vision Simple Ideas”.  I know the Reverend Kebede’s interest in children’s work in the Mekane Yesus Lutheran church in Addis was, surely influenced by children.  In retrospect I also wonder- wasn’t Eli’s encouragement of Samuel to listen to God and to minister in the Temple triggered by that little Samuel?  Little Samuel heard God while the seasoned priest Eli himself had difficulty hearing God

Shiferaw Michael, Child Development Training and Research Center Ethiopia