Kindgdom Seekers Training
SaturdayJune 4th HBF hosted it's first annual Kingdom Seekers ministry training. This event took place from 09:30-4:30pm on Saturday and was a workshop style event. All current ministry volunteers were encouraged to attend, and anyone with a desire to potentially invest in the children that enter HBF were invited.
The day started with some great time of fellowship with a wide array of fruit, and donuts, and of course some great coffee. Then teaching kicked off at 10:00am with Mitch Newland laying out his philosophy of children’s ministry “The 3-Fold Cord of Children’s Ministry”. With the potential of having a narrow vision of the ministry, he took time to broaden the span of who we see the ministry impacting. Often Children’s ministries are understaffed, and you could even say neglected. A common belief is that volunteers are just “babysitting” for the adults attending church service. But what Mitch showed us is how to see the whole of the ministry, with the goal of impacting the “Pupils, Parents, and Peers”, taking discipleship deep into the heart of the children’s ministry. He then laid out the process for those individuals to grow in the ministry, and the purpose that drives it. Then came other new business, the biggest of which is monthly and weekly huddles. This is a time that the ministry volunteers will “rally” together, in the “Rally Point” room, formally the closed classroom. This will be a weekly time of communication and prayer, to ensure our hearts and minds are set on the work of evangelism, discipleship, and missions. The desire is that a hedge of protection would be placed around the ministry continually, so that it can prosper for the Kingdom of God.
After the vision was cast, and a time of fun filled praise concluded, the respective classroom volunteers broke off to 1 of 4 workshops. They included such material as “Lesson prep and teaching” by Chris and Lauren Coen, “Fun and Engagement” by Mitch and Jody Newland, “Classroom Management” by Jeremy and Annabeth Bonnesen, and “Safety and Security” by Mark Lockwood. Each workshop was about 40 minutes and covered many needed topics to help equip our volunteers to be better ministers of Gods word to the children. Amid all the teaching, there was a fantastic lunch of tacos, and many giveaways of items to include books, and gift cards! And finally, the day was crowned with a great lesson by Pastor Jeremy Bonnesen on the “Biblical Method of Instruction”. Pastor Jeremy has 28yrs of experience as an educator and has concluded that the best instructions for teaching and learning are laid out in the word of God. He showed us the method that Jesus Christ himself used to teach others, which was “teach to do”, and how we need to be “learning to do” not just learning to “know” which will puff us up with pride, creating churches full of Pharisees.
It is our hearts desire that the children that enter the doors of HBF would not just know the truth, but that they would live the truth. We desire to teach them how to practically apply the word of God in their lives. Colossians 1:9 “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”. If you missed the training or would like to find out what we are all about in the Kingdom Seekers ministry, all sessions were recorded and are available for you on the HBF website under “Podcasts” and then “Kingdom Seekers”. May God richly bless you, and you continue to walk according to His will, and abound in His work.