When I received the role of the children’s ministry leader in the congregation, I realized that I would be taking on a great responsibility: right here in our congregation, the Lord in His mercy has placed a small portion of the young generation growing up in the land of Israel in families that follow Yeshua as the Messiah. This reality has not happened since the days of the first Jewish believers in the book of Acts! It is exciting, and I consider it a great privilege.
The vision of the children’s ministry at Tiferet Yeshua is that every child will know the Lord and grow in a personal relationship with Him. Last year we developed a curriculum that will put Yeshua at the center of teaching throughout the entire year. This curriculum we then modify for each age group 3 years old and up so that all the children are learning the same subject in a way they are able to understand it.
In addition to teaching them the essentials of their faith –learning the fruits of the Spirit, memorizing Bible verses, the Lord’s prayer, and just praising Him together—we teach them about our identity as Jews who believe in Yeshua through prophecies about the Messiah given to our prophets.
WALKING WHERE YESHUA WALKED
Life in Israel may not be easy, especially in this last year, but we have the amazing privilege of living where so many of our Bible stories took place. In the children’s ministry, we make a point of regularly taking the children and their families to trips around Israel so they can experience firsthand the places where Yeshua walked and taught.
We visited the Nazareth village where the children were able to experience how Yeshua would have grown up with all the traditions of Jewish life of that time. This trip helped the children understand many of the parables Yeshua used to teach about the Kingdom of God.
Last year, we visited the “Good Samaritan” museum to understand the setting of that period of time and emphasize the two most important commandments God has given the Jewish people – to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbor.
After learning about the miracles Yeshua performed in our Friday children’s ministry classes, last month we visited Kfar Nahum (Capernaum) in the Galilee and also boarded a boat on the Sea of Galilee that resembles boats used 2,000 years ago in order to being to life the scriptures that testify about His works among the people of Israel.
Seeing the amazement and excitement in the eyes of our children (and their parents) when they walk in these places gave me a deeper understanding of our calling: to fan the fire of the Holy Spirit in the young generation of the Body of Messiah here in the Land. How? By creating an environment where they can read and learn from the Scriptures, pray and praise so that they can know the Lord and be close to Him in their everyday lives.
I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize that we would not have been able to achieve this vision for our children’s ministry without a dedicated, loyal team of volunteers from the congregation who serve with love, consistency and hard work!
