Photo courtesy of CWO.
Haiti (MNN) ― The Haitian kids got their names written in large letters and then attacked the craft with glitter and sequins.
But the truth behind the themed craft shone brighter than the craft itself.
Kids in Haiti learned “God knows me by name” during a four-day Vacation Bible School with Christian World Outreach (CWO) last month.
This revelation is transformational since Haitian children can feel pushed to the side at times. 500,000 children still live in Haitian camps since the 2010 earthquake, according to Save the Children. Several others live in the slums and are susceptible to trafficking, child labor, and exploitation.
But on June 11-14, a team of high school and college students traveled to Haiti to hold VBS and focus their love on these kids. The VBS was hosted at a CWO church on Haiti’s central plateau. They had 350 kids show up the first day, and by the last day they attracted around 600 kids.
Greg Yoder with CWO explains the VBS activities, “The memory verse gets repeated numerous times during the day or during activities. We tell Bible stories, we use Scripture getting them to think about the idea and how that applies to their lives. We do some crafts with them–something that those children don’t always get to do–so it’s a fun time for them to draw and to use glitter and glue and markers and crayons.”
It all ramped to the last day and that theme, “God knows me by name.” Yoder says ultimately, “Our hope is that some of these children do accept Christ and that they get involved in a church. Children have a big influence on families no matter where it is in the world. Here it brings a big awareness when this big of an activity happens in a town of this size.”
They’ve seen adults in Haiti impacted through the children’s VBS. “It’s really an outreach for the church,” says Yoder. “The pastor and leaders of the church thanked us for doing this and participating and being a part of the church activities so that people are aware that they are there and they are curious and that gives them opportunities to share Christ with the adults.”
How can you respond? Yoder asks, “Pray that these children and the stories they heard, the Scriptures that were read, the verses that they learned, songs they sang, that they will really take them to heart and that they will take them back to their families. That people will see a difference in the lives of the Haitian people daily working through the church and the community, that God will be acknowledged.”
If you’d like to support CWO’s Haitian ministry and help point others towards Christ, click here.
