Taking children’s ministry up a notch in Ethiopia
Our Zehra Kids Program was created to engage children in play, songs and activities during our Outreaches. Best of all, Zehra is designed to engage kids in learning about and encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and hearing the Good News of Yeshua (Jesus).
Our recent Outreach to Hosanna, Ethiopia, was a genuine benchmark in our capacity to effectively love and reach out to kids. We literally “took it up a notch” because, for the first time, in addition to focusing on children through our Zehra curriculum based on the Shema, we also ministered to an older age group — teens! This truly was a ground-breaking event for us in Ethiopia, and we are so in awe of how the Lord worked through this pioneering launch.
As with the younger kids, the teens got to participate in games and activities geared toward their age group. And they had fun! But they also experienced a brand-new curriculum we designed specifically for teens based on the book of Nehemiah. Many of the teens said they could relate to Nehemiah and the things he faced. They dove deep into the materials and had some significant moments of understanding and receiving the truths of their identity in Jesus. Zehra team members prayed over each one. It was an amazing answer to our fervent prayers for this age group and broke new ground in how we will minister to teens in the future.
During our Hosanna Outreach, in addition to providing fun and activities, we ministered to 855 children through the Shema curriculum and 415 teens through the new Nehemiah curriculum. That’s a total of 1,270 ministry opportunities during the course of the Outreach. Thank You, Lord!
Let’s praise the Lord and continue to pray:
- That every seed planted takes root in each child and teen and produces much fruit in them through the Lord’s nurturing
- May the words spoken and prayers prayed over each one continue to resonate deeply within them. May they believe and walk out their identity in the Messiah
- For the Jewish Voice team to lead the Zehra ministry, including the teen component, to continue to lead with vision, wisdom, discernment, and the Lord’s timing
- That the indigenous national team that helps run the program during the Outreaches will experience continued growth in unity, maturity, love for the Lord and love for kids. May they themselves walk out of their identity and calling
- For the Lord to continue to mark and grow these Ethiopian children and young people to trust Him and live a life devoted to Him
Let's pray!
Lord, we can’t find words to express how significant this feels. It means so much to reach out to the next generations and see them touched by You. Please continue to pour out Your grace and favor on the Zehra program. May it impact families and whole communities as well. May the seeds planted through Zehra (which means seed in Hebrew) bear fruit that goes beyond our wildest dreams, blessing many and bringing glory to You! In Yeshua’s name, Amen.
