MANANTIAL MINISTRIES
JOSIAH KIDS CLUB
CLUB DE NIÑOS JOSIAS
The ministry Josiah Kids Club is a ministry that we started in September of 2017, as the branch of Manantial Ministries that dedicates specifically to children ministries in different areas, including kids clubs, Sunday school, VBS, children' outreach, and workshops/training for children ministry workers.
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The story of the child King Josiah can be found in II Kings 22 and 23. Josiah was only a boy when he was crowned king, but the bible says that he was raised to follow God just like David did, and so did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. When a teenager, he sent his people to go and repair the place of worship, the temple; and while doing that they found a forgotten copy of the laws of God, the bible. Josiah, when he read the bible, was horrified at what his people had done in disobedience to Gods law, and started reforming his country and sharing the book of the law so that his people would follow God's law.
We started The Josiahs Kids Clubs with a twofold purpose...
To reach the children at a young age, were the word of God can be grounded in their lives and help them to be an example in their communities, their homes and their churches, and grow up to be the future christian community that will reach Ecuador with the gospel.
The second purpose is our ministry mission: Our work is to be teaching and assisting the local churches and leadership so that they can do the teaching and evangelism, as well as teaching the churches on how to get involved in their communities...the big need here, as far as discipleship, evangelism, the orphans, the poverty, the prostitutes, and everything else, is that if the Christian church would get involved in being the hands and feet of Christ here, would be trained in how to go about that, we could really make some headway. Thats the goal that we are working towards, training the Ecuadorian church that they are supposed to do these things, and not depend on missionaries or organizations or the government to do it. Through children and youth ministry, they can not only reach the entire family, but also change their entire community and its future.
Some of the different areas we minister in...
KIDS CLUBS
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One of the big things that we do is help churches and ministries with starting kids clubs, both in villages and in cities.
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How the clubs are set up varies by community, church, or city; but we always have it split up into different age groups, so that the teaching can be on a level that everyone can understand. This can include children, adolescent and youth groups.
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In some places the clubs are on a Saturday afternoon, in other communities a couple of days during the week right after school, were the children are provided with a meal, and also assistance with their homework.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Another part of the ministry is training Sunday school teachers on the best way to minister to the young ones that have the kingdom of God in their hearts
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Sometimes this is done by holding workshops or seminars, were we go over the Why, What and How of childrens' ministry, as well as giving examples on songs, games, lessons, visual aids, etc..
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Sometimes, we also do individual training with some of the teachers, where for a certain amount of time we will teach the classes with an assistant, who will then go on to take over the class, and train his/her own assistant.
OUTREACH MINISTRIES
Possibly my personal favorite, this part of the ministry includes many different aspects, all of which are set to reach new children outside of the normal church setting.
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This includes one day crusades and special outdoor events, VBS, and other types of similar outreaches.
We always include games, very dynamic songs, drama, and puppets, all areas that we train the children' workers on how to minister in, so that they can continue the work.
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This ministry is growing, and we always encourage churches to not forget this important way to bring the kingdom to all that need it!
Materials
In each case, we always try and supply materials for the clubs and Sunday schools. Materials here can be very expensive, especially in the jungle villages; and so we always ask people to bring crayons, markers, craft supplies, etc form the states, and then hand them out to the different ministries here that need them. We also purchase teaching materials here locally.​
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Although the ministries that we help the church set up are solely under their own care, we do assist in any way that we can. When we supply them with materials, we do require a little bit of commitment form the ministries, so as to be sure that the materials are used properly.
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Another part of this ministry is teaching the ministries to be auto efficient. Although some things are a lot cheaper and easier to get in the states, but there are many things and fundraisers that the churches can do locally to provide for their ministries, and we teach them how to do that.