Participants:
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS001104A
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00:12 A nurse working on the Amazon river,
00:15 a teenager on fire for mission, sidewalk Sabbath School, 00:19 all this and much more coming up next. 00:26 Just before he went up to heaven, 00:28 Jesus gave us gave a command. 00:31 He gave us a mission, 00:34 Jesus said go, go on to all the world, 00:39 telling them of his love, 00:41 this is our mission, this is our global mission. 00:51 Hello, and welcome to the program. 00:53 Coming to today from the breathtakingly 00:56 beautiful city of Vancouver. 00:58 One of the most interesting areas in this city 01:01 is the historic Gastown district. 01:04 And back in the 1970s when they're renovating 01:07 and involved in urban renew, there was a stem vent 01:10 that was causing a lot of problem. 01:13 And so to fix the problem, 01:14 they built this amazing steam powered clock. 01:19 And what was once a problem 01:21 has now become a tourist attraction. 01:23 And as we look at the challenge of mission of the cities, 01:26 we need to also be looking 01:27 at creative ways to fix problems, 01:30 creative ways to meet people's needs. 01:33 And on today's program we'll talking to young pastor 01:36 involved in what he calls Sidewalk Sabbath School, 01:40 taking Sabbath School, to the streets. 01:43 On today's program, we'll also meet a nurse 01:46 working on the Amazon River. 01:47 But first up, lets meet a young man, Matias. 01:51 who is involved in mission in a very practical way. 01:55 Matias suarez is nine years old. 01:58 Form a young age, 01:59 he was challenged by his church family 02:01 to bring people to Christ. 02:04 Although too young for most church activities, 02:06 he decided to engage in mission. 02:09 "What I like the most is to work in the church. 02:12 I have a habit of visiting people. 02:15 I ask them why they are not coming to church? 02:18 Or when a person is not yet baptized, 02:21 I'll visit to invite him to church, 02:24 then, we end our visit with a warm goodbye. 02:27 And I move on to another house. 02:29 In a single day I can visit about three people." 02:33 At the young age of nine, 02:35 Matias has given bible studies to families and individuals, 02:39 and he has brought many to the baptismal waters. 02:42 But he longs for more. 02:44 "I am in charge of the children's department, 02:46 audio, visuals, and personal ministries. 02:49 And when I grow up, I want to be a pastor. 02:53 By greatest desire is that God comes very soon 02:56 before I become a pastor. 02:58 But if He doesn't come soon, I want to study theology 03:02 and lead more people to heaven through pastoral ministry." 03:06 Today Matias is 15 years old 03:09 and he's attending an Adventist high School 03:11 in preparation for pastoral ministry. 03:14 At FAMA, he gets a quality Christian education 03:17 and the opportunity to preach during special events 03:20 and at daily worship meetings to dormitory students. 03:24 When Matias arrived at FAMA, 03:26 he looked for individuals to study the bible with 03:28 so he could continue to follow Jesus' invitation 03:31 to mission through one-on-one bible study. 03:34 Matias' family taught him by example 03:37 that there is no age limit to fulfill the mission 03:40 Jesus gave us. 03:42 "When I was a new born, my parents were baptized 03:45 in the Adventist church. 03:47 Then, they would always take me to church. 03:49 And on Saturday afternoons, it was our custom 03:52 for me and my brothers to follow our parents 03:55 to give bible's study and visit new members. 03:59 From this, the desire grew within 04:01 to start my own bible studies. 04:04 In the books of Ellen White, it's clear 04:06 that the angels of God would like the opportunity 04:09 we have been given. 04:11 Jesus decided to trust us with the gospel work. 04:16 The angels in heaven asked God for the commission 04:19 to preach the gospel to the world. 04:21 But God said, 'This is a work for my children. 04:26 I am giving this to them.' 04:28 And I ask you, what have we done to show God 04:32 that we are worthy of this gift? 04:34 So I am convinced that God called me, 04:37 and the only way I can show Him gratitude 04:40 is by preaching the gospel. 04:42 If God said, go to all the world, 04:46 we need to go into all the world. 04:48 Although, there are a lot of places 04:51 where the gospel is not allowed, 04:53 Jesus affirms us that even if we die for him, 04:57 one day we will live Him. 04:59 And if you are faithful until death, 05:01 He will give you the crown of life. 05:05 Everything Jesus told to instruct 05:07 the disciples on the sign 05:08 of His coming are already happening in our days. 05:11 But sometimes we ask ourselves, 05:14 so what's really missing for Jesus to come? 05:17 The only thing missing is the preaching of the gospel 05:20 throughout the whole world." 05:27 My guest is, Pastor Walter Rogers, 05:29 who is here to talk about an intriguing ministry 05:32 called Sidewalk Sabbath School. 05:34 Thanks, Walter. 05:36 What a wonderful, I love the name, 05:37 tell us about the ministry. 05:39 Well, I'll just give like a three sentences 05:41 of history, right. 05:42 Sure. 05:43 Basically, the Lord called me, 05:45 for last six years to minister in Benton harbor, 05:46 it's a low income community in Michigan. 05:49 And we started bringing children to church 05:52 to learn about Jesus, we got all these buses 05:54 and it let a lot of expenses and a lot of distraction 05:58 for mission, a lot of time and a lot of money. 06:01 Most probably the time stress. 06:04 And then long story short, God called us and said, 06:06 instead of bringing the kids to church, 06:08 'cause we're reaching many more children than adults, 06:10 to then switch and bring church to the children. 06:14 And that changed my life, it was so much easier, 06:17 it was so much cheaper, that most noticeable benefit 06:21 was instead of spending all this time on infrastructure 06:23 of a busing system, we were able to spend that time 06:26 mentoring young leaders from the local community. 06:30 And by the time, I left this last summer, 06:33 we had a team from the inner city 06:37 that were the leaders. 06:38 It wasn't outsiders like me leading the ministry. 06:41 And the young people, they say it's very empowering 06:43 in a low income area. 06:45 And so, yes, super excited, it's very doable. 06:49 Our pastors brothers are doing it all over the world, 06:50 they're doing it in garbage dumps 06:52 in Manila, the Philippines, 06:54 they're doing it in Romania with the gypsy population, 06:56 they are doing it at several places in Africa. 06:59 And it's very practical, 07:01 very doable for a lot less cost and a lot less stress 07:05 than bringing children to church. 07:07 When their parents aren't ready, 07:08 you bring church to the children 07:10 and then through that ministry, you minister the whole family, 07:12 and then eventually you bring the entire family to church. 07:16 I just love that. 07:17 I mean, it's not just practical and doable, it's biblical. 07:20 I mean, because so often we thinking about 07:22 how to attract people to church, 07:24 how do we bring them in a, which is all very good 07:26 but the commission is actually to go, right? 07:29 And so you're taking it to the context of these kids. 07:32 Yes, and it's, it is just as many, many benefit's. 07:36 First of all, you are allowed 07:37 so that parents will come over and listen. 07:38 And remember, it works best in a high population density 07:42 and low incomes 'cause people want something good 07:44 for the kids, any culture. 07:46 And so then they're much more open to the gospels 07:48 as long as you doing something "positive for the children." 07:51 Right. 07:52 But then 'cause you're there 07:53 the parents that won't come to church 07:55 will come out on their porch and listen to you. 07:57 And we don't mess around, we play with the kids, 07:59 but every thing we are doing 08:01 is Christ centered, gospel, biblical. 08:03 We're always teaching truth in a fun relevant way, 08:06 in a simple way the children can understand, 08:08 which of course, if children can understand, 08:09 adults can understand. 08:11 So there're many of those benefit's. 08:13 And again, one of the biggest things 08:14 is you're saving the time and money 08:16 that you can then put in to discipleship. 08:18 Now describe for me, 08:20 a typical Sabbath school in the Sidewalk. 08:23 What sort of things do you do, 08:24 how long does it take, that sort of thing? 08:26 Oh, first of all the method that Lord has let me to use 08:29 is instead of doing like a VBS Vacation Bible School 08:31 really intense of one week, 08:32 we'll go for several weeks and we'll go same programs. 08:36 Let's say we're doing the Ten Commands, 08:37 and command number one have "No other God, 08:39 "we'll do that one program at several sites, 08:42 two to three sites per day. 08:43 So we prepare it, let's say, Monday, Tuesday. 08:46 And then Wednesday we go to the site one, two, three, 08:48 then we do the same program at site four, five, six, 08:51 the next day, same program at site seven, eight, nine, 08:54 et cetera, and then the next week, 08:57 you come back and do program number two, 09:00 at those nine sites sequentially. 09:02 So you're having a more of the long term 09:05 relationship going on with the little bit each week 09:08 but over the long term. 09:10 What the program looks like, when I go to a site, we'll go, 09:14 literally going to highways and byways, 09:16 compelling to come in, my house may be full, a filled. 09:19 And so we actually go low with the little fliers, 09:22 a little piece of paper, can be very small, 09:23 can be a business card, 09:24 and I'll say some fun stuff for kids. 09:26 You talk to kids you say, "Oh, we're going to play games, 09:28 give you some prizes, that's over hear." 09:30 And they'll come for that, they'll come for the bread, 09:32 the loaves, and then Jesus gives them the word of God. 09:35 And then with the parents, 09:36 you always have a word of teach them 09:38 to respect their parents, 09:39 we're going to teach them to stay in school, 09:40 stay off to drugs, right? 09:42 So you have both of those on your little invite, 09:43 but it's a piece of paper that you give. 09:45 So you do that, you build relationship, 09:47 you play on the swing set, 09:48 you kick a soccer ball around them, whatever. 09:50 So it's a more relax, more simple relational 09:53 and an invite. 09:54 Then you can't do the program after that, 09:56 you come back to the program the next day. 09:57 There's various ways to do, 09:59 I have done different styles that way, 10:01 but then there's a visit before the program. 10:03 Then the program is out on the same day or the next day, 10:06 and that's where you like just go and do a quick invite, 10:08 "Hey, everybody, kids program over there." 10:10 So the kids come in. 10:11 As they come in, we're throwing a Frisbee around, 10:13 something simple, play game like Guess That Number, 10:15 I got a number in my head, what do you think what it is? 10:17 I then say, come in. 10:19 Then of course, we have prayer and then we start the program. 10:21 It's about one hour of biblical power. 10:24 And I don't mince my words. 10:25 I trying to do Mark Finley for children. 10:27 We don't entertain them, it's not cotton candy. 10:30 And so, with that we start off with some games 10:33 that reinforce the lesson like, we're doing creation, 10:35 we'll doing Adam making contest out of play-doll 10:38 or an Eve making contest out of wire, right? 10:41 So it's the biblical story, but it's fun. 10:43 It's about 80 percent fun, 20 percent learning. 10:45 We get the wiggles out, trying get the kids moving 10:47 so they can listen later on. 10:50 Then we'll teach them one theme, 10:52 let's say it's creation, 10:53 we'll teach it with seven different ways. 10:54 We'll introduce it with a little visual prop, right? 10:58 Let's say iPhone, or whatever you're saying. 11:01 Someone made this iPhone, right. 11:03 And then we'll go to bible verse, 11:05 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, 11:07 "then we'll have a game with that, 11:08 like a Wheel of Fortune game types thing. 11:10 And then we'll go into more three object lessons, 11:13 sometimes two, sometimes five, 11:15 but multiple visual concrete object lessons 11:18 that reinforce the creation theme 11:20 that in the beginning God made the heavens and the earth, 11:22 then we'll end with the story. 11:24 My favorite two is we either do pilgrim's progress, 11:27 which I am currently doing here in British Colombia, 11:29 or it's kind of my Mona Lisa of children's ministry, 11:33 is doing to continuing stories through the bible, 11:36 kind of a conflict of the ages. 11:38 And so we'll do Adam and Eve in the creation 11:40 and they will end with Eve was warned 11:43 and she saw the tree, what would she gotta do? 11:45 She got closer and closer to the tree 11:48 of knowledge of good and evil, 11:50 and she remembered what God said, 11:52 then all of a sudden there was talking snake. 11:55 And the snake said, you won't die 11:57 if you eat this fruit. 11:59 Eve start to reach out her hand, 12:01 and we'll continue the story next week. 12:05 That's wonderful. 12:06 For people who want to find out more information on that thing, 12:08 I would like to start one of these up 12:10 in my community. 12:11 Where can I start, how can I start? 12:15 First all there's a lot of training is available, 12:17 you can Google Sidewalk Sunday School, 12:20 there are several videos of that from protestant friends. 12:22 You can contact with me. 12:24 My Email you can reach me 12:25 at sidewalksabbathschool @gmail.com. 12:27 Wonderful. 12:29 And I am at older group Seventh-day Adventist church. 12:31 Fantastic. 12:32 Thank you so much, for sharing with us today. 12:34 God bless you. Very welcome. 12:35 And we'll be back, right after this break. |
Revised 2016-05-12