Children's Ministry: Día del Niño 2010

It's that time of year again! Last year I wrote about the tradition of "Dia del Niño" (Day of the Child) in Chile and shared some photos of the event we planned for our church children and visitors. This past Sunday our children's ministry team once again planned a fun event for the kids of the church, which we held at a nearby park. The games were simple "fun fair" types but the children seemed to enjoy them!

the "pesca milagrosa" is fun for kids of all ages

Several weeks before the holiday we encouraged our Sunday School children to enter a drawing contest. They were asked to draw and color a picture of their favorite Bible story. We saw some great entries. Eva even won a prize in her age group for her picture of Creation (and no, Mommy wasn't a judge for that group!)

Eva's picture

I get a smile out of the fact that Eva always colors her people brown. She has done this as long as I can remember. I guess it's because that is what she sees and loves around her every day!

Eva receiving her prize

I included the picture below because I'm a proud Momma and think it's cute. One of the games was to guess the number of chocolate balls in a jar. I was asked to give my guess and I won, but didn't think it was fair to take the prize - so Aunt Kim (our missionary colleague) awarded it to Ian instead. He had no idea why he got it but he was more than willing to accept it! He was a little perplexed by the people clapping around him but grabbed onto that jar of candy for dear life. :)

Ian with his prize

Of course, in Chile no kids' celebration is complete without a lot of candy so there was even a piñata at the end of the event. The children also received a bag of candy donated by the church so no one went home empty-handed.

taking a swing at the piñata

kids enjoying their treats afterwards

Most importantly, although some may think fun and games and candy are what this day is all about, we know that there is something so much greater that we are responsible to share with the children in our care. Included in our day's events was a time of breaking into small groups and sharing the Good News of salvation with the kids. We used a colorful booklet which summarizes from Creation to the Cross (and beyond) at a child-appropriate level.

While it's often hard to tell what truths are captured in the midst of a day like this one, we trust that a seed was planted in many hearts. In addition to children we had several first-time parents visiting with whom we were able to share our church's ministry and perhaps we will see them again. That is our hope and prayer!

tia Monica teaching her group of kids

tia Cesia teaching a group of young boys

tia Natalia teaching my kiddos :)