Friday Club in Cloughleigh
Today we had a guest speaker (the scheduled speaker was indisposed): Vincent was here! It was great to have him and he introduced a new way of bringing the message to the kids: by art! Although, as Vincent kept mentioning, he was not only bold (like any other kid) in school, but also not very successful when it came to the subject of art or orthography.
So, he had his sketch board prepared for the kids with the intention of telling the story of the “Prodigal Son”. The catch-lines were: “MORE THINGS” - “NOTHING” - and, and, - - lo and behold, indeed, I didn’t got the last one! I was so busy trying to keep the audience focused on Vincent’s story that I missed most part of it (again)! So while I tried to calm down the kids and Vincent tried to find the missing “i” in “THNGS” on the board, he yet had the audience listening to the clear and direct message of the good news of Jesus Christ, who is able to overcome all our weaknesses, but not only that, pay our ransom and extinguish the guilt of our sins, after we confess them to him (Luke 15:21). And one of these sins is “not listening to God” - not just to the speaker…
Oh, and before that, we could again sing cool and wonderful songs with the kids, with the great help of George, and they really enjoyed singing their favourites songs like “Waves of mercy” or “I’m in the Lord’s Army, YES, SIR!” (Matthew 21:16)
We had just about 20 or so kids today, so it was rather easy to keep things under control, and nobody had to be sent home, praise God, they all could hear the message, and nobody was injured.
The game George tried to play with the kids (4 groups supposed to play a TV series for the referee to guess what it was) was a good opportunity to have some fun with the boys; they choose to play “Wrestling” - as if they needed an incentive like this to do it anyway (or trying to all the time).
Hi dad
it was great.
Comment by Leo — Sat, 9. May 2009 @ 10:43
Thanks Matthias. I am really enjoying reading the weekly events at Friday Club! I used to be hooked on The Archers ‘An everyday story of countryfolk’ (actually a UK radio soap opera based around a farming community) but this is much more interesting! Will continue to pray that the Lord uses the weekly messages and God’s love to really make an impact on those youngsters.
Comment by Maddy P — Sat, 9. May 2009 @ 16:55
Thanks for the report Matthias. Its good to hear how it went, especially as i was unable to be there. God has really been speaking to me about the importance of us being faithful in work we do for him at Cloughleigh, while we still have time. We do not know if the time will come when we are no longer allowed to openly share the gospel with these children. This is Gods work and we are blessed to be a part of it.
Comment by Carrie — Mon, 11. May 2009 @ 19:42
I can’t see a problem in the foreseeable future for us to share the gospel openly in this context. The kids come with their parents consent and if we set the right expectation (e.g. in our consent form), then they will hear what we said we will share: the Bible, the Word of God. Nobody can stop us doing that: Acts 4:18-20:
Comment by Matthy — Tue, 12. May 2009 @ 10:26
What a great privilege it is to bring Jesus into the lives of these young ones! We have a mandate from God. Let us be faithful. As Carrie said, we do not know how long we will have the freedom to do this, so lets pray that God will bless this work and those who run this club. Our God is an awesome God, He is doing wonders.
Comment by Ann — Thu, 14. May 2009 @ 0:16