Ministry making a difference, reaching school children for Christ in the Caribbean
Tucker Clarke Primary School in St. Kitts has two local churches partnering together to reach the children with a weekly after-school Good News Club. This school had a 5-Day Club earlier this year and now has its own GNC. The first week of club they had 21 children. In just two weeks, the attendance was 39! This is almost 100% growth! The children really enjoy the Good News Club at their primary school and the churches are already consulting the principal to meet in a larger classroom. The other church partnership Good News Clubs are steadily growing and we give God praise.
One item of interest that speaks to the importance of this ministry in primary schools was what happened yesterday. I (Sean) went to observe and assist the team teaching at the school. The teacher, at the end of her Bible lesson, did something that we in CEF do not usually endorse. She asked the children publicly, as a group, to raise their hands if they had believed in Jesus before. We don’t usually endorse this because it can be pressuring for some children and is not very accurate as “group think” usually causes all the children to raise their hands that “yes, I have believed in Jesus”. However, only about 10-15 children out of the 39 raised their hands. There is a “Christian” culture in St. Kitts and this was one of the first times I have seen that happen. That means that these churches are truly shining a light in the largest public primary school of St. Kitts.
God has opened the doors for CEF ministry here in the Caribbean for a very important reason. As has been shared before, there are so many people in the Caribbean who teach children that do not lack passion, vision or desire to teach children. They simply need solid teacher training and also equipping with quality children’s literature and curriculum! Which is perfect because as CEF missionaries, we serve local churches in both ways for free!
October was filled with after-school Good News Clubs starting up, teacher training, and preparing for the CEF North America/Caribbean Regional Conference held every three years. The theme was “Leadership That Lasts”, and the sessions were exceptional. Some have even said (Mandi and I included) that this was one of the best CEF conferences they had been too! There were 61 people from 17 nations.
We thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support, it is hard to believe our two year time in St. Kitts in almost complete (January 2014). The Lord provided, and our tickets are purchased! We leave St. Kitts on January 13 and arrive in Turks & Caicos that afternoon for a two-week trip of ministry. We will visit with pastors, do teacher training, get a feel of the layout (there are 8 inhabited islands in TCI), and also identify potential housing. With this being a British territory, there is a large amount of red tape to obtain our “work permits” to serve as missionaries. Thankfully, the Lord has made a way that we can come in with the endorsement of a local church and avoid paying tens of thousands of dollars for a normal work permit. We will be working on those work permits during our visit as well so in July it can all be taken care of when we move there for our four-year term.
January 27 we will be back in the USA! In February we will be in Texas, then will be in Alabama from early/mid March. We will spend the majority of our time in Montgomery mid-April-July. We look forward to spending time with many of you face-to-face!
I close with a picture of partnership with a local school. We were able to purchase and have shipped a case of 800 Do You Wonder Why? CEF booklets after a local 10-year old boy died in St. Kitts. A tragic story, he was a student at Tyrell-Williams Primary School, where a great deal of ministry has been done. There is currently a local church teaching a weekly Good News Club! We delivered these booklets to give to every child, so that as they have questions of “why do bad things like this happen?” they can read about the God who made them and who loves them. We were able to do this quickly because of YOUR partnership and YOUR support!
Thankful for the Gospel,
Sean, Mandi, and Maddy Miller
Ephesians 3:20