Lausanne World Pulse – Creative Communication to Share the Gospel with Children and Their Families
By Leanne Palmer
Picture this scene…
It is a warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon and in this usually sleepy rural village our attention is attracted by squeals, screams and some very unusual noises. Upon closer investigation, we find a group of about fifty people of all ages barking, mooing and making a variety of animal noises. The players crawl around on the dirt, blindfolded, and search for the rest of their team, loudly encouraged by the cheers of those supporting. What am I observing? This is not the result of an out-of-control celebration; instead, it is the excitement of families working together. They are: considering what it means to “belong”; experiencing how hard it is to hear one voice in the crowd of noises; and exploring together who Jesus is and what it means for their family to live life trusting him. This event is a Family Sports and Games program, one creative idea that is being used effectively around the world to share the gospel with children and their families.
Since 1995, Logosdor has been focused on communicating Jesus using cutting-edge creativity to connect with children around the world through partnerships with many organizations. The story above illustrates how, through global partnerships, creative children’s sports and games activities have been developed to effectively reach the whole family with the gospel.
Logosdor is a team of people dedicated to seeing the children of the world reached with the good news of Jesus Christ. It is for this purpose that the team endeavors to use every creative means possible to present the gospel message in a way that all children will understand. This has involved (1) producing an international Bible curriculum for children, (2) creating and directing four evangelistic musical stage productions for children, (3) performing puppetry, (4) producing children’s magazines, computer games and videos and (5) helping a sports and games outreach program used in over 137 countries involving between two and three million children.
Logosdor’s involvement in the Lausanne 2004 Forum for World Evangelization once again convicted us of both the enormity and urgency of the task of reaching the world’s 2.3 billion children with the good news of Jesus. Children represent arguably the biggest unreached people group in the world. As Lausanne Occasional Paper #47 reads, “With 2.1 billion children already on the planet, there can be an overwhelming sense that the best evangelistic efforts will always be outstripped by the numbers. But this is not our work; it is God’s work and we will only succeed when we participate with God in his plans. God’s solutions in the Bible were creative, profound, entirely appropriate and completely unexpected.”
|
Leanne Palmer is global resource facilitator for Logosdor and supports the development of Max7 and Global Community Games. |