Lausanne World Pulse – WORLD EVANGELISM & MISSIONS REPORTS – The Strategic Role of www.hikidz.org in Internet Child Evangelism
By Harry Bryans
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The new Hi Kidz site will be presented in a 3-D environment and offer entertainment and education communicating Christianity at two levels. First, we will introduce the child to the universe of God’s creation and our responsibility as stewards. Second, we will introduce them to the creator himself and how to grow in relationship with him through Jesus Christ. Hopefully this will enable every child, parent and guardian to appreciate the website with a low-entry threshold and acquire trust to accept the pertinence of the website’s holistic approach to knowing God.
The site is designed to not only touch children, but entire families. It can be integrated into church efforts to reach their community and nation and can be a very versatile tool for evangelism, discipleship, cross-cultural mission and church planting.
You may ask if the Internet is in danger of isolating children from their natural social environment. Hi Kidz has acknowledged this risk and is seeking to develop online content with off-line action. The website will inspire the child to do activities with friends or family. It will also publicize local Christian activities and events. We can easily imagine that Internet child evangelism will develop into an expertise that will challenge our existing ministries to approach their mission in a more professional way. Let us remind ourselves that children have changed a lot in the last decades, with media and entertainment being one of the major causes. Hopefully the Christian community can progress in offering child-friendly content on the Internet.
For the moment, Esterheart Ministries is engaged in a worldwide campaign for consolidating partnerships and funds in order to realize Grain de Blé’s wish to offer every nation a multilingual tool to evangelize children without needing to carry the financial weight at a local level. Investing in this site is investing in tomorrow’s leaders. Today’s children will shape tomorrow’s society. If we want Christian values to drive their judgment, we need to connect with them where they are connected.
Every stage of the project has brought its challenges and struggles. It is imperative to pray for the children, for this strategic project and for the people of God to join forces and support it in whatever way God inspires them.
Endnote
1. Barna, George. 2003. Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions. Ventura,
California: Regal.
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Harry Bryans is the pioneer developer and webmaster of www.hikidz.org. Bryans is originally from North Ireland but served as missionary in Belgium for twenty-two years. He worked for fifteen years with the Grain de Ble European children’s ministry and helped launch the Hi Kidz telephone ministry in a dozen countries on three continents. |