After we had completed our formal Polish language studies, we began working with a tutor and began praying about launching our ministry work with churches in Poland.
God answered our prayers when our own church hosted “teacher training” event on a Saturday. It was for teachers in our church and in the city of Krakow where we lived. We were praying that it went well.
During the first session I noticed someone sitting in the front who seemed very interested. I did not know her. At the end of the day she came up to me and introduced herself as Danuta Hukisz.
She was warm, friendly and full of joy and ministry enthusiasm. She had traveled from Poznan to Krakow which is about 300 miles away.
After talking for some time, she explained to me that her denomination, with hundreds of churches, had asked her to develop a training program for their children’s workers. She asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with her to that end.
This was the first step to developing a wonderful ministry partnership launching our EGM-Poland ministry. It was an answer to my leadership prayer.
During Paul’s missionary activities he was guided, directed, and even prohibited by God all along the way. This prompted Paul to encourage others to join him in praying for God to open and close doors of opportunities.
Last week we looked at a passage in Colossians that I would like to revisit.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. (Colossians 4:2-4)
In this Colossian passage he recruits the Colossians to pray for God to open doors of opportunity for sharing the message of the gospel with others (vv. 3-4 ). He had been imprisoned but was praying for opportunity and asking the Colossians to do the same.
The Power of Prayer in Children’s Ministry Leadership
EGM had developed work in Poland, Belarus, and Hungary where teams were providing training for children’s workers in local churches and providing them with culturally relevant Bible teaching materials.
Each ministry was governed, staffed, and funded by their own Christian community. Our family had relocated to the United States as we had been invited to work in the Middle East and Latin America. The Latin American expansion was being promoted by my friend Rick.
During my years serving at Mariners Church, Rick and his wife got involved in the children’s ministry. Actually, Rick’s wife started working with our five-year-olds, and Rick helped her. Rick’s wife organized and planned everything, and Rick thought he was just doing crowd control.
Everyone knew, however, that the two of them together had a unique ministry: She did much of the “teaching”, and he was the relational ministry animal. They were—and still are—a great team.
Rick was born and raised in Chile, and his father passed away when he was young. He came to the United States with his mom and sisters during some tumultuous years in Chile.
After a successful business career in the US, his entrepreneurial spirit led him back to Chile where he started another successful business.
During his travels back and forth between Chile and the US, he met a Chilean pastor who had planted a new church and needed help with their children’s ministry. Rick knew just the person to talk to, and during one of my visits from Poland, he asked me to help.
I explained that EGM couldn’t travel the globe helping every church that asked. Our model was—and still is—to develop national ministry teams that both train children’s ministry leaders in the country and provide culturally relevant Bible teaching materials.
Undaunted, he spoke to the pastor and learned that several churches needed help. So, on my next trip to the States, Rick approached me again. I explained that EGM was struggling financially and that we had started field research in Egypt.
The Board was praying asking God for guidance. He nodded as if he understood, but I could tell he wasn’t going to give up. We kept praying.
Six months later Marla and I relocated to the United States, and that was when Rick began his full-court press. He told me that he would pay for my travel and accommodation, buy lunch for all the children’s workers who attended, and cover any other expenses. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
I told him I needed to pray and consult the Board of Directors. To this day, I’m not sure, but Rick talked to some board members because I got the green light. I knew the Board was praying for God to give us guidance about a decision to work in Chile.
A very enthusiastic Rick got right to work with a team of Chilean leaders. They chose a date about three months away. Sixty days before Rick and I were to leave, we had over a hundred leaders signed up for the training that would be held at the Assemblies of God Church in Quilpue.
Rick assured me that he was able to handle the financial commitment. About forty-five days before the trip, the enrollment had surged to 250 people.
One month before our departure, more than 500 leaders were planning to attend—and the sanctuary only held 500! Also, I was getting worried about the lunch tab for Rick!
More concerned about having the space he needed than the cost of lunch, Rick consulted with me and the team, and then he rented a banquet hall at a nearby hotel.
On Saturday we would host a second event at the hotel. The number kept growing, and when Rick and I landed in Santiago, the hotel banquet room seated seven hundred and fifty and was filled to capacity.
And—a man of his word—Rick bought lunch… for 1,250 people! Numerous church leaders came up to us after the meetings and told us they had been praying for God to help them in their children’s ministry work.
When we returned to the US the Board knew God had answered our prayers. Today EGM has work in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Peru each one with stories of God’s answers to leadership prayers.
A Call to Ministry Is a Call to Prayer
Finally, Paul reminds us that leaders are bound together in prayer with those who serve with them. Paul’s relationship with the churches in Philippi was one of warmth and joy.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:3-11)
There is none of the tension and angst that is noticeable in so many of his other letters. We see this from the beginning as he remembers the “koinonia” (vs. 5) that he had with the Philippians, translated partnership (NIV) and fellowship (KJV).
Paul had brought the gospel of Christ to the Philippians, and they were supporting his ongoing missionary work through their giving (4:10-20). In addition to their financial support, he urged them to pray for his ministry work, which their giving made possible.
For Paul, it was much more than an investment in God’s Kingdom. Rather, it was fellowship and partnership in the gospel. This naturally led to Paul praying for Philippians, reciprocated in their prayers for Paul.
Paul understood that a call to ministry was a call to prayer, including praying for those who make the ministry work possible through their giving.
Over the last three weeks we have surveyed how a call to ministry is a call to prayer. Nowhere is this more important than in ministry with children.
Boys and girls need leaders who are in regular communication with God and leading the children’s ministry with His counsel, direction, and guidance.
So often we think that creativity, communication skills, humor, and fun activities are the essential building blocks of a fruitful children’s ministry. All of those are important. Often overlooked, assumed, or taken for granted is the spiritual foundations of the ministry.
Effective children’s ministry leaders understand that the call to ministry is a call to prayer.
Next week we will continue our KidMin leadership series looking at leaders developing a dynamic philosophy ministry. Join us as we look at the importance of biblical principles, giftedness and ministry context in the life of Joseph.
Join EGM-US!
If you're serving in a church in the United States, you can be part of the exciting new launch of EGM-US by hosting a vision meeting in your area, attending a training, or just contacting us for more information about how this could benefit your next generation ministries by contacting us contacting our team at (951)587-3825 or [email protected].