Jesus in School?

After coming from a country that strives to keep religion and Christianity out of the school system, we were all astounded when the school administration system in Oyacachi invited LIFT into the school to teach. They requested rudimentary English lessons for the children, giving us license to share a basic rendition of the Gospel. In two days, we were asked to present lessons for children in second through sixth grade on the first day and seventh through tenth the second. A challenge in that the teaching methods for these two age groups can be vastly different.
The first day, with the young children, our Children's games, worship, puppet, skit and testimony teams were called to action. Centering on active games and personal interaction over traditional lecture-style lessons, the teams put together a sensational program of events for the kids. Colors were taught through a rigorous round of "four corners", a game which requires much sprinting. Energy drained, the kids then watched performances by the worship and skit teams and listened intently to Andrew Burger's testimony. A game of "blob tag" was initiated after this, with Grace Green using it as an illustration of the inescapable nature of God's pursuit of, and love for, each of his children. The puppet and skit teams then compounded this further with renditions of Bible stories.
The next day, with the older children, these same teams came back with another itinera of activities formulated for the older crowd. The games were much less focused on venting of pent-up, sporadic and chaotic energy typical of young kids through running, but, instead, centered around intellectual excercises to practice basic English phrases. I feel fairly confident every seventh through tenth grade youth in Oyacachi is proficient in asking "how are you?" and "What is your name" now. The skit and worship teams also elevated their performances to be less attention grabbing and more thought provoking. Susan Linn and Larissa White delivered their testimonies pointedly towards the issued of identity that tend to plague children of this age demographic.
In all, this highly unusual missional opportunity went quite well. It took a lot of intentionality to find the proper balance between evangelism and  academics, but we left knowing we had found it and God had moved during our time with the young people of Oyacachi.

N. Arthur Knyfd