The Least of These

It is an incredible experience sharing the love of Jesus with kids. Sometimes you wonder if they understand wht you are trying to communicate, other times it is far more apparent that they have no idea what is going on around them. The boy pictured was asked if he would like to be punished by a teacher and he joyfully said 'YES!' He was sent to me for punishment, because I had acted the role of a teacher in a short skit we had just done at that school. I gave him a high-five as the bemused boy returned to sit with his uniformed peers.

We generally share the same program in every school we go to. The local pastor who travels everywhere with us takes the microphone and invites the teacher on duty to give us the official welcome. The teacher does so and hands over again to the pastor who hands over to the member of our team in charge of the program in that school. The programmer introduces Diguna, its meaning and work and asks the children to translate Diguna in Swahili and the local dialect, in this case dholuo. Soon after, the team lines up and everyone introduces themself after which we sing a group song and sit down.
The people handling the skit on that day do their thing and then the preacher of the day steps in and shares the Gospel. An altar call is always done where the kids are invited to invite Jesus into their hearts. Most of the school normally raises its hand to receive Jesus! I don't know if it is sincere, or if done to please the visitors, or if they have no idea what is going on. We try and explain again and the hands are still there, then we pray and they are considered new born believers..God knows exactly what happens in the hearts of those present.
Don't misunderstand, I don't doubt, but I hope to God that they are truly sincere and have understood the Gospel presented to them. The programmer then invites either Mary Mbindyo or myself or both of us one after the other to each sing a song. We have both recently produced music albums and we sing songs either from the albums or from other people's albums. The pastor comes soon after, the teacher gives a vote of thanks and the pastor prays and leads everyone present in the saying of the grace and the program comes to a close.

While we may never meet these kids again, we count it a privilege to share this transformational message to the least of these. Most of these schools are not visited by christian groups on a regular basis and so we are sometimes the only ones in a year to visit them. It feels good to be able to do so but you wish there was solid means of ensuring that there is proper follow-up on the new believers. Kids also get saved, but we hope they find good churches and grow up in the Lord.
Meanwhile, one more week of ministry, 9 schools left, the team is happy and well-fed, and I somehow suspect that some don't look forward to going back home in a week's time.