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LOVEWORLD CHILDREN'S MINISTRYCHILDREN'S CELL MINISTRY GUIDEBOOK
May 2016 EditionMay 2016 Edition
© A PUBLICATION OF LOVEWORLD CHILDREN'S MINISTRY
ABOUT THIS GUIDEBOOK
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION
SECTION 2: IMPORTANCE OF THE CHILDRENS CELL MINSITRY
CHILDREN'S CELL STRUCTURE
CHILDREN'S CELL MEETINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
- Prayer Chains
- Outreaches
- Cell Meetings
- Follow Up & Visitations
- Publicity of Church & Ministry Programs
SECTION 3: INSTITUTING A VIBRANT CELL MINISTRY STRUCTURE IN YOUR
CHILDREN'S CHURCH
HOW TO ORGANIZE EFFECTIVE CHILDREN'S CELL MEETINGS
PREPARING THE CHILDREN'S CELL LEADERS FOR THE CELL MEETINGS:
- Cell Meeting Template:
- Simulating The Cell Meetings:
- Put Words in Their Mouths:
- The Holy Spirit is Their Helper:
TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO EVANGELIZE
TEACHING CHILDREN TO PRAY & FOLLOW UP THEIR MEMBERS
CHILDREN'S CELL OUTREACHES
- Cell FunDay
- School Cells or Early Reader Clubs
- After-Service Neighborhood Rhapsody of Realities Distribution Outreach
- Church Catchment Children's Evangelism
- Get Creative!
SECTION 4: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN
GROWING YOUR CHILDREN’S CHURCH MEMBERSHIP THROUGH THE CELL SYSTEM
o Children's Outreach Programs
o How To Use Children's Ministry Materials For Church Growth
C O N T E N T SC O N T E N T S
LOVEWORLD CHILDREN'S MINISTRYCHILDREN CELL MINISTRY GUIDELINES
ABOUT THIS GUIDEBOOK
Dear Children's Ministry Leader / Coordinator / Teacher
Warm greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ
Thank you for the valuable contributions you are making in helping to train and raise
children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as we guide them in the path of their
divine destiny in God to be game changers in their generation for Christ.
The purpose of this Children's Cell Ministry Guidebook is to provide Children's Ministry
Leaders / Coordinators / Teachers an overview, procedures and guidelines for setting up
and running an effective Children's Cell Ministry in our CE Children's Churches.
The guidebook which is to be used in conjunction with The Cell Ministry Manual contains
robust information on how the vision of BLW Children's Ministry is actualized through the
cell system in raising, training and developing children who are filled with the Holy Ghost,
molded by our message and poised to impact their generation with the gospel of Jesus
Christ and vision of our Ministry
Periodic changes may be made in the policies and procedures contained in this guidebook
when necessary without prior written or oral notice. However, we expect strict compliance
and adherence to the policies and procedures at all times.
It is important that you read and understand the contents of this guidebook, including the
parts that are specific to the age level cell groups you are serving.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please talk with your Pastor or
c o n t a c t t h e L o v e Wo r l d C h i l d r e n ' s M i n i s t r y D e p a r t m e n t o n t o
[email protected] or [email protected] through
your regional, zonal or children's ministry coordinating office.
Kindly indicate that you understand and commit to compliance by appending your
signature and date the acknowledgement page enclosed with this guidebook
God bless you
Our Vision: Our vision is to raise, train and develop a generation of Spirit-Filled Children who are molded by our message, demonstrate the character of the Spirit poised to impact their generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ and vision of our Ministry
Our Mission: Through the help of the Holy Ghost, our mission is
· To Introduce and awaken the child' consciousness to our Abrahamic Exceptionalism as a Ministry and a lifestyle
· To help the child find his purpose for life and live it.· To help the child discover his uniqueness, for the edification of the entire body of
Christ.· To teach the child the word of God so that he can enjoy his spiritual blessings and walk
in his inheritance in Christ.· To bring up every child as an agent of social transformation in his world· To train every child to be actively involved in the soul wining cycle of winning, building
and sending.· To build in every child a culture of giving as the key to becoming financial giants· To nurture the child with God's word for the purpose of securing his present and
eternal future in line with God's pre - planned dream.
· To equip them for the future through leadership development trainings and projects
· To raise Children to be thoroughly equipped to be bold, confident and effective witnesses and game changers in their generation for Christ
Our Statement of FaithThis is the statement of Bible doctrine as believed and taught by the Believers' LoveWorld Inc. aka Christ Embassy. This statement of faith has its source in the Bible and is in total agreement with the foundational principles of the doctrines of Christ.
§ We believe that the Bible contains the inspired and infallible Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1: 20-21)
§ We believe that there is only one God eternally existent in three persons; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. (Ephesians 4:5-6, Gen. 1:26, Matthew 3:16-17)
§ We believe in the deity of Christ. (John 1: 1-4; John 10:30; Hebrews 1:1-5)- He was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:30-35)- He was conceived of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:30-35)- He died (John 19:30-35)- He rose again from the dead bodily (John 20:25-29, Luke 24:36-40)- He ascended into heaven bodily (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Matthew 29-30)
§ We believe in the rapture of the church and the Second coming of Christ. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Matthew 29-30)
§ We believe that the only means of being cleansed from sin is repentance and faith in the precious blood of Jesus (Acts 3:19, Luke 24:47; Ephesians 1:7)
§ We believe that regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God is essential for personal salvation (Titus 2:5, John 3:3-5, Ephesians 5:25-27)
§ We believe that the redemptive work of Christ on the cross provides divine healing for the body, salvation for the soul of everyone that believes. (1 Peter 2: 24; Acts 3: 16, Acts 9: 32 -35)
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION
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§ We believe that when an individual receives the Holy Ghost, he receives divine
enablement for Christian service and witness. (Acts 1: 8; 2:4; 3:1 -26; 4:5 - 12)
§ We believe in the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15: 16; 1
Corinthians 6:11)
§ We believe in the final resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the former to
eternal life and the latter to eternal judgment. (Revelations 20: 11 -15; 1
Corinthians 15: 12 - 23)
Our Core Values
We understand and accept that:
· Every child has the capacity to contain deity.
· Every child has the ability to receive and understand the Word of God.
· Every child can cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
· Success or failure in the future is determined by a child's upbringing - Proverbs 22:6
SECTION 2: IMPORTANCE OF THE CHILDREN’S CELL MINSITRY
The bible declares in 2 Timothy 3:14 – 15 “But continue in the things which thou
has learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”.
We see that from a child Timothy knew the scriptures. It is very important that a
child begins to learn the scriptures so that as he or she grows will not depart from it
as the bible says in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up the child the way he should go and
when he is old he will not depart from it”
A lot of times, ministry is relegated to the background when parents are planning
for their children's future and career. You find parents planning that their children
will be Doctors, Lawyers, Economists, Bankers, Engineers, Accountants and the
likes. So the children don't receive training in their fundamental purpose in life,
which is to be Ministers of Reconciliation.
Apart from being a platform for leadership development in the children, The BLW
Children's Cell Ministry helps the children to be trained as Ministers of the gospel
and understand their roles as ministers of reconciliation and as ministers of God,
what exactly they are supposed to do such that when they grow up, ministering to
people becomes their second nature. It wont be something that they learn when
they have grown up but would be part of them.
They will understand the ministry of the Holy Ghost, the place of God's word in
their lives and spiritual things.
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Look at David in the bible; David was a young man who we saw in scriptures the
anointing of God was working in his life. He had older siblings who had being
trained in war but they had not being trained or exposed to the workings of the
Anointing in their lives. And so it is possible for a child to be open and exposed to
the workings of the Anointing in their lives and be trained in spiritual things.
Pastor has told us severally that we can be raised in spiritual things and be raised
in spiritual matters.
Therefore, we see that the essence for the cell system is not just a formality or for
children to gather in small groups but an opportunity for them to be raised in
spiritual things, to learn how to communicate spiritual things, how to teach others
spiritual things. Paul said to Timothy; “And the things that thou hast heard of me
among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able
to teach others also” 2 Timothy 2:2
This is our consciousness in designing a cell ministry for children summarized
below;
We believe and understand that;
o Children can know the scriptures
o Children can be filled with the Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost that children are filled with is not a child Holy Ghost but the same
Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ was filled with and it carries all the abilities of God.
They may not be able to know how to fully activate it or have the wisdom yet
because of their age to be able to put it to work in their lives but it is available to
them. And the more we train them and the more we bring their consciousness to
being aware that they have been anointed of God to do great things, to heal the
sick, to cast out devils, to minister the word of God, the more conscious they are of
it and the more they will do it with boldness and with confidence.
The Cell Ministry for the Believers Children's Ministry becomes an opportunity for
the children to learn spiritual things, practice and demonstrate them. Halleluiah!
This is why it is so critical and important that the cell system is planned and
deliberate.
First of all, we have already being shown a pattern, - the pattern of meetings and
how to run these meetings in the Cell System Manual that we use across the
Ministry.
The children can be trained to start cells in their primary schools; set a time when
they meet and share and minister the word of God to their mates and also how to
respond to the nudging and promptings of the Spirit of God.
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CHILDREN'S CELL STRUCTURE
The Cell System of the Believers LoveWorld Children's Ministry is for children
ages 8 -12years; that is upper Elementary and Preteens Age levels respectively.
The groupings of the cells and cell meetings also follow this structure. Please
see table below;
Cell Group
Upper Elementary Cell Groups
Preteens Cell Groups
Age Range
8 – 10years
11 – 12 years
CHILDREN'S CELL MEETINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
Cell activities are a contributory factor to the cell growth. The purpose of cell activities is basically to give every member of the cell an understanding that everyone is responsible for and to another and for cell growth.Typical activities in the children's Cell include the following:
o Prayer Chains
We can engage the children periodically to pray in a prayer chain to help them develop the culture of intercession and help strengthen relationships between the cell members. The prayer chain works by simply choosing a time belt where the children pray individually wherecer they are for a subject or several subjects at the same time. The prayer reference points can range from praying about the cell outreach, Critical School Exams, the health of a cell member, Children's Church or ministry programs, and so on.
o Outreaches
This kind of outreach is slightly different from the 3rd meeting of the month, which is the cell outreach. Here we are looking at the cell being an extension of the children's church to their neighborhood. This will involve activities like the free distribution of Rhapsody of Realities for kids and Early Readers and other materials for children. It could also include the cell members participating in partnership giving for the purpose of reaching the world through our television networks, outreach to our inner cities and the destitute especially children.
The Adult Cell supervisors should work with the cell leader to mobilize all the members of the cell groups to participate in these outreach activities.
o Cell Meetings
As outlined in The Cell System Manual, The cells have different types of meetings. However, every cell meeting has in it 10 minutes of Bible study time. This is to help achieve our objective of nurturing the children for their spiritual development and growth in the word of God and sound in doctrine. The order of activities for every cell meeting is clearly outlined in The Monthly Cell Meeting Outlines and should be followed by the cell leader guided by the Adult Cell Supervisor. Please find the structure of the weekly cell meetings;
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Week
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Type of Meeting
Prayer And Planning Meeting
Bible Study Meeting
Outreach Meeting
Fellowship Meeting
o Follow Up and Visitations
This is vital aspect of growing the cell and building relationships amongst the
cell members. The cell leader can be guided to follow up their members to
show care and love. You can find more details on this in “Teaching Children to
Follow Up “section of this Guidebook.
o Publicity Of Church And Ministry Programs
The cells are avenues to ensure that announcements on ministry programs,
church programs and the children's church programs are cascaded to every
member for maximum impact.
These announcements should be included in the weekly cell templates that
the cell leaders use for the cell meetings each week.
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SECTION 3: INSTITUTING A VIBRANT CELL MINISTRY STRUCTURE IN YOUR
CHILDREN'S CHURCH
So how do you begin? How do you institute a Cell Ministry Structure in your Children's
Church?
1. Appoint Adult Cell Supervisors, which could be the assistant teacher or any other
assigned member of the Children's Ministry team in your local CE Church who
will ensure that the set objectives and outlined plans for the cells are achieved as
well keep proper records of all cell activities and database of cell members
2. You must establish a Cell Ministry Structure in your children's church
In the BLW Children's Ministry, the cell system begins from Age 8years (Upper
Elementary) to Age 12 years (Preteens) and should be categorized by age
levels.
3. Every Child within the age range of 8-12years MUST be in a cell categorized
according to their ages so that the ministrations are age appropriate.
4. Schedule and ensure that the cell meetings to hold in the allotted times within the
service schedule or as outlined in the scope and sequence of activities in the
curriculum.
5. Due to the varying attention spans of children in these age range, the cell
meeting duration should be 15 – 20 minutes under the supervision of the teacher
or assigned team member or children's cell ministry coordinator
6. The cell meeting structure should follow the prescribed pattern in The Cell
System Manual;
o The Prayer & Planning Meeting
o Bible Study Meeting
o Outreach Meeting
o Fellowship Meeting
(Please find more details in the Cell Activities & Meetings Section in this
Guidebook)
Develop Cell Meeting Templates for the different types of meeting with the
schedule of activities and outline for the meeting clearly highlighted to guide the cell
leader to conduct the meeting.
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HOW TO ORGANIZE EFFECTIVE CHILDREN'S CELL MEETINGS
Cell Meeting Template: Coordinators: Hold a Planning meeting with your teachers and team of Cell supervisors to plan and determine the structure of activities that would take place in each type of cell meeting in the month and what you want to achieve with them. Develop a Cell Meeting Template for the cell meetings (Prayer & Planning meeting, Bible Study meeting, Fellowship meeting and Outreach meeting respectively) that fully outlines in the detail, the run of activities for the meetings. (Please refer to the LoveWorld Children's Ministry Cell Meeting Guide)You can use these templates to simulate or rehearse the cell meetings with the cell leaders to train them and help boost their confidence
Simulating The Cell Meetings: Do your utmost to simulate these different types of meetings whether they will be held in the children's church or as cell meetings in their schools. This would help with making the meetings more interesting and not monotonous, which could lead to boredom
Realize that one of the ways children learn is by imitating. You simulate these meetings by calling out the cell leaders and tell them to go through a cell meeting by recounting the things you have taught them in conducting the different types of cell meetings.
Put Words in Their Mouths: Teach them what to say, how to say it, when to say it, why they are saying what they are saying and what to do when the reaction is not receptive. This gives them confidence as they are better prepared to handle the meeting. As they go through or simulate the cell meeting like this, be very encouraging and applaud their efforts. This gives them confidence and boldness which is so vital as that they are going to be standing in front of their peers; someone may laugh or say something that may make him loose his composure but with your encouragement like this, the cell leader is more confident.
The Holy Spirit is Their Helper:In preparing the children like this, remember to point out from the scriptures that they have a helper in the Holy Ghost. (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8)Tell the children, they have the Holy Ghost with the fullness of His abilities and with time will learn to minister and act by the anointing of God's spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a master communicator and knows how to communicate with them so that they will understand. As they do this, you find that they are growing; growing in their relationship and fellowship with the Holy Ghost, growing in the knowledge of God's word and growing as able ministers of the new covenant.
In addition, in teaching them the word of God, we teach them to communicate God's word so that those they are sharing the word of God with will understand and desire to receive Jesus Christ into their lives.
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TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO EVANGELIZE
Lets look at Evangelism.
Teach the Children how to win souls, as they have to grow their cells.
Children should be taught how to win souls by simulating different scenarios and what they
should say, how they should say, what to expect and what they should do when the response
isn't as expected or favorable.
Train and rehearse these scenarios with them and get them to memorize what to say at
different occasions as simulated.
This has to be a continuous exercise. Have regular meetings with them to review their soul
winning activities and the results and then encourage them when they don't get the results they
expect but then the seeds have been sown and will definitively yield a harvest in the course of
time.
The keys here are to Train, Rehearse until the children become Perfect with winning souls and
evangelizing to their friends and other people
It is very important that the children are taught the basics of Christian ministry such as
praying and follow up of the members in their cell groups.
Teach the children to pray; to pray about their members. Write the words for them and the
words to use in prayer for example a member who is not coming to church regularly, who
isn't feeling well and so on…
Follow up is another very important principle the children should be taught and trained to
carry out. If a member has missed several services or cell meetings, the cell leader can
either call through their parents phone to enquire how that child is doing. This way, the
children are being raised in ministry. They are becoming relevant and useful.
Beyond the protection that the cell system provides, the cell system is where ministry is
developed and the children are nurtured, cared for and prayed for.
Raising the children like this with this consciousness would enable them grow into
ministers and into people that care.
The apostle Paul said of Timothy in Philippians 2:20 “I have no man likeminded who will
naturally care for the flock” even though Timothy was a young man. Remember Paul had
earlier admonished him “Let no man despise thy youth…. (1 Timothy 4:12)
TEACHING CHILDREN TO PRAY & FOLLOW UP THEIR MEMBERS
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CHILDREN'S CELL OUTREACH MEETINGS
rdAccording to our cell ministry structure, every 3 week in the month is for Outreach
Meetings
These meetings presents' opportunities for the children to reach out to their peers
outside the church walls – in their neighborhoods, schools within the catchments
areas.
Please See Suggested Cell Outreach Opportunities Or Events Below;
Cell FunDay:
The concept is reaching children with fun
The targets for Fun day outreaches are friends, family members and children in the
neighborhood or catchments where the church is located.
The church venue is usually the preferred location for the FunDay Outreaches if you
have a good size facility with grounds or you can choose a location that is central to
your church venue.
Outdoor play equipment, light snacks, beverages are typical elements for this
outreach.
School Cells or Early Reader Clubs:
The Children's Church can build relationships with schools in the catchment areas
and schools where children in the church cell groups attend as potential outlets for
reaching children and the distribution of children's ministry materials.
A sustained strategy is to have children's cells such as Early Reader's Club as
outreach arms in the schools. Parents and members of our children's cell groups in
those schools can be the points of contact or in-route into those schools
After-Service Neighborhood Rhapsody of Realities Distribution Outreach
The cell groups can go a distribution reach out with The ROR of Realities for kids and
Early Readers in the neighborhoods around the church catchments for 30mins – 1
hour after the service on Sundays
Church Catchment Children's Evangelism
In applicable locations, The Cell groups can go on evangelism to targeted locations
where children or families congregate such as eateries, fast food restaurants' and
play zones
Create New Opportunities!
Lastly, you can study the opportunities and even the threats that your location presets
to create opportunities for the children to reach other children beyond the church
walls.
As the Spirit of God has enlightened us this year - Our Year of Spreading; Our ministry
and message will spread into every man's world and gain the dominance. This
includes the world or every child in every place on the face of this earth! Halleluiah!
to win souls or in-reach meetings to further strengthen relationships
amongst cell members.
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SECTION 4: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN
We recognize that children are in their formative years and very impressionable and we take great care in ensuring that they are exposed only to the right materials that will aid their growth and raise them to be leaders because we understand that;
- Every child has the capacity to contain deity. - Every child has the ability to receive the word of God- Every child can cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit
So we see that children are individual personalities themselves that have God dwelling in them by Hos Spirit
Leadership development refers to any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or organization. In our Ministry, we recognize that every child have the potential to become a leader thus we teach and guide them to become leaders
How To Develop Children As Leaders This is by no means an exhaustive list but here are a few pointers to help you develop children tp become leaders;
1. Teach them to Pray 2. Teach and train them on how to use ministry materials particularly The Rhapsody
of Realities Daily Devotional for Early Readers 3. Teach them what we believe and do as a ministry like soul sinning,, giving, sowing
seeds, celebrating our Man of God, Partnership, Speaking in Tongues, laying hands on the sick and see them recover.
4. Teach them about our exceptionalism; who we are! 5. Teach them to be bold and courageous even amongst their peers especially
outside the church environment
GROWING YOUR CHILDRENS CHURCH MEMBERSHIP THROUGH THE CELL SYSTEM
Children's church as we have often reiterated is not a place where children are kept away
so that grown-ups can have a quiet service in the main church but where ministry is
actually carried out to children with activities and structures for their spiritual growth and
development.
As the name implies, the cell even though is the smallest organism has the capacity to
multiply itself and grow. This means our cells in the children's church are supposed to
grow and therefore can contribute to the numerical growth of the Children's Church as a
whole.
Pastor has taught us that Growth is not a mystery but the application of revealed
principles and means.
Growing our children's church is possible and must be planned for with well-defined
strategies to be executed to achieve the desired objective.
Here are a few strategies you can use;
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oCHILDREN'S OUTREACH PROGRAMS
These are Programs organized to reach out to children and families beyond the church
walls, non-members of church, non - believers and influencers of children such as children's
policy makers, educators and teachers in our catchments to win them to Christ and the
ministry
Outreach meetings can take place in the church venue, Children's school cells or in a safe
and conducive environment for children depending on your specific objectives and outreach
targets for the Month.
According to our Curriculum structure in the BLW Children's ministry, Our Children's
Churches should organize outreaches on a Monthly basis, which indicates that there, must
be numerical growth and increase monthly.
It is expedient therefore that we prayerfully plan and execute monthly outreaches to reach
our target audiences as highlighted above.
Pastor has said to us that when we pray we receive ideas and visions from the Spirit so that
we are guided as to what to do and the ability is ministered to execute accordingly with
resultant impact.
Here are a few Guidelines in Planning an Outreach Program;
1. Ascertain the venue and get approval from your Pastor
2. Ascertain your target and your target audiences (for example, you want to reach out
to mothers, new mothers, children in primary schools, children in orphanage homes,
children & parents, caregivers and so on)
3. Ascertain the Program content based on the type of outreach (Is it a dance outreach,
musical outreach, etc)
4. Draw up a tentative budget for the event
5. Develop a work schedule and dispatch to all members in your team with specific
tasks and timelines for deliverables clearly outlined.
6. Send a formal notification to parents of the outreach event for their participation
financially, bringing their children for rehearsals and to the event itself as well as invite
other children to attend.
7. Make provision for children's ministry materials for new converts (Rhapsody of
Realities for Kids and Early Readers, Now that you are born again for kids, Faith
confessions for Early Readers, etc)
8. Make provisions to capture data of attendees particularly for new converts and first
timers for post program follow up
9. Follow up each attendee with the intent to have them established as members of our
ministry and your children's church
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o CHILDREN'S MINISTRY MATERIAL DISTRIBUTION OUTREACH PROGRAMS
Our Ministry has a wide range of ministry materials for children by our Man of God, Rev (Dr.)
Chris Oyakhilome DD. Dsc. This includes; Daily devotionals for all age levels, Christian
Comic books & Graphic novels, Confession series, Illustrated Storybooks, sing-along DVD
and much more.
You can organize monthly distribution of children's ministry materials to schools,
neighborhood and orphanages in your catchment areas.
Here are a few suggested ideas for organized community impact ministry materials
outreaches you can use;
o Children's Book Expos in conjunction with LWPM Children's Books Department
through your local CE Church
o Monthly Distribution of children's ministry materials to InnerCity Mission Children's
cells in orphanages and inner city communities
o Children's Summer Day Camps (In Church venues)
o Children's Day Celebration in your location
o Children's Birthday Celebrations at their schools
o ROR Reach Out Events in your country / location and ROR Mission Trips in
conjunction with The ROR department through your local CE Church