Kingdom Lenses

In our work with young people, one thing that by God's grace we want them to develop is Kingdom lenses. In other words, we want them to view the neighborhood and the nations with the love, compassion, and justice of God. One way that we have done this recently is by having our kids bring in their spare change for the benefit of others.

During the month of December, our youth programs raised money for the Life House in Mamelodi, South Africa. The Life House is a ministry of the Powerhouse Church in the township of Mamelodi to care for abandoned babies. In the midst of extreme poverty, and a growing HIV infection rate many women feel hopeless when faced with the prospect of caring for another life. This local church, in collaboration with the U.S. based ministry Africa Revolution, seeks to come alongside these mothers and help them care for these precious babies. When we described what the Life House was doing to impact the lives of babies in South Africa, our young people immediately "got it." They routinely brought in their spare change and bills each week. One of our 3rd graders even told her mom she was going to give her $5 allowance to the "babies in Africa!" At the end of the month, our kids had raised $75 towards this worthy cause.

This month we have decided to raise money to Haiti. We have spoken to our kids about the effects of the earthquake, specifically what it has done to families in Haiti. We have watched "Youtube" videos that portray the devastation. Shortly after we decided to raise money for Haiti, we received an email from AWANA Clubs International describing the work of AWANA in Haiti through local churches there. It seemed like a natural fit for our AWANA club at Sunshine (and our other youth programs) to raise money for the AWANA clubs in Haiti! The following video was produced by AWANA, and was viewed by our club this past Monday night.



We will do a follow-up post to keep you updated on how much money our kids have raised for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.