You can't go through life stoning people - the report
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know that matters.” Sisters Flossie and Judy know Pastor Saustin Mfune who is associate Children’s Ministries Director at the General Conference, that matters. Over the weekend of October 18-20, The Nottingham Upper Room Seventh-day Adventist Church hosted the visit of a small man with a BIG message. His unspoken theme was, “your children come first.”
The event began at the churches regular meeting place, All Souls Community Centre, with a presentation about parenting and then moved, on the Saturday, to a local Baptist church to cope with the large numbers attending.
Sabbath school is the time Seventh-day Adventists all over the world study the same Bible passage or theme. This weekend the programme was presented by the Wonderful Voices Kids, whose main theme was to ask God to help us love our enemies.
For some the main event was the morning service. Pastor Saustin is a children’s ministries specialist so you would expect him to relate well to the gathered children for the children's story. The story, accompanied by all of the sound effects you would expect, was based on his childhood experience when he was stung by bees while trying to capture them. The lesson he learned was to learn lessons from adults who know better than little boys.
The sermon focused on the importance of laying a solid foundation in the first three years of a child's life. A Biblical base was set as Pastor Saustin related the parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his house on sand. Parents, and church leaders, were reminded that they cannot control the storms of life, but they can control the building of a child's foundation. Using scientific research the congregation were reminded that words viewed as prophetic could be well substantiated. Children truly do have their foundations set in the first three years of life. The reminder for parents and churches was to spend real time, not just quality time, with children in those years – and to provide the best of resources for the children.
The usual food, a feast, was offered for visitors after which a concert was presented with a number of different participants from around the North England Conference.
Look after the lambs
The afternoon programme was again presented by Pastor Mfune as he followed up on the morning's presentation. This time Pastor Saustin focussed on the visual influences upon children in their very earliest years. The audience heard of the danger of subliminal messages found in many cartoons which seep into the subconscious mind of a child and manifest themselves as the child grows older. The reminder, once again, was that it is critical for an expectant mother to provide a positive environment for her growing foetus, as the growing baby is able to pick up influences from the age of six months.
The weekend ended with meetings at our Central church in Nottingham where young people were given advice about courtship and relationship development that were well supported by the Stanborough Press who provided much material to support the weekend’s teaching, preaching and family development activities.
Andile, one of the churches young people commented, ''very powerful'' while one of the originators of the event, Flossie Kainje described her reaction as ''Wonderful, exciting.''
Such weekend events should not just be forgotten. Mothers, Fathers and church leaders who attended the meetings should now be looking at how to apply the teachings to the future good of the numerous children in the church.
