Is a tape recorder “old school” or “retro”?
After a lengthy debate, we came to the conclusion that “it all depends on how you look at it!” (And possibly to which generation you belong!)
Whichever it is to you, come with us!
Together, let’s “Rewind” for a quick replay of KidZ at Heart’s past 20 years.
Push “Play” to hear stories about God’s ongoing faithfulness in 50 countries around the world.
And join in as we “Fast Forward” into the exciting plans God has in store for KidZ at Heart now.
But first, we need to “Stop” to share some good news.
KidZ at Heart International has been blessed by Lilly Endowment with a $1.25 million grant through its Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative. These funds are specifically designated for training in the U.S.
As stated in Lilly Endowment’s request for proposals, “The aim of the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative is to help interested parents and caregivers [across the United States] share their faith and values with their children.”
God has uniquely positioned KidZ at Heart to provide high-quality spiritual formation training, trauma-informed care, resourcing of grandparents, and sustainable relationships of support for less-resourced and under-served churches and families typically found in smaller, often ethnically diverse churches located in lower socioeconomic urban or rural centers across North America.
As we tackle this huge expansion of our work in the U.S., we also want to take trauma and family ministry training global.
“Fast Forward” doesn’t even begin to describe what we’ve experienced since the news of this generous grant was released. The desire for training in under-served communities of North America is overwhelming. We desperately need parents, grandparents, and church leaders to bring Christian faith and values to the North American children we love.
Judging by the responses so far, there are far more under-served churches and communities across North America than we will be able to support with this grant alone. It’s no secret that, over many decades, God has been bringing the world to us - especially to our cities. We need to create networks of trainers within refugee, immigrant, and a multitude of ethnic communities and ones to help smaller under-served churches.
As we move forward into this need, will you join us? Imagine what we could accomplish together when children across North America - and those who love them - fall deeply in love with Jesus!
Move “fast forward” with us as we rework our training materials for the under-served church in North America - and then take the revised materials, including trauma-informed care and grandparenting and family ministry - to the rest of the world.
KidZ at Heart “officially” started January 1, 2003.
It all began in Uganda. At our very first KidZ at Heart training, we didn’t ask those being trained to pay for the experience. Instead, we shared 2 Timothy 2:2 with them and told them that their payment to us was to share what they had learned from us with five other people in their church or community.
Edwin Mutai was one of 100 participants at that training. He had a passion for children and Jesus, and he took that challenge to train others seriously.
Edwin returned to his pastor to report his assignment, but his pastor had a different idea. “You’re not going to share what you’ve learned with five people. You’re going to share your new skills and knowledge with all of the children’s leaders in all 50 of the churches within our denomination across Uganda,” his pastor said.
Edwin spent the next year walking from village to town to city to village sharing “Transforming KidZ Ministry” training with the leaders, parents, and grandparents of each church and community. With 50 churches and 52 weeks in the year, he didn’t have much time to waste! He lived on faith that someone in each town would give him a place to sleep and food to eat. And they did.
We continue to entrust reliable people, like Edwin, with training from KidZ at Heart’s “Transforming KidZ Ministry” Training Program. Since those early days, we’ve designed a training of trainers called “Great Trainers Summit” to better prepare our leaders in replicating the ministry. And we see the results of 2 Timothy 2:2 and KidZ at Heart’s training.
In just two decades, KidZ at Heart has impacted children and their parents, grandparents, and church leaders in 50 countries, including the U.S. and Canada. We now have more staff members from outside the United States than from within. Our leaders minister within their own cultures, so the training fits where they live and those trained own what is taught. And children are falling deeply in love with Jesus.
Today, our teams in El Salvador, South Africa, and Uganda are each sending more short-term teams to other countries than our headquarters team is sending from the U.S. and Canada.
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
What’s ahead?
Through our global networks, God is opening doors to take “Transforming KidZ Ministry” to many new places around the world, even where Americans aren’t able to minister, including Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Join us in supporting these trained workers as they cross borders for the gospel.
As we strengthen the KidZ at Heart training materials to include trauma-informed training, imagine with us how much these tools are needed right now around the world. Children and families are being traumatized in every country, not the least of which are Haiti, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, and places most of us never even hear about.
Meanwhile, places like Africa, where famine, disease, and war have wiped out a generation of parents, are desperately in need of grandparent training. According to our Vice President of Programs for Africa, Sipelile Kaseke, many grandparents are finding themselves raising their grandchildren today.
Help us “Fast Forward” “Transforming KidZ Ministry” to equip grandparents and help traumatized children in Africa and beyond. The time is now, before we lose a generation.
Let’s “Pause” to answer a critical question.
What makes KidZ at Heart’s “Transforming KidZ Ministry” training different from other approaches to reaching children?
KidZ at Heart first helps adults fall deeply in love with Jesus and then trains them to help children do the same. This is accomplished through the use of spiritual practices that have been used by orthodox Christians throughout the history of the church.
Based on biblical truth, KidZ at Heart’s “Transforming KidZ Ministry” training helps adults and children engage with the Holy Spirit for the purpose of spiritual formation.
It’s the “pause” in spiritual practices and in a formational style of teaching that allows space and time for children to hear from God, be transformed by him, and know his love. Helping children have a deep, loving relationship with Jesus is far more than just teaching them about God.
Debby, one of KidZ at Heart’s board members, keeps a plastic child’s tent in her classroom. Her students know this as the “tent of meeting” (like the Old Testament tabernacle where people met with God). Children go into the tent of meeting to “pause” with God at any time during the Sunday school class, but only one at a time.
One Sunday, a mother rushed into Debby’s room long after the class had started. Debby had never seen this
mother or the son she left behind, so she knew they must be new to the church.
During the class, the visiting boy chose to enter the tent of meeting, and he didn’t come back out until long after the class was over. Debby and the boy’s mom patiently waited outside the tent until he was done. Nothing more was said.
A week or so later, the church receptionist received a phone call from the mom. She explained that her family was going through some very rough times. Although it was not their practice to do so, the mom turned to the church hoping for help.
“A few days after we visited, we happened to drive past the church. And as we drove by, my son got very excited. He pointed at the church and said, ‘Look mom! That’s where Jesus lives!’”
A holy “pause” in the midst of a day, or during a playtime at home, or in the middle of a meal, or even a traditional Sunday school class gives children (and the adults who love them) space and place to be with God.
Click HERE to find free resources to help you and your family or church with the “pause.”
KidZ at Heart trains adults to help children know and deeply fall in love with Jesus - for a lifetime.
Today, God seems to be pressing the “Fast Forward” button. We’re excited about all he is doing.
Let’s push “Fast Forward” together. Your best gift today will make it possible to
Serve even more of the under-served churches and communities across North America, including multiple ethnic backgrounds and smaller, less-resourced churches.
Bring trauma-informed training to parents, grandparents, and church leaders across the U.S. and around the world to help prepare adults for the increasing number of traumatized children they encounter.
Equip and release grandparents and active seniors to take the gospel to the next generation.
And support KidZ at Heart leaders around the world who are faithfully replicating the ministry
across their own countries and beyond their borders to places Americans could never go. We’ve journeyed together for over 20 years.
Let’s not “stop” now! There’s too much at stake.
