Estelle Baker

Director

Amanda Pretorius

Administrative Assistant

The Adventist Children’s Ministries Department aims to develop the faith of children ages birth to fourteen. Adventist Children’s Ministries looks at the whole child and seeks to provide multiple ministries that will lead children to Jesus and disciple them in their daily walk with Him.

The mission of the Adventist Children’s Ministries Department is to nurture children into a loving, serving relationship with Jesus.

We aim to equip church leaders and families with the resources and training to connect children to a lifelong, loving relationship with Jesus and His church. We want every child to encounter Jesus and have a lifelong loving relationship with him.

Ellen White wrote that, “It is still true that children are the most susceptible to the teachings of the gospel; their hearts are open to divine influences, and strong to retain the lessons received” (The Desire of Ages, pg. 515).

Our prayer is that every child in the Northern Conference of South Africa will be invited to know Jesus Christ and accept Him as his/her Friend and Savior.

Mission

The mission of the Children’s Ministries Department is to nurture children into a loving, serving relationship with Jesus.

We seek to fulfill our mission by developing the following:

Grace-oriented ministries, in which all children will experience the unconditional love of Jesus, find assurance of acceptance and forgiveness, and make a commitment to Him and develop their faith.
Inclusive ministries, in which the volunteers who minister and the children to whom they minister will be valued and involved regardless of race, color, language, gender, age, abilities, or socio-economic circumstances;
Leadership ministries, in which volunteers are empowered, trained, and equipped for effective ministry to children;
Service-oriented ministries, in which children are given opportunities for hands-on service to people in their neighborhood or city, which could establish a pattern of outreach to others that may well continue through life;
Cooperative ministries, which involve working in partnership with other ministries, such as family ministries, Sabbath School, and stewardship, to support and help parents develop the faith of their children.
Safe ministries, whereby our churches adopt safeguards to protect children from physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse; to choose volunteers with high spiritual and moral backgrounds; and to minimize the church’s liability; and,
Evangelistic ministries, in which children who are not enfolded in the church family will be introduced to the love of Jesus through outreach-programs such as: Vacation Bible Schools, children’s branch Sabbath Schools, Neighbourhood Bible Clubs, and Story Hours.

Philosophy

Children’s Ministries is about developing the faith of children ages birth to fourteen. While Sabbath School provides for religious education once a week, Children’s Ministries looks at the whole child and seeks to provide multiple ministries that will lead children to Jesus and disciple them in their daily walk with Him.

The Bible makes it very clear that children are very special to God. If you examine what the Bible says about children, you will notice a great number of perspectives:

Children are a gift from God. He gives children to parents as special sign of love and
personal fulfillment (Deut. 7:13; Ps. 127:3).
Children are desirable. From creation, God has instructed us to bear children (Gen. 9:7; Deut. 6:3).
Children bring joy and blessings to adults. God provides many benefits to parents through parenting their children (Num 5:28; Deut. 28:4,11).
Children need to be taught how to develop a relation with God. One of our greatest challenges is to pass on our beliefs and understanding of God to our children (Exod. 12:26,37; Deut. 6:1-7; Prov. 22:6).
Children are so valuable to God that He commands us to protect them. Parents are to ensure the spiritual and physical security of their children (1 Sam. 20:42; Ezra 8:21).
God loves children enough to ensure that they receive discipline. (Prov. 3:11-12; 13:24; 19:18; Eph. 6:4).
God enjoys the nature and personality of children and asks adults to learn from them. Scripture identifies attributes such as sincerity, humility, simplicity, and trusting as qualities found in children, and God treasures these characteristics (Matt. 18:3; 19:14; Phil. 2:15).

“If children matter this much to God, then they should matter as much to us too.”

Gracelink

Gracelink curriculum offers our children a balanced emphasis, featuring Grace (Jesus loves me), Community (We love each other), Worship (I love Jesus), and Service (We love you, too).

Developed by the General Conference, GraceLink is a biblically based 12 year curriculum comprising of 624 lessons. Most lessons are story-based, some on scriptural references that teach a specific doctrine. Each story has been selected to develop one of the four dynamics of the GraceLink series: grace, worship, community, and service.

To get the latest GraceLink Sabbath School Bible Study Guides, teacher resources, animations and puzzles visit the GraceLink Official Website here or Download the Gracelink App here.

God Loves Me 28 Ways – pdf Lessons