India 2012 Five Minute Mission Moments for VBS, Sunday School and Church
Update from2011 El Retiro Project Some El Retiro Children with their Backpacks sent from E.C. Churches Framing the new enclosed laundry area behind the Dining Hall
Many Hands Make Quick Work of a New Roof A Happy Helper
LESSON ONE INDIA Materials needed for the week: Power Point slide show, the included flag picture or a real flag of India. Mount pictures and maps from all lessons on card stock paper for stability and set up as needed to show power point pictures on a screen. Hello and welcome to our Vacation Bible School Mission Moments. This week we will be learning about a country that is on the other side of our planet. This country is 8517 miles from Pennsylvania. The country s land is bordered by the countries of Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Burma/Myanmar. It is also bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the east and the Indian Ocean on the west. Well, I just gave it away by saying The Indian Ocean. Can you guess what country we will be talking about? That s right. India. (Show Visual 1: Map of India showing border countries and oceans) This week we will be learning about what the Evangelical Congregational Church is doing in India. We will learn about the country and the Evangelical College of Theology. All offerings we collect will go to install a security fence around the campus of the Evangelical College of Theology. (Show Visual 2: Map of World showing location of EC Church Headquarters in U.S. and India) Today let us first take some time to learn about the country of India. The Republic of India is a South Asian country. It is the seventh largest and second most populous country in the world. (Show Visual 3: Tiger/Eagle chart) If you look at this chart you will see that every eagle represents 100 million people that live in the United States. So there are almost 300 million people that live in the United States. Every tiger represents 100 million people that live in India. That is a lot of people!!! Now the size of India is a little over 1/3 of the United States. (Show Visual 4: U.S./India Overlay) There are a lot more people in India living in a lot less space. India has many different landscapes, just like the United States. There are mountains, rolling hills, deserts, beaches, and green landscapes. Another similarity that India has with the United States is that its government is a democracy. India is the largest democracy in the whole world. (Based on number of eligible voters.) (Show a real Indian flag or Visual 5) Let s take a look at the flag of India. Saffron (orange) is on the top. It stands for courage and sacrifice. White is in the middle and represents peace unity and truth. Green is on the bottom and stands for faith and fertility. In the center is a blue wheel with 24 spokes. This is the Dharma Chakra (or Wheel of Law). The symbol or the Chakra is a Buddhist symbol dating back to the 200 th century BC. Does anyone know what language people speak in India? The official language is Hindi. English is also an official language but is used mostly in businesses. There are also 14 other official languages in India. States in India can choose their own official languages. Here in the United States our national official language is English. Since there are so many languages in India, there are many ways to say hello. Throughout the country, the most common greeting is the Hindi word for hello; Namaste. (NAH-mah-stay) Tomorrow we will learn more about the project and what the EC Church of India is doing. Remember to bring in your offering so we can help put a fence around the Evangelical College of Theology.
One Eagle = 100 million people One Tiger = 100 million people 1,200,000,000 1,000,000,000 800,000,000 600,000,000 400,000,000 200,000,000 0 Population in United States Population in India
LESSON TWO INDIA Welcome back to Vacation Bible School. Can anyone tell me what country we are learning about this week? That s right India. (Show Lesson One/Visual 1: map of India) Do you remember what the offerings from this week will go toward? All offerings we collect will go to install a security fence around the campus of the Evangelical College of Theology. Do you know what a College of Theology teaches? Students at this college learn to become Pastors and Missionaries. The students study the Word of God so they can teach others about Jesus. When the students graduate they will go into Manipur and its neighboring states in North East India and its surrounding countries of Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. They will teach God s word to those who don t know Jesus. Here is a picture of the fence that needs to be fixed. (Show Lesson Two/Visual 1: Photo of broken fence) The fence is needed not only for safety but also to keep out animals. You may be surprised by this, but in India cows are allowed to roam freely in the streets. Hindus consider their Indian cows as holy and they are allowed to freely roam anywhere they want to go. (Show Lesson Two/Visual 2 and 3: Cow Pictures) This is one of the reasons why a sturdier fence needs to be installed around the School of Theology. This is what the new fence will look like. (Show Lesson Two/Visual 4: Proposed new fence) Most of the people who live in this part of India are not Christians and have not heard of Jesus. Most people (about 97%) practice other religions like Hinduism or Islam. The Pastors and Missionaries and the Teachers at the Evangelical College of Theology are working hard to teach other Christians to share Gods word with the Hindus and Muslims who live in their area. They also want to share God s word with both the rich and the poor. Just like our country, there are both rich and poor who live there. Here is a picture of a city with cars and stores where people who have money can shop. (Show Lesson Two/Visual 5: City Picture) Here is a picture of a place where the poor would live in one of the larger cities in India. These people are very, very poor. (Show Lesson Two/Visual 6: Slum Picture) Many of these families are so poor that the children cannot go to school. They have to work all day to get a few coins to buy some food. The students at the Evangelical College of Theology are hoping to teach all of the people about Jesus, whether they are rich or poor, Hindu or Muslim. Jesus said, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. (Show Lesson Two/Visual 7: Bible Verse) The students are following Jesus command to share Gods word to those who need his love and forgiveness. We will learn more about the Pastors and some of the people of the Evangelical Congregations Church of India tomorrow.
Jesus said, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20
LESSON Three INDIA Preparation: Make two color copies of the next page and cut apart the 12 resulting tigers. Attach 11 of the tigers in a vertical row on the wall or a poster board. Cut the 12 th tiger into thirds. Discard the middle third. Cut a small sliver from the bottom third and discard the larger piece. Use the top third and the small sliver to illustrate the lesson. What country are we studying this week? India, that is right. What are we raising money for? A security fence around the Evangelical College of Theology in India. What does the Evangelical College of Theology do? They teach students to become Pastors and Missionaries and to share the Good News about Jesus. Let s take another look at all of these Tigers (Show Lesson One Visual 3: Eagle/Tiger Chart to remind children of previous discussion. Then show them the column of 11 tigers you prepared representing India s population.) Remember, each tiger represents 100 million people. Out of all those Tigers, how many do you think are Christian? Do you think it would be 5 tigers? 3 tigers? 1 tiger? Only 3% of Indian people call themselves Christian. That is approximately 30 million people. That would mean that only one third of one tiger would represent all the Christian people in India, and all the rest are other religions like Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist. (Hold up the top 1/3 of the tiger you cut. Attach it to the left of the bottom tiger in the vertical line.) Now in that little portion of the Christians is the Evangelical Congregational Church of India. There are about 70,000 members. Out of those members there are about 200 missionaries. (Show the sliver of the cut tiger to represent the 200 missionaries.) This small number of workers in the EC Church of India, have the job of spreading the Gospel of Jesus to all these other people. That is a huge job! (Attach this sliver to the left of the top third of the tiger.) Remember the verse that we read yesterday? (Show Lesson Two Visual 6: Verse. Read verse out loud together.) Jesus told all Christians to go and make disciples. Just think of the responsibility that God has given to the Pastors and Missionaries and Christians in a country as big as India. Did any of you ever think about becoming a Missionary or a Pastor? What type of things do you think you would need to know or learn? (give children time to respond, help them along with suggestions as necessary: learn about the Bible, how to speak in public, how to write a sermon, how to help people with their problems, how to teach people about God s Word, etc. ) Do you think you need to know and understand the people who you are trying to reach for Jesus? Do you think you should know how to speak their language? Yes, you need to understand the people you are going to talk to about Jesus. Most of the students at the EC College of Theology are from India. So they understand how their fellow countrymen live, their culture, their languages and their beliefs. This will help them reach the people in their country, because they have a common experience. Let s take some time to pray for these Pastors and Missionaries. Let s ask God to help them share His Word with the people of India.
LESSON Four INDIA Preparation: Find someone who will be willing to pretend to be Rev. or Mrs. Lalrosiem Songate, the Indian Director of the Evangelical Congregational Church of India (E.C.C.I.) This position is like our Bishop, except that there are more E.C. churches and more E.C. members in India than there are in the United States. Use this lesson as an interview, or allow Mr. or Mrs. Songate to tell the children about themselves in a story form. If you can, have the storyteller dress up in authentic Indian clothing, or just use loose white or khaki pants and shirt. If possible, gather some authentic Indian curios to share with the children. Did you know that there are more people who attend E.C. churches in India than there are in the United States? Well tonight, we are going to meet Rev. (or Mrs.) Songate (Sone-GAH-tay). Rev. Lalrosiem (Lahl (like now)- ROW-see-um) Songate is called the Director of the E.C. Church of India. He is like our Bishop. His wife s name is Rovi (ROW-vee). Here is a picture of the real Songate family, taken this past Christmas in their home in Churachandpur, Northeast India. (Show Lesson Four/Visual 1: Family picture) And here is Rev. (or Mrs.) Songate to introduce them.. Mr. or Mrs. Songate: We were married in 1991 and we have four children. Our oldest is David, who is 19 years old. Next is Priscilla, who is 15. Then is Bernard, who is 13, and our youngest is Rebecca, who is 9. Rebecca is the same age as some of you. We live in the town of Churachandpur in Northeast India. This town is the headquarters for our E.C. church of India, just like Myerstown is the headquarters for the E.C. church in the United States. We live just a short distance from the seminary where you are raising money to build a secure fence for us. I ( my husband ) was born and brought up in a Christian family but I he ) was only saved at the age of 21. One year after I he ) was saved, I he ) began to sense that God was calling me him ) for full time Christian ministry. After much struggle and prayer, I he ) was able to surrender my his ) life for God s glory. I my husband ) received my his ) Theological training and began my his ) full time Christian ministry in the year 1991 by teaching at our Seminary. After twelve years of teaching, I he ) was elected to be the General Director of our denomination, E.C.C.I., in 2004. I he ) was elected again for the second term in 2008 and I have he has ) been serving in this capacity until today. As you are learning in your Missions Moments, most of the people in India do not know about Jesus. Right now, more than one billion Indian people will eternally perish if no one tells them about Jesus Christ. The E.C.C.I. is making every effort to reach our own people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by training young people for ministry at our Seminary and also by sending and supporting missionaries all across the great land of India. We are facing a huge task and only God can help us to accomplish the Great Commission to one billion plus people of our country who are presently without Christ. Please pray for our family and for all of the Christians in India, that we might be able to reach many of our neighbors and countrymen for Christ. (Read Lesson 2 /Visual 6: Verse, out loud together. Close with prayer for the Songate family and all of the Christians in India.)
LESSON Five INDIA Welcome back to our Mission Moments at Vacation Bible School. What country are we studying this week? India, that is right. What are we raising money for? A security fence around the Evangelical College of Theology in India. We have learned a lot about the country and the work of the Evangelical Church in India. Here is a picture of the city of Churachandpur (Chora-chond-poor). (Lesson Five/Visual 1: City Picture) This is where the Evangelical College of Theology is located. This is also where the E.C.C.I. Headquarters is located. The missionaries have gone out from this city and are reaching different areas in this part of India and beyond. We already talked about different religions in this area. In addition, people belong to different tribes of people. The E.C.C.I. has separate groups of churches that work with different tribes all over Northeast India. Here is a list of the six groups, or as they call them, conferences: Evangelical Assembly Church (EAC) representing the Hmar tribe. It consists of more than fifty local churches. Most of its members are living in the remote hill villages where the region is very poor. Evangelical Association (ECA) representing the Thadou-kuki tribe. (Show Lesson 5/ Visual 2 and 3: Kuki Girl and Musical Band) This first picture shows a Kuki woman in a traditional dress. The second picture shows some of the musical instruments the Kuki people may play during their festivals. Evangelical Organization Church (EOC) representing the Vaiphei tribe. Evangelical Synod Church (ESC), representing the Gangte tribe. Evangelical United Church (EUC) representing the Anal tribe. Bible Believing Evangelical Church (BBEC) representing the Lushai tribe. (Show Lesson 5/ Visual 4: Mizo Girls) Here is a picture of two Mizo girls in dresses that may be worn to a wedding or festival. Each tribe has their own special language. Each tribe also has a very rich history with many different cultural traditions. You can see what a varied and unique area of the world this is. There are different religions, different tribes, and different languages. And all of these cultures are located in the same general area in North Eastern India. The people trained at the Evangelical College of Theology in India will go out and reach this diverse group of people for Jesus. They will share the Gospel message of how Jesus loves them. If possible, play a portion of the following video on a screen for the children to see an actual tribal choir performing in one of our Evangelical Assembly E.C.C.I churches. Follow this link to youtube and click on the Assembly Choir video posted there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-hne3rwtq Finish your time together with prayer for the many Christians in the tribes of Northeast India, as well as the pastors and missionaries who are working to tell others about Jesus.
Kuki Tribal Dress Kuki Musical Group Mizo Girls in Traditional Dress