This year, October 31st was a special Reformation day. It was exactly 500 years that Martin Luther, the monk that introduced an incredible religious reform, nailed the famous 95 theses that would have changed forever the Christianity. Almost all religious entities in the world spent thousands of words to identify this terrific event.
The Children’s Ministry Department (CHM) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Adventists) - Inter-European Region (EUD) decided to give its contribution to this 500th Reformation Anniversary by preparing a special Children’s Sabbath kit with many different tools to help children understand the importance of what the Reformers did in the past.
The main idea was to share with children that Reformation is an ongoing process that never ends and we are called to be reformers also in our present time.
The kit is the result of a collaborative and combined work of the different CHM Unions’ and Conferences’ directors of the EUD territory.
How it works
The CHM Adventist church has established a Sabbath in the year as a Children’s Sabbath. In this special day, the program of the church involves children and also their friends, to enjoy a special worship, a faith’s celebration. For this occasion of the Reformation Celebration, a special kit has been proposed including a series of relevant resources aimed to catch the attention of the kids. In the kit there is a booklet entitled “Stand and Shine – on the track of the Reformers” with a whole-day program, including different topics and items to be used in different ways: a special Sermon focusing on Reformation - the 5 Sola explained to the kids, skits for different age groups, crafts, games, recipes from reformation times. The kit includes also advertising posters, bookmarks, invitation postcards, banners and, last but not least, a theme song with the purpose to involve children in a 360° multisensorial experience.
The main activity is developed around a little walk of 10 stations where group by group children are invited to play the game, with all activities that remember the most important passages of Reformation.
The reaction of the little participants
“The feedback we received from the churches that already celebrated this special Sabbath was surely encouraging” said Elsa Cozzi, EUD CHM director. Children were happy to get involved in such different and inspiring actions and activities. From one church in Hamburg, the Children’s ministries leader said that: “I think it was a very good Sabbath, at least this was the feedback from everyone -children and adults- that participate.”
In Switzerland, Elena Zagara, the CHM director, declared: “It is enriching to see how the project is developed in different churches! It is the delightful part of the team work and the different needs of the churches that realized it”.
One of the first church that experienced the Reformation kit last September, 23 commented: “Excitement from the beginning until the end, entertainment and a great lesson for children’s lives during more than one hour. And that joy influenced parents and all others who were present.”
Saray Vega, CHM director of the Hispanic church in Geneva affirmed: “To have a whole team of leaders ready to work with our children reaffirms the feeling of Unity in our church, for me this is really enriching. And to see that the children enjoy and learn at the same time makes me really happy.”
From an Italian church, Ana Cramarossa shared her comments: “Beside the great success of the day to God’s glory, we were happy to see that parents understood also something more about Reformation and they realized what it is possible to do with their children.”
Reformation time may look a faded and far-in-time experience and this may diminish its importance in the minds and hearts of children. “I think that we should regularly remind to the younger generations how come that today we have all freedom in our faith and believes” said Elsa Cozzi. If nowadays there is open access to hundreds of translations and editions of the Bible, giving access to the message of Grace and Salvation, making it available to everyone, is because long time ago, someone put energies and now and then sacrificed his life for it. “We need to inspire our children by the experiences of our forerunners and let them understand that they are called to be reformers of their generation to prepare Jesus’ return” so Elsa Cozzi.
“We dreamt and worked hard on this project and our main goal was to help youngest generations to understand and catch the idea that the Religious Freedom we are enjoying today is the result of courageous people, despite of the consequences they endorsed for the Truth. They spread the awareness of God’s Grace and only Salvation in Jesus Christ are for free and available to everyone.”
“We want to praise God for having inspired us to work together on this Reformation set and make it available for our children. We hope they decide to walk on the track of the Reformers to join one day their Savior Jesus Christ.”
For more information on the Children Reformation Kit, contact:
Elsa Cozzi Elsa.cozzi@eud.adventist.org
