What a comforting and solid spiritual foundation for a child, knowing that: “Jesus chose me.” This was the theme for the Brunstad Christian Church (BCC) Children’s Weekend held in South Africa in October 2021. Organised by the young people of BCCSA, the weekend had a good balance between exciting, challenging and fun activities and sound spiritual teachings. While it was not an interactive conference with real time participation by the children from the other BCC fellowships throughout Africa, the two Sunday School programs were streamed for everyone to see and several fellowships arranged their own local activities.
Each morning the children gathered in the hall, where the spiritual edification was brought to life through lively action songs sung by the children’s choir; an excellent play going back in time to the days of the disciples in the New Testament of the Bible, illustrating what the life of a disciple was like in those days and what it means to be called to a life of discipleship today. And judging by the expressions on the children’s faces, an animated film about heaven and eternity certainly captured their hearts and imaginations. In his messages to the children, Tielman Slabbert (leader of BCC in South Africa), related to them in a simple and practical way how they can experience heaven on earth in their lives now, while they are still children, just by putting into practice what they hear at Sunday School. He explained that being called and chosen by Jesus means to do God’s will instead of their own in their daily lives – at school and at home or wherever they are. He said that doing God’s will is as simple and practical as being obedient to their parents, sharing, showing kindness to their siblings, helping others and so on. The children were given the opportunity to testify about that they heard and how they wanted to put it into practice.
The conference kicked off outdoors on the Friday evening with the cheerful voices of the children’s choir singing the upbeat action song, ‘Heavenly Treasures’. A warm welcome and short message from Tielman Slabbert was followed by a spectacular acrobatics and fire display put on by the young people. This set the tone for a fun filled, action packed children’s weekend. A toddlers’ corner, an outdoor challenge based on the video game ‘Minecraft’, water games, an open air evening picnic cinema, jumping castles and inflatable jungle gyms were just some of the exciting activities organised for the children to enjoy.
A tremendous amount of thought and effort was put into the weekend by the young people and mentors who were positive examples of young disciples of Jesus Christ putting into practice God’s will, by giving selflessly and tirelessly of their time, to make it a happy and memorable weekend for the children.
