Life Steps Plan seminars completed

Winnipeg

During the past winter and spring, David Wiebe, director of Christian Education Ministries, has been presenting the Life Steps Plan to Canadian MB churches.

Life Steps helps leaders of children's ministries determine how to offer kids a balanced spiritual diet [see below]. It provides a tool for assessing the current health of the ministry, and assists in setting goals for future programming.

The seminar was held in 17 locations from Ontario to B.C. with more than 430 workers attending from 95 MB churches and about 10 non-MB churches. 68 churches indicated a commitment to becoming a "Life Steps church; that is, they would try to implement the principles of balanced ministry for children in their church. One highlight was the well-attended Vancouver Chinese MB seminar.

The plan itself, and the seminar were very well received. People expressed confidence to guide their staff through the assessment process based on what they had seen and heard. Comments heard were: "I found the six diet items to be quite useful. I feel that they are all important things to be giving our children"; "Presented in layperson's terms"; "Thank you for your passion for kids and CE."

For next year, a second "tour" in the conference is planned: November (Sask.), February (B.C. and Alta.), March (Man. and Ont.) and May (Maritimes). There will be a dual target for this: aiming to train leaders and workers who are new to Life Steps, and consulting with seminar alumni who want help in implementing Life Steps into their churches.

The balanced diet outlined by the Life Steps Plan consists of:

Salvation: Helping children receive Christ and share their faith story
Expressing Devotion: Helping children express their love for God through worship, prayer, Bible reading and basic spiritual disciplines
Bible Knowledge: Helping children learn the Bible content through story telling and memorization
Christian Community: Helping children learn to value Christian friends (peers and adults)
Outreach: Helping children share their faith with friends, and learn about missions
Servant Heart: Involving children in giving, acts of kindness and teaching Christian character.

David Wiebe

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