A TEAM missionary captures the imagination of young people with the gospel. Chris Rogers has served in Austria for 28 years with The Evangelical Alliance Mission, or TEAM.
"Over a Friday through Sunday experience, we invite kids, (especially 6 to 12 years old) to come, and [the Scripture Union field worker] talks about what a city is, what a community is," Rogers explains.
"Each of these three days, he does a devotional that talks about it from God's point of view, and then they set up a city.” Around 40 kids, along with parents and church members, snapped colorful plastic bricks together into dream houses, skyscrapers, a stadium, an airport, a police department, a church, and other city buildings.
By Sunday, a giant LEGO city filled the room. Stretching nearly 50 square feet in size, it was a project admired by the children, their families, and neighbors. As everyone toured the mini-city, kids shared what they learned about Christ during each building phase.
Then, the Scripture Union field worker brought it all together as community members gathered to hear God's Word.
"He preached the sermon on Sunday and talked about being a part of the city of God," recalls Rogers. "It was a great experience for us as a church and for the community.” She says the Gospel is slowly gaining ground in this spiritually-hungry land.
"The kids haven't started coming on a regular basis, but they've been back for other events," Rogers says. "They're kind of testing us: checking us out to see what we're like, what we're about."
Earlier in the year, the Liesing Church partnered with Scripture Union for another event called the "Bible Mobile." It's a truck containing ten computer stations with video games, multimedia presentations, and video clips that share Bible stories.
"As we've done these different events, we see less of a reluctance for kids to come out," Rogers shares. The events are also softening adult hearts toward the Gospel in Vienna.
"They were open to what we were doing, and that's because [Scripture Union] made it fun and gave them an opportunity to see [the Gospel] from a different perspective," says Rogers.
Pray that more people in Vienna will come to faith in Christ.
"When we talk about God, we're not talking about this church or that church," says Rogers. "We're talking about you and God, and what He's done through His Son, Jesus Christ.” Ask the Lord to open hearts and minds to understand this Truth.
"The whole concept of a relationship with God is missing [in Vienna]," Rogers shares. "Many people do not have a good experience or a good taste in their mouth as far as what the Church is, and what it does for people. "It's our burden that the Austrians continue to pick up this burden and that they grasp the Gospel and let it transform their lives.""The work is still great, and so are the needs," says Rogers.
On Sunday, our church had a great little lego city set up on a platform made in the shape of the cross. Many kids from the community came to see it and it was a great platform for sharing the gospel. There was also a presentation done on power point using legos to explain the creation story in Genesis (I did not have to understand everything to laugh out loud it was so funny) and how man is separated from God but for Christ. God uses anything to reach people's hearts!
Based on the same colors as the popular Wordless Book, this gospel presentation idea uses Lego bricks to share the message of salvation with children.
When Jesus taught his first disciples, he used things they were familiar with, like sheep, fish and bread. We can follow in Jesus footsteps by using items that children are familiar with to share with them the gospel message.
Legos are a classic and popular toy that many children enjoy. Combine this classic and popular toy Lego with a classic and popular child evangelism tool The Wordless Book to share the message of salvation with children.
Here are some websites which are about using Legos for evangelism with children:
http://yormans.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/lego-evangelism-why-not/
https://www.letthelittlechildrencome.com/child-evangelism-resources/wordless-book-legos/
