Reaching Children Through Teaching ESL in Thailand

When we look at the life and teachings of Jesus, we find that Jesus honored and considered children to be very important. We often see Him teaching His disciples to be more like children in the purity of their faith sincerity in their questions about life. Do you remember the time when Jesus disciples tried to stop the children from coming to Jesus? Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14. Let’s be fair to the disciples. They really did have good intentions of not wanting these children to “bother” and “get in the way” of what Jesus was doing. The problem the disciples had is the same problem we adult have many times. We don’t see these children through God’s perspective but through our own perspective.

When Jesus looked at these children, He saw a purity of heart. He saw a genuine desire to know God and a refreshing sense of a genuine faith in God. Jesus did not see these children as a “bother” or “getting in the way” at all but saw them as part of the focus of what God wanted to do on the earth. They were a part of God’s plan. They were important. They needed the touch of the Master’s hand just as much as the adults needed that touch.

With that in mind, we want to ask you to join us in praying for the children in our community that we reach out and teach English too every Saturday morning at our church. We want to especially ask that you pray for our Christmas ESL program coming up tomorrow on December 6. We teach English to about 45 children from Grades 1-6 every Saturday morning at Baan Athitaan Church and we will be celebrating Christmas with all of these children tomorrow in our special Christmas ESL program. Most of these children are from our community in Thailand and have never heard about Jesus. This will be a very special time of planting the seeds of the gospel in their hearts as we tell them the true meaning of Christmas. Please pray that God will melt their hearts and draw them to Himself. The pictures below are from our Children’s ESL Christmas program from the last year.

Prayer Example:“Lord, we thank You that You love children very much and do not see them as a bother but as an integral part of Your plan to reach the world. We thank You for all of the outreach activities that are supported through NTIM and we pray that You would open the hearts of these little ones who do not know You as they listen, many of them for the first time in their lives, to the real meaning of Christmas tomorrow. May You draw their tender hearts a little closer to You tomorrow as the seeds of the gospel are planted in this fertile soil of their hearts. We pray this in Jesus name and for His glory. Amen.”