A training on discipleship organized by the cluster of evangelical churches of Dano in partnership with the NGO Compassion International Burkina Faso, brought together the facilitators of the child and youth development centers (CDEJ) from September 17 to 19, 2024 in Dano.
This training took place at the Dano Evangelical Church of Christ. It focused on discipleship which is a strategy to bring a person to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
This person commits to walking according to the principles of Jesus as set forth in the Bible. Seventy-four participants including church project management committee leaders, pastors and monitors of child and youth development centers (CDEJ) saw their capacity strengthened in the spiritual teaching of children.
The training focused on the play-centered model with children. It took place in three stages: the theoretical phase, the practical phase with the instructors and the practical phase with the participation of 150 children.
It was Pastor Yacouba Gano
u of the Awana structure (English acronym) which means in French “a tested man is not ashamed” who led the work of the present session.
According to him, this capacity building will enable participants to be able to evangelize children and especially to make them disciples of Jesus Christ through games. “Awana is very much focused on games and whoever talks about children talks about games. That is why we use games to interest children and announce the good news of Jesus Christ to them,” explained the trainer.
Pastor Ganou congratulated the Dano cluster and their partner, the NGO Compassion International, for the mobilization of 74 facilitators from 14 CDEJs. He also expressed his satisfaction with the results obtained by the instructors in the practical phase with the children.
For the animator of the Baptist Church of Bolembar, Koumbassior Hien, the game models learned during the three days of training will improve their teaching in the CDEJ. He wishes to receive training on the curriculum in order to be
tter transmit spiritual messages to children and young people.
As for the secretary of the organizing committee, Modeste Somé, the present session was initiated to give more enthusiasm to the activities of the CDEJ. “The model centered on games will create more liveliness and desire among the animators, the children and even the parents,” stressed Mr. Somé.
This will further motivate children to become disciples of Jesus, he continued. He finds that this training came at the right time with relevant themes and concrete examples especially in the spiritual field.
The secretary of the organizing committee thanked the NGO Compassion International for its support in favor of children.
The practical phase with the children took place in competition with four teams formed for the occasion. At the end of the games, all the teams received awards in the presence of the focal point of the NGO Compassion International in Dano, Lacina Toé.
The Dano cluster brings together the evangelical churches of the provinces of
Bougouriba, Ioba and part of Tuy.
Source: Burkina Information Agency