One thing that became clear during our Christian Education Conference was the need for additional individuals (mainly persons of all ages) to attend our programmes – individuals of various ages. We have fantastic pragrammes. We are teaching highly essential things that will help members grow spiritually, become better teachers, and understand who they are as Baptists. However, these programmes will have no impact if individuals do not attend. Consider all the prayer and spiritual preparation, time and effort, money spent, and even risks taken, only to have people not show up as planned. An expected number of persons are budgeted to attend any programme as and when it is scheduled. Even though, ours is not a profit-making industry or job, there is a need for balance so that programmes can be self-sustained.
Prayer, an excellent mobilization strategy: Pray and ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to learn about and be interested in the ministry (Luke 10: 2). Ads Conference Education Minister, you can pray on your own or organize the CECL tp pray fpr mobilization of passionate members. You can find individuals who will pray with you based on attendance only and invite others to the programme.
Make all your CED programmes life span friendly: Consider the emphasis of your programme and how you might create a holistic CED programme. Let it be that people of all ages and groups are interested in attending.
Set up a mobilisation committee: Pray for your team to collaborate in love and unity. Discuss the programme for which you are mobilising in that Committee. If it is a Christian Education Conference (CEC), meet with the Director to learn the objective and focus of the Conference so that you may talk about it in an informed and passionate manner.
Mobilise with Passion: Love the Ministry in which you are serving the Lord. Have a zeal for your Father’s Work, just like Jesus Christ. Let it said of you, as it was of Jesus, that” Zeal for your house will consume me” (John 2:17NIV).
Take visitation seriously: It is essential that as the Education Minister or Conference Coordinator of DTM, FLED, STEM, LED, and SSD, you visit Associations and Churches to see what they are doing and gather feedback. To solve problems in the Ministry, ask questions that will assist you in understanding what problems they are experiencing. Promote the Association’s overall CED programme, including the Conference and Convention.
Establish a good relationship with your Conference President: The relationship between the Education Minister(s) and their Conference President (CP) is critical to the success of the Christian Education Ministry. Ensure your C.P. is aware of, understands, and supports your programmes. Do nothing behind him. Wherever you encounter difficulties, take them to the Lord in prayer, asking God to grant you a good relationship so that the Ministry can progress. Hold the meetings to find out his concerns with you and Christian Education Ministry, and then work on them prayerfully.
Work through the Christian Education Council for mobilization: More successes will be achieved when other people are involved. As a result, a framework has been established to grow the Ministry or apparatus that will help the C.E. (Christian Education) Ministry reach out to the local Church in the same manner that members of the CECL will. When CECL members are brought on board, they share their ideas and opinions and recommend methods to move the Ministry ahead or forward/further in that zone.
Get people who attended the programme to share their positive experiences: The emphasis is on the “Positive” because many individuals focus on the negative rather than the positive. Encourage people to share what they have learned and how it has prepared them for service.
Make the most of social media. However, do not holy depend on it: Use other media platforms. A phone call adds a personal touch. individual messages. Send Text messages in bulk or as individual messages. Personalised wording takes work, but it adds a personal touch. Send emails, make e-flyers for WhatsApp and Telegram, share, like, make posts, and host live spaces on Instagram and Twitter.
Mobilise using the Nigerian Baptist Organs: The Nigerian Baptist Convention is exceptionally blessed with publicity resources. There are numerous channels available for mobilising a larger audience. There is the Nigerian Baptist, New Frontiers Television Station (NFTV), and NBC Telegram, among other outlets. What mobilisation organs can you utilise during your conferences? Do you have a NFTV subscription? Explain your response.
Be deliberate about inviting the Youths: Make your programme youth-friendly from the start. Remember how we discussed the Christian. Educator as a teaching evangelist who brings the youths into the Christian Education Ministry? When the interests of young people are aroused in a programme, they attend it. Since 2021, how many youths have you mentored? How many youths have you recruited for CED Ministries since 2021? What has been the youths’ attitude toward the CED Ministry since you attended CEC 2021? There should be a concerted effort to encourage youths, teenagers, and young people to participate in the CED programmes.
Do not stay within the walls of your denomination: Jesus died for all humans. As a result, you would be selfish if you just shared the Gospel with only members of the Baptist family. Be an educating evangelist as you go down the street, enter a restaurant, travel with your close family, and wherever else. Share your understanding with other Christians. Distribute handbills and leaflets to educate others about the Ministry.
Be Passionate about C.E. Programmes: We talked about inspiring teachers at the 2022 CEC. We discussed the seven rules of teaching and what we can do to make our teaching more creative by focusing on different teaching approaches and how learners absorb: It was an excellent programme. How have you applied what you’ve learned? If you incorporate innovation into your programmes, people will be inspiring instructor is an excellent mobilisation method for increased engagement.
Have a Conference Blue print, a Mobilisation Plan and a Directory: Make a mobilisation plan. Create a directory of all the CED educators in your Conference. Please write down the locations of all the churches in your Association, along with their pastors’ names and phone numbers. Make a workable Plan for promoting the programme throughout the churches during the same hour. Engage and encourage others to ensure that you can cover as many churches as possible. Take advantage of Associational gatherings by grouping your attendees. Divide your visits to Associations into quarters. Call on educators from the various CED ministries, involve them and get them to meet with people at the grassroots. Give letters to their pastors and churches. Give your mobilisation a personal touch.
Conclusion: Working together is essential for mobilizing greater participation in CED work. By collaborating with different stakeholders (CECL), we can share resources, ideas, and expertise. This can help us to reach more people of different age grades and to make a more significant impact. No matter how we choose to work together, we must remember that we are all in this together. We all have a role to play in building a Church that thrives on love and unity through CED.
NBC: Christian Education Conference 2023