Testimony of Book named Ministering to Teens

Before starting work at MTEE as a consultant and teacher of English, Simon, who has written the MTEE coursebook Ministry to Teens (which is now being translated into Mongolian), used to teach a course on Ministry to Teens at UBTC Bible College. A female student once shared how she had applied what she had learnt. “In our children’s Sunday school, we had a really naughty 12-year-old boy. His dad has bad eyesight and there is a very negative atmosphere in the house. As a result, the boy caused trouble wherever he went, so that he annoyed many people and often got yelled at. Because of his behavior, his mother had several arguments with other people. The boy did not come regularly to Sunday school, but when he came, he had a very negative influence. During the lessons on Ministry to Teens, I came to realize that I needed to be patient with this boy,  get closer to him, give him attention and love, and sometimes give him an encouraging hug. For a while he did not come, but after a few weeks, I saw him! I tried to encourage him by stroking his hair and asking how he was and telling him that we had missed him. That day, his behavior was better than before. As usual, I asked the kids to memorize a verse. He memorized it very quickly and came to me and repeated the verse.  Then I asked him to check if the other three kids knew the verse as well. Soon, he ran back to me, saying, “Teacher, I have checked and they know it!” Since that time, he  did not become a perfectly-behaved boy, but he did have a much more positive  attitude and was both more actively involved and more obedient. It has made me see that in my ministry to children and young teens, I need to try and connect with the children by showing interest in them, by asking about their family and school. That helps to improve our relationship, so that my ministry can be more effective.”