On Global Children’s Day in 2022, the Mongolian Mission (MM) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church organized a special program for children. They learned how to help, give, and share God’s love with other children from the community, in an initiative called “Serving from the Heart.”

Specifically, this year, Mongolian Adventist churches paid careful attention to the planned activities involving children according to their abilities. God blessed their efforts, which turned out amazing! Church members, families, and youth members loved attending and collaborating for this special Saturday (Sabbath) of the year. I was deeply encouraged and motivated by the parents who participated and helped their children to grow and minister as Jesus ministered.

Participating children learned how to make cookies, cards, and bags to give away. They also creatively wrote out many Bible verses, decorating each one of them according to their meaning. They colored books with their church’s address and phone number and went out and shared them with children in the neighborhood. Some churches invited those members and their children who were no longer attending regularly and welcomed them to church again. They were so happy to return to their churches with excitement and joy.

It is hard to imagine how badly this pandemic affected our children concerning their church attendance. Adults have been able to attend online programs, but the children were left behind. Most of the children come from non-Christian family backgrounds, so we were grateful and happy for this special program where we could offer the opportunity for our children to return to their own local churches and be connected again. We praise God for our children and their engagement in outreach.  

I think celebrating this day was a very practical exercise for our children to learn and serve others with love and compassion, and to tell others that Jesus loves them unconditionally.

As a result of this special program, in 2022, many new children have come to visit Adventist congregations and they are now ready to start attending regularly. I thank God for this, remembering that Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14, NIV).

The original version of this story was posted by the Northern Asia-Pacific Division. Jugderjav Purevdulam is children’s ministries director for the Mongolian Mission.