In September 2014 I had the wonderful privilege of joining the CCF NxtGen Outreach Team headed by Teachers Ruth, Bobbie, Morris, JC, and Bujoh in going to satellite churches in the Philippines to talk about Orange Strategy and Curriculum.

My task was to talk about doing Large Group Orange style, and my partner was Bujoh. As part of the plan, we would simulate a 30-minute LG presentation of an Orange script. For that, we chose the October 12 lesson: responsibility means you can be trusted with what is expected of you.

The skit was rather simple. LG host#1 welcomes the kids, explains the rules of LG, and opens with prayer. Then LG host#2 comes on and says the head of the ministry has assigned him to watch over a plant while he’s away. Unfortunately, LG host#2 does not show he is responsible enough, and the plant dies. The LG storyteller then comes along and talks about responsibility using the Garden of Eden story as an example. This is presented in comic punchlines, punctuated by a jumping praise and worship song, and is actually very fun to do.

Whenever we present this simulation in front of fellow lifeshapers in the CCF outreaches, we ask them–to complete the ambiance of the LG presentation–to behave as if they’re the Sunday school kids of their level. Every single time they are happily game with this.

I play LG host#2 and at one point in the skit, when I return with the dead plant, I insert a bit of ad lib. I say some version of: "Will you pray for halaman so God can bring it back to life? Do you believe God can bring halaman back to life?"

Now what I say here is not a judgment, but an observation. In the few outreaches I’ve been part of where this was the lesson we simulated, the response by my fellow lifeshapers to my ad lib above was a less than enthusiastic yes. In fact, it felt patronizing, or merely obliging. "Do you believe God can make halaman alive and green again?" I ask. "Yeah… sure…" is their reply.

Granted, these adult lifeshapers are watching a make-believe skit on stage, and seeing a dead branch in my hand as prop. Will God really bring back that stick to life, just because we asked? How now, this is just a skit! Why pray for something you know is irrelevant, and frankly, may be impossible? Pray for a dead branch? Ya, ya, of course, God can do anything. But He wouldn’t spring for a wooden stick, would He?

I get it. I get all these adult rationalizations. And yeah, after all, all I’m holding in my hand is a prop.

But speaking from experience as a lifeshaper, whenever I am in front of level B kids (Naphthali, Asher, Gad), and I ad lib some version of the above question. For example, "Will you please pray for Pepperoni Cheesy so they’ll become a better band? Do you believe God can do anything?" The answers I get from kids is always a highly vibrant and enthusiastic "YES!"

Sixty to eighty 4- to 6-year-olds triumphantly expressing their faith in the God who has power over everything. In the God they put their absolute faith in. In the God whom they know hears them every time they open their mouths to pray. To them, God has no trouble bringing a dead plant back to life. Didn’t God once cause Aaron’s rod to grow flowers?

Sometimes really, whenever I host Large Group, I know I’m not just a teacher, but also the one being taught. I see in this kids what Jesus meant to have childlike faith in Him.