My First Blog Post

Welcome to my blog! This is my very first blog post. It is all very new and exciting, but also very nerve-wracking. I guess it is kind of like when you meet someone for the first time. It can be a bit awkward. You aren’t sure if what you will say will make that person laugh or cry. If they will decide to stay or walk away. Will this be a special friendship that will last for years or will you never see this person again? Hence, my apprehension. It is scary to put your thoughts and opinions out there for anyone and everyone to read. I’m not sure if they will be accepted or rejected. If people will read my posts and think they are relevant or redundant. But my biggest fear is that no one will even read them at all. However, my desire is not to see myself glorified in any way. My desire is to serve God and to serve others. And my hope and prayer is that you will benefit from what I will write in the future.

Because this is my first post I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce myself and to give a little bit of an explanation of what you can expect to get in the future. Not unlike when you would introduce yourself to that stranger that I mentioned earlier. So here goes…

My name is Marion-Jane Brand. I am married and I have two beautiful daughters. I have been involved in Children’s Church (or Sunday School) for over 15 years. For 6 of those years I was a volunteer at my local church. During that time I studied at Bible College, George Whitefield College, in South Africa, for 3 years, specialising in how to be a Children’s Church Director. After that, I spent a few years working full-time for a church, running all of their Children’s programs. I ran everything from Friday night kids club and Sunday morning Children’s Church to Camps and Holiday Clubs. I have worked in established churches, where I continued with the ministry that was already in place, but I have also been a part of a church plant, where we had to build something from nothing. Over the last few years God has put it on my heart to create material that will help others to teach children God’s Word. I have created two online training courses for Children’s Church volunteers (or anyone who has a love for God and a passion for children) to help equip them to teach God’s word to children. (Check out my website for more details on these courses.) My next project, God willing, will be to create some Children’s Bible lessons to be used to make learning God’s Word fun and exciting. I also have hopes to create some material specifically for parents to help them be able to do Bible devotions with their own children.

My main reason for starting this blog is because I want to equip people to be able to share the gospel with children. I am passionate about Children’s ministry so it is only natural that the majority of my posts will be about Children’s ministry. However, at points I may write a post on a completely different topic. I already have so many different ideas for blog posts, some of which may never come to anything. When I started brainstorming ideas for the various topics I wanted to write about, I started in one direction and then quickly digressed into another and another and another. So it got me thinking… Do I have to “stay in my lane”? We, as people, often wear many different “hats”, which we change as the need arises. I am a Christian, a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter and a sister and a friend. I have been an employee and I have been self employed. Currently, I am a stay-at-home mom and as such I wear many different hats every day. I need to be a doctor, a chef, a gardener, a domestic, a taxi driver, an educator, a disciplinarian and a spiritual teacher, just to name a few. All of these areas of my life define, or at least influence, who I am as a person. Therefore, it’s only right that the various posts that I will write will reflect all these different areas of my life at some point.

Here is a list of some of the topics that I am hoping to write on in the future: How to run a holiday club, What is discipline?, How to be an effective teacher, Teaching Children with special needs, Getting volunteers, Sabbath rest, Screen-time, Parent resources, Obeying the law of the land. And many more exciting topics.

As I mentioned earlier, my desire is not to see myself glorified. I know that, although I may have a wealth of knowledge to impart, I by no means know everything. So I would also like to, from time to time, ask other Christians to write posts about different topics that I may know very little about, if anything at all. For example, when I mentioned starting this blog to my husband, Kyle, he said he would love to write a post on what it is like being a father raising daughters. I know this is something that we have spoken about often. I look forward to reading what he will write about.

I would love to hear from you. Please send me any feedback, comments or questions that you may have on any of the posts. I would also like to hear if there are any topics that you would like me to deal with in the future. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. And like I said earlier, if it is a topic that I do not know much about I will try to find someone else to write about it.

Bye for now.

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26)

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