otLIVE Kids Event in a Virtual World

It’s a few minutes before 3:00 PM on a Monday in Manila. Thelma Domingo—who was recently trained to teach our Walk Thru the Bible otLIVE event—waits for her students to log in and get settled before class begins.

Today, Thelma is starting something new. The world is locked down because of COVID19, and she wants her students to continue to learn and engage with the Bible. Her students are children from her church, and she’s going to teach them otLIVE (our live event that teaches the big picture of the Old Testament) over Facebook Messenger.

What started with seven children quickly grew to 44 within a few days. The kids invited their cousins, neighbors, friends, some of whom were unchurched. Thelma had to quickly move from Messenger to Zoom to accommodate everyone. She noticed something else in the Zoom screens: parents, grandparents, nannies, aunts, and uncles were participating too. “It became a family event,” she said. “They were sitting in their living rooms with the kids, watching the lesson on Zoom, and they were involved. They were answering questions and helping the children with their daily assignments about the story. They were also doing the hand signs and the role plays with the kids. It was so much fun!”

Soon, the pastors and leaders in her church asked her what was going on with the children’s church. When Thelma explained that she was teaching the big picture storyline of the Old Testament through otLIVE, the church leadership got involved. They dressed up as the Bible characters—Ruth, Joshua, and others—and participated in the role plays to go along with that day’s Bible story.

The kids loved otLIVE and all that they learned about God’s Word from Thelma. The Zoom format wasn’t a barrier; the kids were engaged and participating throughout the sessions. “They ask me when I will teach ntLIVE, and I tell them I will have to be trained by Pastor Gil first!” she says with a smile.

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Find out more about our otLIVE event and our otLIVE Kids events here.