When Parents and Pastors Come Together, Children Rise
I have been thinking about a verse from Deuteronomy lately. Chapter 6, verse 7. It says to impress God's commandments on your children, to talk about them at home, on the road, when you lie down, when you get up.
I love that image. Faith woven into the ordinary moments of the day. Not just Sunday morning. All of it.
But I also think about what that looks like for our families here in Louisville. A mother who worked the night shift and still got her kids to church. A pastor preaching his heart out in Kinyarwanda while the children in the back pews quietly reach for someone's phone because they can't follow what's being said. These are real things. And they are the whole reason Himbaza exists.
So when February 28th came around, I was so glad to finally see this first Parents and Pastors Workshop happen.
We gathered with parents and pastors from three of our East African refugee church partners (Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA 2), Jerusalem Pentecostal Church, and Comfort Baptist Missionary Church).
Our facilitators were Rev. Dr. Abednego Tunde Samuel and his wife Dr. Peace Bunmi Samuel. They have been in ministry together for nearly twenty years and it shows, not in a showy way, but in the quiet way they hold a room. Dr. Tunde has this way of making you think harder than you expected to. Dr. Peace has a gentleness that makes people feel safe enough to be honest. I served as interpreter for the day and I genuinely loved every minute of it.
The workshop kept coming back to two questions. How do you help your children grow spiritually, emotionally, and physically? And how are you taking care of yourself so you actually have something to give them?
That second question is the one that got people. Our parents carry so much. Many of them are survivors. They are working multiple jobs. They are figuring out school systems and medical appointments and paperwork in a language that still doesn't always come naturally. And on top of all of that, they are trying to raise children who know God and feel at home in their faith community.
What I saw in that room was not people who were overwhelmed, even though they had every right to be. I saw people who were determined. They were asking real questions and listening to each other's answers. The pastors were not just presenting, they were learning too. That matters.
Himbaza (which means praise in Kinyarwanda) was built on the belief that our children belong fully in our worship. Not sitting on the side waiting for the service to end. In it. Praying, singing, telling the stories of their faith in their own voices. But for that to happen, the parents and pastors have to be on the same page. They have to be equipped. They have to be in the room together, like they were on February 28th.
We closed in prayer, had lunch together, and I watched people leave that afternoon with a little more in them than when they walked in. That is what I always hope for.
Thank you to Jeremie for leading Himbaza with so much care, to our facilitators, and to every parent and pastor who showed up. The village is coming together. And our children are watching.
