a well-established and much used ministry tool gets a face-lift
Soularium: Before & After
“We must go join the conversation where it’s happening—or we’ll be ignored,” says Neil Downey, a fellow Cru staff member—like Sarah, he works behind the scenes. “In Acts 17, Paul demonstrates his willingness to adapt his methods of evangelism to address the Athenian culture…(he) was a student of culture and we must be the same; communicating the timeless truth of the gospel in a relevant way.”
We thought we’d give you an update on something Sarah has been working on for several months. Last June 2014, she began to work on refreshing the packaging of Soularium—a package that includes fifty 4×6 original photographic images and five simple exploring questions. Because images connect deeply with our emotions and experiences, they enable us to engage people in spiritual conversation on a deeper level.
This was a tool that we participated in creating at a NYC Arts Summer Project in 2006—about 9 years ago. It’s exciting to see something flourish that we (and you) had a hand in at the start. It is currently in the hands of the printer. We expect delivery of the updated card sets some time in July.
Front left Joana (student in Porto, Portugal), and front right Daniel (American high school student), share Soularium with Portuguese high school students in a mall in Porto, Portugal
PORTUGAL – Samuel Batista stood quietly to the side while students played some getting-to- know-you games. The then-14-year-old Portuguese student was one of several young people Cru staff member Shawn Faulkner trained during Cru’s high school spring break trip to Portugal.
Shawn’s team partnered with local ministries to train students(like Samuel) on how to tell others about Jesus—using Soularium, a spiritual conversation tool that uses photo cards.
A week after Samuel watched the getting-to-know-you games, he went to a Cru High School party to return the Soularium cards to Shawn.
“Oh, those are yours to keep,” Shawn said. “If you are going to use them.”
That is when Samuel shared what happened the day before.
“Our teacher was done teaching and we had nothing to do,” Samuel said. “I was talking with my friend and said, ‘Hey, would you mind if I showed you these picture cards?’ ”
Samuel pulled out the Soularium cards, placing the photos on a table. He asked his friend to pick three cards to represent how he viewed his family, his school and God, just as he was trained to do.
He then asked, “If I told you how you could have a relationship with God, would you be interested?”
When his friend said yes, Samuel took out a Connecting with God booklet and walked him through the salvation message. When Samuel finished, his friend placed his faith in Christ.
Please pray:
- We have quite a bit of work-related travel coming up this summer. Please pray for us and our 22 year old cat 🙂
- For the leadership of Friday Arts Project as we work toward establishing it as a full non-profit organization.
- For our physical health—Kirk is still dealing with kidney stones.
- For our spiritual health—that our marriage and relationship with God would continue to grow.
Blessings-
