I’m sorry if I’ve given you the impression that this was all Simon and Leo’s work with a bit of help from me.

In fact, scores of people have volunteered their time to the Vive Foundation and the Funky Frog Clubs. We have received missionaries from Europe and  employed several local people. At the moment there are three full-time and four part-time members of staff between the Medellín and Coast offices and we employ an illustrator and two finance people part time, too.

Here are some of the key people from the story of Vive:

Yubelly volunteered with the project during her time as a seminary student and then worked for us once she graduated. Committed, loyal and highly organised, we have Yubelly to thank for the fact that everything that belongs to the Foundation is neatly labelled.

José Francisco (aka Panky) was another student volunteer who worked with us after he graduated. Theologian and graphic artist, he made a huge difference to the design of our materials and many of his suggestions are now part of the ways things are done.

Mark, a fellow Latin Link missionary, has not long returned to the UK and his ability to instantly connect with the people on the Coast and his unfailing willingness to help will be missed!

Donate here or pre-order here to help keep us paying those salaries.

My task for my first few years in Vive was to manage the development of the curriculum for the teaching slot in the Sunday meeting. The challenge was to tell the story of the Bible in six episodes (Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, the Church and the New Creation) in a year. Which stories to tell, which to leave out, which to tell every year, which only once, how to recruit and train writers, and how to link the stories together with some sort of narrative thread, these were the questions that preoccupied me all the time I was in charge.

Now my successor and neighbour in the office, María del Mar, has to wrestle with them!

Probably no task of my life has stretched me more but how satisfying when the leaders started reporting that the children were enjoying their classes as never before and responding to what they were learning.

Here’s a report from a leader at one of last year’s camps:

“The mum of one of the boys in the class came up to me and asked what we were teaching the children and when I asked why, she said:

“My little boy came home from his class and said, ‘Mummy, read the Bible to me,'” and when I asked why, he said:

“Because I want to be WISE.”

Donate here to keep the children of Colombia supplied with dynamic, culturally-appropriate, beautifully-designed and theologically rigorous Bible lessons and click here to pre-order my short story, also in support of the Vive Foundation and the Funky Frog Clubs.

The Extreme Afternoon is a key element of a Funky Frog Club but of course, there’s more.

On Sundays there is the Sunday Meeting (not School!) in which the the leaders and children worship God together (this part is called Todos Adorando or All worshipping).

They then divide into three groups (for children aged 3 to 5, 6 to 8 and 9 to 11) to learn the Bible (called Caminando con Jesús or Walking with Jesus).

And how do they learn the Bible? Following the Funky Frog curriculum, of course! More about this tomorrow.

The final and crucial activity of a Funky Frog Club is the Leaders’ Prayer Meeting in which the leaders pray for each other, for the activities of the Club and for the children’s needs.

Think about all this commitment for a moment: Running around in the blazing heat for a couple of hours on a Saturday, participating in the worship and teaching time on a Sunday, the hour of prayer, possibly on another week night PLUS any preparation required for the Sunday lesson…being a Funky Frog Club leader is a serious thing. But then, our Funky Frog Club leaders are seriously committed!

Click here to support the Vive Foundation and the committed leaders of the Funky Frog Clubs.

A key part of the Funky Frog Club is the games afternoon (called the Extreme Afternoon or Tarde Extrema, in Spanish) in which the leaders play alongside the children, preferably games that are energetic and entertaining. The Extreme Afternoon also has space for other activities, like science experiments, kite-making/flying and art projects.

Why play?

You may not have reflected about the importance of play in your childhood but imagine what your life as a child would have been like if you had rarely played and if you had never played alongside adults.

In fact, the games afternoon is the perfect place to build the relationships on which all the activities of the Club depend.

In one place, the leaders instituted a small addition to the activity, gathering the children in small groups after the games and asking for their prayer petitions, an innovation which became part of the training for new Clubs.

Somewhere else, the concept of play was so novel that the leaders took time out of the training weekend to play by themselves. They had never played in their lives!

Click here to support the work of the Funky Frog Clubs.