The young people from Brazil have joined the world-wide chorus of children singing praises to their Lord.
In the first GOWM conference (spring 2016) we featured a report by Teacher Amanda Buelow, Mt. Olive Lutheran School in Mankato, Minnesota, about how her third grade students concieved a world mission project in which they could take a direct part. They invited children around the world to join them, in their own languages, in singing the universally known anthem, "Jesus Loves Me (This I Know)."
The Mt. Olive kids made a video of themselves singing and testifying about their faith in Jesus who loves them. They posted it online, and invited kids in any other country to made their own video, and send it for posting too. Quite quickly videos were received with children singing in Czech, Urdu, and Mandarin. After that, the submissions slowed down — in fact, disappeared.
Until this summer when suddenly another version came, this one from Brazil with young people singing in Portuguese. This is the youth group from Estrela de Belém (Star of Bethlehem) Lutheran Church in the city of Dourados, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. That welcome arrival helped us remind you that the invitation is still open, and we are still eagerly looking for other kids from any other country and language to join the singing.
So we are repeating the request: in whatever country you live, gather some kids, point your video recording device at them, and start them singing their praises to Jesus in the familiar song. We don't expect a polished production — just redeemed lambs proclaiming their faith.
Then send the video to me for posting.
What will we to with them? Mainly gather them, and make them available in various forms, for various uses. Maybe children can use them to learn to praise Jesus in a new language. Maybe we can all just enjoy hearing these young believers express their faith. But primarily we can let the singers know that they are joining other children whom they may not know but who believe in Jesus just as they do, and they are encouraging other kids around the world to know and love their Savior.
Here are the versions of Jesus Loves Me that are already available.
Portuguese (Brazil)
(2 minutes 15 seconds)
English with English subtitles
(3 minutes 20 seconds)
Urdu
(2 minutes 45 seconds)
Czech with subtitles
(1 minute)
Chinese (Mandarin)
(45 seconds)
2 languages — English and Urdu (6 minutes 15 seconds)
4 languages — English, Czech, Urdu, and Mandarin with subtitles (4 minutes)
One stanza in 4 languages — English, Czech, Urdu, and Mandarin (45 seconds)
Return to original language with "show original" button at top left.
Discussion
Encouraging children from all around the world to sing about their Savior is a truly inspiring idea. I thoroughly enjoyed watching each video and seeing the children "testifying about their faith in Jesus who loves them." The best part is seeing how it doesn't matter what country you live in or what religions are dominant there; children everywhere simply love Jesus. You can see a joy on many of their faces for being able to "share the Gospel."
As I was watching the videos and reading about how more are wanted, I thought it could be useful to personally contact WELS churches in foreign countries and ask them. It may reach more people this way. Perhaps you could create one video from all the entries to be shown in WELS churches so congregations everywhere can see the work being done.
While reading your presentation, I began to think of how “children can use them to learn to praise Jesus in a new language” and how the WELS can use these videos to teach children other languages. It’s important for children to broaden their horizons and see that kids everywhere love Jesus. Going the extra step of teaching them the song in other languages could be very beneficial.
Thank you for your contribution to the conference!
I really like your idea about having children from all over the world send in videos of them singing, in their language, a version of “Jesus Loves Me.” I especially liked that you said, “We don't expect a polished production — just redeemed lambs proclaiming their faith.” We all know how difficult it can be to keep children focused on a task like this, but this reminds us that the point is for us all to share our culture and language with each other.
After viewing all the videos of the different versions of the song, I wondered if there was a way to reach out to a group that could do it In American Sign Language. I think that would be a great addition to the project.
I saw this and was interested right away because I’ve never seen anything like it. I thought it was a great idea and wondered how you got the word around to other people and countries to send in their videos. You said, “They posted it online, and invited kids in any other country to made their own video, and send it for posting too.” I was wondering how that spread so far and wide.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful project!
This article reminded me of that one passage in the Bible where it says we should have a “child-like” faith. And in that way, I feel that the videos of the children singing prompt adults to do just that. After seeing the positive responses from these videos, do you plan on including more outreach strategies using children as the models?
Once again, thank you for sharing these videos and contributing to the conference!
I appreciated your article detailing this worldwide mission project among children and was encouraged by seeing these children sing “Jesus Loves Me”. It was neat to observe how these individuals halfway around the world believe the same things we do. The purpose of this project is simple yet significant. Like you said, “we can let the singers know that they are joining other children whom they may not know but who believe in Jesus just as they do, and they are encouraging other kids around the world to know and love their Savior.
In your article, you explained how this project came to exist. “In the first GOWM conference (spring 2016) we featured a report by Teacher Amanda Buelow, Mt. Olive Lutheran School in Mankato, Minnesota, about how her third grade students conceived a world mission project in which they could take a direct part.” I was wondering, what was the reason for these third graders wanting to explore this new mission idea?
Thank you for your contribution!
Thank you for sharing this heartwarming videos of children all over singing “Jesus Loves Me.” So many times I think that we can forget that other Christians in the world know the same songs we grew up with in the USA. I liked what you said about, “We don't expect a polished production — just redeemed lambs proclaiming their faith.” So many times in today’s digital age we can feel the need to digitally enhance everything on our phone. This includes vocal recordings, videos, and pictures. The encouragement to not worry about the quality of the singing videos but the heart that is put into it. If we can get children to just sing for their Savior without caring about what they sound like, that would be the best music ever heard.
I think that sharing these videos of children from different countries singing a familiar song to children in the churches, and classrooms in the US or even other countries could have a big impact on the children watching. So many times I think children forget that there are other children in the world just like them, learning the same things, and singing the same things, could have them want to sing more and learn more about their Savior and how they can help spread the Gospel, since they are the future of the church.
Thank you for sharing these videos to the conference!
I appreciate your article regarding the different school classrooms around the world and how they participated in this mission, a worldwide chorus of children singing praises to their Lord. It was super exciting to learn about the different languages and types of students all proclaiming the same message. It is so neat to see that children from all over believe the same thing: that Jesus loves them. A passage from the post that I enjoyed was this one, “So we are repeating the request: in whatever country you live, gather some kids, point your video recording device at them, and start them singing their praises to Jesus in the familiar song. We don't expect a polished production — just redeemed lambs proclaiming their faith.”
I thought it would be awesome to see more outreach in this type of way. I believe that many more groups could take part in this mission and I would love to see it grow. I think that seeing the other groups of students participating could help encourage others.
After reading your article, I wondered if something like this has taken place before, or if the class at Mt. Olive’s was the first. I would love to develop a better understanding of how everything started and maybe one day I could use it in a classroom of my own.
Thank you for your contribution!
Thank you for sharing this article and I enjoyed watching children’s from different part of the world United together singing “Jesus Loves me”. We must disciple the next generation to view God highly and have a right view of him to the praise of his glory. Once again, thank you for sharing thee videos, and it was encouraging to the youth to participate.
This is an incredible mission! Despite the language barriers, the song and the meaning held within are evident throughout these videos. I loved that you stated that you "don't expect a polished production — just redeemed lambs proclaiming their faith." As a young child, my mother told me repeatedly that all worshiping voices sound beautiful to God.
This may be a far fetched idea, but I think getting these children in contact with each other would be an amazing opportunity. It could be done simply by partnering with the organization that sent the videos and encouraging the children to write letters back and forth. I believe this would have several positive benefits. It could encourage children to communicate with and value those who are different than them. It could provide an opportunity to begin learning another language. It could strengthen their faith, as Christ would be the sole thing that they initially have in common. I believe that something like this would help to develop a passion for mission work in each of these children.
Thank you for sharing your moving mission! May God continue to bless the efforts of each and every soul involved!
I thought it was a very good idea to gather the same song in several languages and see children from different parts of the world singing this song to God. Thanks for sharing this work.
This video/post truly brought me to tears. It is amazing that other children from across the globe are learning about Jesus and His love for all people. This just shows me how big of an impact God and Jesus has on our world no matter where you are from. I also think it is very important for children to learn other languages as our world is becoming more diverse especially here in the United States. These skills could be used for years and years to come throughout these children's lives and what better way to learn a new language than to start with Jesus; our foundation in life!!