Ethiopia sets an Example

I recently flew to Ethiopia for meetings on something new and wonderful called the 4-14 Window. On my way out of the meetings each evening I saw groups of children huddled around fires, under whatever bridge they could find. In many countries these children would be forgotten, but in Ethiopia there’s a good chance the local church is taking care of them somehow. That’s because the church in Ethiopia has become one of the most enthusiastic defenders of children’s rights in Africa.

During childhood is when most people make the decision to become Christians – between the ages of 4 and 14. Luis Bush, the same man who brought us the geographic ‘10/40 Window’ of unreached people, has now bought into the idea of the ‘4-14 Window’: pressing churches to reach out to the children in their communities. Viva was a big part of the group that developed 4/14.


4-14 Window is now rapidly becoming a global campaign to get the church to take children seriously. Viva is a key part of this movement, and as a member of the campaign’s executive board I am deeply involved in trying to get Viva’s networks to champion 4-14 Window in the countries we work in. This could be huge, and it needs to be!

There are about 1.2 billion people in the 4-14 age range. However, only about 5% of the world’s churches run programmes that reach out to these children. Given that children have the greatest potential to become followers of Christ, shouldn’t we be working extra hard to get them into church?

Viva has been lobbying this idea to the churches of the world for years. We believe God’s heart for children is made obvious in the Bible, and that each church and community needs to adapt this to their particular circumstances.

Nowhere has this been so well accepted as in Ethiopia. There former Justice Minister and Compassion country director Shiferaw Michael has started an initiative to get churches to minister to children. So far 29,000 churches in Ethiopia have taken up the call! It’s because of Shiferaw’s success and the massive church response that our meeting was held in Ethiopia. (Although another country that’s growing fast in child ministry is Mexico, and also Uganda is hot on its heels.) These churches are not just providing Sunday school for the children already in church - they are reaching out to children who need Jesus by hosting everything from after school programmes, art classes, sports clubs and mentoring to orphan care and feeding centres; and some churches are even running their own schools for street children.

By the year 2020 there will be around 7 million churches worldwide. Viva’s mission is to get all those churches actively following God’s command to protect children and bring them up in justice and compassion. I believe Viva's involvement in reaching out to children in the 4-14 Window will be a major contribution to that goal.


~ Patrick McDonald, Viva Chief Executive


To learn more about what Viva is doing in Africa, visit www.viva.org
To find out about the 4-14 Window, visit www.4to14window.com