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Adopt a pet rock today! That was just one of the businesses featured at last year’s Five Talents Market Day at Church of the Holy Comforter in Vienna, Va. And, it’s possible, that these inanimate “pets” will be available again this year as the church prepares to participate in Five Talents Sunday on Nov. 16.
Last year, Katie Puschel of Vienna, Va., pictured left, was one of the students who was given $5, asked to come up with a business plan and then sell her wares at the Market Day event. At Holy Comforter, students in grades four through six are offered the opportunity to participate using the Five Talents-produced Sunday School curriculum and over the course of three years approximately 50 have showcased their businesses.
“The goal is to provide a framework with which teachers can expose children to poverty and what the Bible says about the poor,” said Five Talents Executive Director Craig Cole. “The parable of the talents contains a powerful and liberating message that everyone, even the poor living on $1 a day, has God-given talents and skills that can help them break out of poverty.”
Each year after the Market Day, the students at Holy Comforter then decide which Five Talents program to support with the money they made from their businesses. Since 2005, they have sent money to Africa, Peru and the Philippines.
Holy Comforter initially held the Market Day event because the church’s mission committee wanted to find a way to engage students with international missions, said Market Day Coordinator Leslie Barnhart.
“I think the students have learned that there are people in other countries that need mosquito nets or that need a cow for their business,” Barnhart said. “They are learning about other parts of the world and are learning a little bit about business.”
Sadly, almost half of the world now struggles for survival on less than $2 a day. However, Christian microlending is proving to be a very effective way to lift one village at a time out of poverty.
With small loans of just $50, poor entrepreneurs can start small businesses – like purchasing chickens to sell eggs. Gifts to Five Talents help, help and help again as these small investments are repaid and the funds loaned out again to others.
In many denominations, the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is the reading for Sunday, Nov. 16.
“It is our hope that using the Five Talents Sunday School curriculum will encourage the church to more fully engage its own talents, to empower the children in the church and to provoke thought and discussion about God’s view on poverty,” Cole said.
For more information or to receive a Five Talents Sunday Kit, call (800) 670-6355, email Helga Buck at helgabuck@fivetalents.org or visit http://www.fivetalents.org/.
Last year, Katie Puschel of Vienna, Va., pictured left, was one of the students who was given $5, asked to come up with a business plan and then sell her wares at the Market Day event. At Holy Comforter, students in grades four through six are offered the opportunity to participate using the Five Talents-produced Sunday School curriculum and over the course of three years approximately 50 have showcased their businesses.“The goal is to provide a framework with which teachers can expose children to poverty and what the Bible says about the poor,” said Five Talents Executive Director Craig Cole. “The parable of the talents contains a powerful and liberating message that everyone, even the poor living on $1 a day, has God-given talents and skills that can help them break out of poverty.”
Each year after the Market Day, the students at Holy Comforter then decide which Five Talents program to support with the money they made from their businesses. Since 2005, they have sent money to Africa, Peru and the Philippines.
Holy Comforter initially held the Market Day event because the church’s mission committee wanted to find a way to engage students with international missions, said Market Day Coordinator Leslie Barnhart.
“I think the students have learned that there are people in other countries that need mosquito nets or that need a cow for their business,” Barnhart said. “They are learning about other parts of the world and are learning a little bit about business.”
Sadly, almost half of the world now struggles for survival on less than $2 a day. However, Christian microlending is proving to be a very effective way to lift one village at a time out of poverty.
With small loans of just $50, poor entrepreneurs can start small businesses – like purchasing chickens to sell eggs. Gifts to Five Talents help, help and help again as these small investments are repaid and the funds loaned out again to others.
In many denominations, the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is the reading for Sunday, Nov. 16.
“It is our hope that using the Five Talents Sunday School curriculum will encourage the church to more fully engage its own talents, to empower the children in the church and to provoke thought and discussion about God’s view on poverty,” Cole said.
For more information or to receive a Five Talents Sunday Kit, call (800) 670-6355, email Helga Buck at helgabuck@fivetalents.org or visit http://www.fivetalents.org/.
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