“There is no junior Holy Spirit.”
Origin
“I did my first Kingdom Kids Workshop in 2008. At the time I was going to conferences about equipping children’s ministers in raising the next generation. I began learning about teaching kids things traditional curriculums did not include: how to hear God’s voice, how to pray for physical healing, how to equip children to minister alongside adults. It’s intergenerational ministry as opposed to always separating the children.
The traditional mindset is ‘let’s have children’s ministry and youth ministry, and when they grow up they will be powerful ministers.’ My mindset changed. I began to really believe that children can be equipped at their age-appropriate level and minister alongside adults using their gifts, and be made to feel like they truly are part of the body of Christ and valued from a young child. Children can hear the voice of God as they are learning alongside adults. There is no junior Holy Spirit.
My husband Rob was a senior pastor, and he trusted me. He gave me the green light and go-ahead to try to teach the kids and push the limits of what children can actually learn and operate in. I literally took ten years of trying different lessons and seeing what the kids can be equipped in and released in. The workshop is a summary of those ten years of working with children and youth firsthand.
We want to make sure that the children and youth are growing up in a culture in a church where they are valued and that their gifts can be activated and practiced so that their faith is real. That was my why for having the workshop to equip the body of Christ in that. Transformation has happened.”
In Michele’s words.
The golden thread
“There is a golden thread of bringing restoration, healing, and encouragement to the heart. If you don’t believe that you are valuable, you will not believe that the dreams in your heart are valuable. I make a case for knowing your value, and throughout pretty much everything that I do, there is that golden thread of bringing restoration, healing, and encouragement to people’s hearts.”
Michele built the Kingdom Kids Workshop out of the same conviction that runs through everything she creates: every person, from the youngest child, is valuable and worth activating.
What it teaches
The workshop is built for the adults in the room. Parents, children’s ministry workers, and school leaders leave with lessons they can run the following week, and with a changed sense of what the children in their care are capable of carrying.
Inside the workshop
- How to teach children to hear God’s voice for themselves, at their own age-appropriate level.
- How to equip children to pray for physical healing rather than waiting until they are adults.
- How to build intergenerational ministry, where children serve alongside adults instead of being separated from them.
- How to give children real responsibility so their gifts are activated and practiced, and their faith becomes their own.
“Where they are valued and their gifts can be activated and practiced so that their faith is real.”
Reach
Where it has gone
- First taught in 2008, then refined across ten years of firsthand work with children and youth.
- Adopted by churches and Christian schools across Hawaiʻi and the mainland, including Moanalua Gardens Missionary Church in Honolulu and Catalyst Christian Community in Long Beach, California.
- Taught today as a conference session, an eight-hour workshop, and an e-course, under the title Building a Kingdom Culture at Home and in Ministry.
- The Raising Kingdom Kids Lesson Book, with more than 100 lessons, is the companion resource for parents and children’s ministry leaders.
What leaders say
“The Kingdom Kids Workshop has been the single most powerful equipping workshop for the parents and children’s ministry workers in our church. It gave them practical tools, and it imparted a living and powerful love and excitement for God.”
“Our experience with Kingdom Kids was amazing. Michele’s ministry sparked and stirred the faith of our entire church. Her creative, innovative, inspired approach enabled our children and youth to experience biblical truths and the Lord Himself in a very powerful way.”
“Her creative and visually-exciting presentations have challenged us and our students to directly download from the Father Heart of God. We are now seeing children as young as five praying bold and encouraging words over other children and even their teachers. Our entire campus culture has changed. Our school will never be the same.”
“The Kingdom Kids Workshop had a very personal and powerful impact on me. I experienced the power of God’s love being poured out upon not only myself, but on other Senior Pastors, ministry leaders and parents. We were being restored, renewed, refreshed, rejuvenated, and revived by the power of the Holy Spirit. I would recommend every pastor, ministry leader, and parent to attend Kingdom Kids Workshops by Michele Okimura! This workshop will change the future of Hawaii by helping us to collectively work together to look at our children, speak to our children, and love our children from the heart of God.”
The workshop is offered today under the title Building a Kingdom Culture at Home and in Ministry. The content is the same. Its companion lesson book is Raising Kingdom Kids.
Where the thread leads
“The golden thread is like the spine. It runs through everything I do and teach and coach and speak on. And it culminates in embracing your brave purpose. And living it out.”
If you are ready to walk this out yourself, Michele coaches authors through the Brave Purpose Author Method.
Bring the Kingdom Kids Workshop to your church.
Michele teaches this as a conference session, a full eight-hour workshop, and an e-course. Tell her about your church or school and what you are hoping to build.
- Based in
- Honolulu, HI