Naftali and Becca join the service at Emmanuel Network Church, Cheltenham.
The Revd Naftali Nkika is visiting the Diocese of Gloucester from our link Diocese of Western Tanganyika (DWT) in Tanzania.
DWT has a thriving children’s ministry and Becca Faal, our diocesan Strategic Lead for Safeguarding Training and Learning has been working with Naftali, who is their Director of Christian Education, for a number of years to develop the safeguarding provision that the Diocese offers, empowering adults to understand about child welfare.
Naftali regularly welcomes at least 250 children to Sunday school and travels to different areas of his diocese to teach Sunday school teachers. This summer he is organising a huge camp for about 600 children over four days. They will sing, pray and learn about the Bible and of course, football brings everyone together too!
Naftali is passionate about getting all children into education, including children with additional needs. Many families in DWT have a lot of children and unfortunately having a child with additional needs can still be seen as something to be ashamed of. “Some parents hide their children, or do not allow them to come to school. They sometimes think that they are wasting time by taking these children to school.”
Naftali not only visits the schools for children with additional needs but also tries to change the narrative by encouraging conversation between parents who send their differently abled children to school and parents who don’t.
He said, “The Church can have an influence through preaching and through visiting different people. We make announcements about the change that we want to see – we want to let people know that we must love one another. Doing bad things to children means we are just competing with God. The Church has a responsibility to encourage people not to do bad things.”
Among many other visits, including Clearwater School, Cheltenham Network Church and St Catharine’s Gloucester, Naftali has been to Sladewood School in Stroud, where he was very impressed with both the welcome he was offered and the resources and facilities.
He said, “I want to thank all those who hosted me and gave me food, especially the Revd Canon Helen Sammon and Becca’s parents and Fiona and Martin. God bless you all so much. I thank God for what he has done – glory and honour be to God because he deserves it.”
Becca said, “We have a really active partnership, which is not just based on visiting each other, but on developing policy and training together.”
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