Judy Peters: Reaching Out to Kids
When Judy Peters moved back home to Sanostee a few years ago, she found that the little mission church in which she had grown up no longer had a Sunday School. Since growing up in Sunday School had been very important to Judy, she asked if she could start it up again. So now, every Sunday, during the sermon time, five to seven children, ranging from 2nd to 6th grade meet with Judy. Judy begins their Sunday School time with prayer. The children are learning to bring their needs and the needs of the families to God. And they also have a Bible lesson, with children reading the stories directly from the Bible.
When volunteers from “out east” were unable to come to Sanostee to do a summer Vacation Bible School, Judy helped to organize the mostly elderly members of Sanostee Mission to do their own Bible School. Borrowing materials and ideas from the Bethel Shiprock Church, they held a week-long Bible School for 20 children of the community. Through the Bible School, the church hopes to build relationships that provide life-lines to members of the community.
Judy says she “has a passion for Sunday School.” She knows that each of the children needs to be nurtured in their relationship with God and to grow in their knowledge and understanding of his Word. She hopes that as these children “grow up in Sunday School,” they will be the next group of Christian Native American leaders.
Judy also has a passion for prayer. She is part of a small people at Sanostee Mission who meet every Wednesday for intercessory prayer with Pastor Ray Slim. They are seeing God work as they bring the needs of people in their community to him. Being part of a larger Native Christian network is also important. In October of 2007 she was able to travel with an interdenominational group of Native American Christians to a Youth Conference in San Diego. Having a larger group of Christian Native Americans in ministry to be connected to reduces her isolation and provides some of the prayer support she needs.
Judy lives in the Sanostee community and works at the Shiprock Northwest High School in the Work-Study Program there. She really likes working at this small school of 90 -100 students. The staff is able to work individually with the children to help them deal with issues and succeed academically. Judy has a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and she is finishing up an education degree at Ft. Lewis College.