GC Children's Ministries Department

Linda Mei Lin Koh, Ed.D.
Director

Linda was born and raised in Singapore. Prior to her appointment to the General Conference Children’s Ministries Department, Linda served for nine years as director of Children’s, Family, and Women’s Ministries of the Southern Asia Pacific Division, based in the Philippines. She obtained her doctoral degree in Educational Psychology and Counseling from Andrews University, Michigan, USA, and has 24 years of teaching experience behind her, ranging from elementary to the college level.

She is happily married to Oliver Koh, former Associate Education Director of the Southern Asia Pacific Division. They have two grown sons, Terrence and Marvin.
She especially enjoys children and people. Hence, she is involved in activities that bring her in contact with them from all walks of life. Apart from her busy work schedule, she also serves as a resource person for several professional organizations, giving talks and conducting seminars on child development, parenting, family and life relationships. She also writes for several magazines in Singapore, such as Motherhood, Teens, and Families Today.

LuWana Kumalae
Administrative Assistant

LuWana has served as an administrative secretary for nearly thirty years in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her wide experiences include working in the local church, the General Conference Education Department, and in educational institutions, such as Loma Linda University, La Sierra Academy, and Sligo Adventist School. Her passion for children became a great asset to the Children’s Ministries Department at the General Conference when she came on board as the administrative assistant in 1991. She simply loves to work for children.

She is happily married to Jonah Kumalae who has worked as an accountant in Adventist Risk Management for forty years. She has four grown-up children, Lei, Lani, Julie, and Jeff and six lovely grandchildren. She loves being a grandmother.

History of the GC Children Ministries

Work in the 1800's

While it is true that Children’s Ministries did not become a full fledged department of the General Conference until 1995, the Seventh-day Adventist Church had long recognized the importance of ministering to children even back in the 1800’s. Work for children began in 1863 when Adelia Patten wrote a two-year series of lessons for children. From 1864 through 1888 children’s lessons were published in the Youth’s Instructor, most of which centered around biblical history and narrative Bible stories. In 1869 G. H. Bell wrote a series of lessons for children.

Work in the early 1900’s

In 1890 Our Little Friend began carrying the Sabbath School lessons for primary and kindergarten children which lasted for sixty seven years. In 1957.Our Little Friend began to have Sabbath School lessons for the Cradle Roll children together with the kindergarten children. Sabbath School lessons for primary children appeared in a new publication, Primary Treasure in 1957. Sabbath School quarterlies for primary and junior ages started in Australia in 1911-1913, and soon more quarterlies were produced for children for the rest of the English-speaking world. From 1933 to 1936 a series of five volumes called Bible Stories for the Cradle Roll appeared. Other curriculum materials for children appeared periodically, both from the General Conference Sabbath School Department and from active and enthusiastic teachers and personnel in local Sabbath Schools around the world.

In the 1960’s several men took an active part in the children’s ministries department: Curtis Barger, Tom Ashlock, and Ben Leibelt. Tom Ashlock was responsible for developing a new Vacation Bible School program, with pencil activities being placed in the Little Friend and Primary Treasurer.

At the same time, several women in North America who had a passion for children also developed materials for them. They were Maureen Luxton, Helen Craig, Louise Myers, and Alice Lowe. Louise Myers wrote a series of program books for the Cradle Roll and Kindergarten levels.

Children's Work Under Church Ministries

Although there was no organized departmental work for children, but at the 1985 General Conference session in New Orleans, the Church Ministries Department was created, which was formed from a merger of four departments: Sabbath School/Lay Activities, Stewardship and Development, Youth, and Home and Family Service. This department includes services and support for children’s ministries work, but it was not until the 1987 world advisory that children’s ministries emerged as a new ministry within the Church Ministries Department.

This department, in cooperation with the Review and Herald and Pacific Press publishing associations produced Sabbath school quarterlies for children. These included the Kindergarten Sabbath School Lessons, Primary Sabbath School Lessons, Junior Sabbath School Lessons, Earliteen Sabbath School Lessons, and Mission (children’s edition). The department also produced program helps for cradle roll, primary, and junior/earliteen Sabbath school leaders.

From 1985-1990, children’s ministries received its impetus from the vision and prompting of Helen Craig, former Sabbath School associate director for children’s Sabbath School, Vacation Bible School, and children evangelism. From 1990-1995, Virginia Smith led out in the work for children’s ministries as one of the various support ministries of the Church Ministries Department.

Emergence of the department

The 1995 General Conference session at Ultrecht marks a watershed for children’s ministries. On July 4, 1995, A. H. Tolhurst proposed a motion from the floor that the Children’s Ministries Department be established as a separate ministry, a separate department of the church. It was seconded and voted, and children’s ministries became the newest department of the church, the only department in history to be suggested from the floor at a session.

In the year 2000 a new children’s curriculum was written for the world church. This was a product of creative thinking and evaluation by many people from all the world divisions. Known as GraceLink, this new curriculum stresses four core aspects of the Christian faith:

1.) Grace, God’s part in the plan of salvation;
2.) Worship, our response to God’s saving initiative;
3.) Community, how God’s grace compels us to live together in harmony as the family of God; and
4.) Service, our response to God’s love as we reach out in soul winning and service to others.

Today, Children’s Ministries has become a worldwide ministry with every division in the world field having a director to oversee the work of spiritual nurturing and training for children.