28 children, 4 workshops, 8 hours of preparation and 1 memorable evening. On the evening of 16 February, a spotlight shone on the creative talent and inspiring faith of LIV’s youth.
From spoken word poetry and music production, to songwriting and dancing, each workshop offered a space and stage for children to create and perform with the help of Legacy One, a Canadian creative arts ministry team. “They are kingdom-focused, gospel-centred ministers who just want to invest in young people’s lives,” Dan Wicks, LIV’s youth pastor, describes Legacy One. “And what more do you need to bring them onto the Village?”
Legacy One is a “fresh voice” for the children. “They’re bored of me!” jokes Dan. But the Legacy team simply added onto the solid foundations LIV has already laid. There are 5 levels of LIV’s youth foundation: (1) Connection; (2) Exploration; (3) Growth; (4) Equipping; (5) Investment. “If you’ve got that as your foundation,” Dan explains, “then you start to bring others into that space for growth.”
The mission of Legacy One is to share the Good News of Jesus and speak hope into mental health through assemblies and lessons at various schools. The heart behind the Legacy One showcase at LIV was to invest in cultivating a space for children to explore what faith means to them in creative and expressive ways – “a space where they can find their gifting, and it can be refined and nurtured and used for other children to see Jesus”, Dan explains.
The evening’s first performance was “Destruction”, a song written and sung by Katlego (one of the LIV youth). It was his first time performing his own song. “I actually enjoyed performing for the Village, and I wish I could perform for more people.”
“Some of you might think I’m just day dreaming
but you don’t know the path I’m walking on,
but I know what the Lord has placed inside
and there was no destruction”
In the week leading up to the showcase, Katlego worked in a studio, using a beat and the Bible to write his song. It was this creative process that helped him connect with God. “Most of us connect in different ways with God,” he says, “Some connect by sitting alone, reading the Bible. Some connect through sport. Some connect with music. I feel like most of the youth on the Village connect with God musically and with creativity.”
For some children, the showcase was quite literally a dream come true. Sne, one of the girls who rapped the spoken word poetry, had a dream years ago of rapping on stage. “So, I wanted to rap more”, she shared. It was also her first time performing in front of people. Sne now has a place where she keeps all her thoughts and words for future raps.
As Dan points out, “There is so much we can unlock in ourselves through creative arts—through being creative, full stop!” The Legacy One showcase blessed the Village to witness and celebrate how these children on stage (as well as the children in the audience) confidently unlocked the freedom of their faith and the power of their story, through their unique gifting.
LIV Is Love
a place we call home
we walk around everyday never feeling alone
we learn to live in community
setting our differences aside we strive for unity
LIV is mahlabatini
the cotton land
a place of hope
where we trust God has a plan
each of our stories unique
but now in this home love will never be in need
LIV is hope
where through faith anything is possible
no matter the obstacle
sometime you go to change the optical
to a new view
trusting God’s mercies are new
hope is found in the morning
taking what was lost and showing His glory
LIV is joy and peace
a place you will see us smile
with joy in our hearts
this is the place our future starts
with a joyful noise we praise His name
knowing we will never be the same
LIV is love
LIV is hope
LIV is joy
and LIV is peace.
Spoken Word Poem written by a group of LIV Youth
