Think ORANGE: ARE YOU READY?
It’s summer time and while we enjoy cookouts, vacations, swimming pools and lemonade, it is also time to launch our FALL 2008 campaign for our children’s ministry! Exciting things will be happening in the life of our children’s ministry this fall and none of it can happen without YOU!
Thinking Orange is simple. The Church (YELLOW) and the Family (RED) combined gives us a vibrant shade of ORANGE! As a whole, the church spends 40 hours a year with children and the family spends over 3,000 hours with their children. Who has the most influence? It is our hope as a Church Family to give parents the resources and tools to influence their child’s spiritual growth!
To begin, new theme names for each of the classrooms will be introduced this fall, to give the kids ownership of their specific age group!
NEW LIFE’S KID’S CITY
Nursery/Toddlers (ages 0-3 years) WIGGLE WAY
Pre-K (ages 4-5): JUMP STREET
K-2nd graders: UP TOWN
3rd-4th graders: RoutE 34
We are so excited about our Sunday morning curriculum this year. Our Leadership Team has chosen to go with One Vine, an online curriculum company that allows us access to a website full of different choices and ideas for each week’s specific lesson! One Vine is broken into two parts, the main story will be told in a large group setting, so we have done some reconstruction on how our Sunday Mornings will run to accommodate.
The large group worship will consist of kids in K-4th grade, (FOR NOW, at least.) and the message will be told by a team and this time will be known as BIBLE BLVD, the kids will be greeted in their designated classes and escorted to BIBLE BLVD by their small group leaders (CROSS GUARDS) and after BIBLE BLVD, CROSS GUARDS will go back to class and dive into the message with those in their small group!
The MAIN role of a Cross Guards is to challenge the kids in their group to dig deeper in the story that was covered through prayer and scripture. We know that as a church we cannot compete with culture, but we also know that culture cannot compete with community that is built in these small group settings! We encourage our CROSS GUARDS to have fun with the kids and build relationships with them while also influencing their spiritual growth! If your talent is music, sing with them. If your talent is crafts, then craft with them! Allow them to see what JOY it brings YOU to use your talents to serve GOD! Through the One Vine website, you will be given a world of ideas from crafts to discussion topics that fit with each week’s lesson.
***BIBLE BLVD. (Story Theatre)
We are hoping to have a team of STORYTELLER’S whose MAIN role is to explore each week’s Bible story and tell it in a way that the kids will enjoy! Through the One Vine website, you will become acquainted with each week’s story/message and be provided with numerous ideas! As a storyteller you have complete control of your time with the kids (25 minutes). You can sing with them, you can do puppets, skits, dress up as characters or play games. We want these kids to be excited about God’s Word and enjoy being at Church!
A GLIMPSE AT SUNDAY MORNINGS:
Wiggle way and Jump Street
will stay in the traditional classroom format while also covering the same stories as uptown and route 34 in an age appropriate way!
UPTOWN and ROUTE 34
10:15-10:45 Greet Kids
10:45-11:15 BIBLE BLVD
11:15-12:00 Small Groups in Classrooms (with Cross Guards_
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS-FAMILY NIGHTS
We know what a Wednesday Night might look like for a kid, especially during the school year. A typical Wednesday, starts by waking up early in the morning and heading straight to school where they use most of the time and energy in a classroom. We also recognize that after school there is usually a rush of things to do before church, homework, dinner, extra curricular activities and so forth.
This fall and winter our Kids Under Construction (KUC) will explore 1 spiritual virtue a month and will be encouraged to participate in talk back sessions with their COACHES (Teachers)
Our goal is that each week’s virtue, will be carried over to AT HOME conversations, setting the stage for parents to engage their kids in further discussion! We plan to provide information on our new children’s ministry blog coming this fall!
Examples of Spiritual Virtues are: Joy, Patience, Humility, and Courage
We also will be experimenting with fun projects on Wednesdays-science projects, cool crafts, music sign language and other kid friendly activities-our goal for Wednesday Nights is to not only enhance their spiritual lives and build character, but also make it an environment that kids WANT to invite their friends to!
In Discovery zone, our Preschoolers will discover God’s amazing world along side Boz the Bear! Boz, and his friends, Drew and Gracie love to explore God’s world through:
Numbers
Matching
Counting
Sequencing
And
Colors and Shapes
These lessons involve the whole family, with take home resources to explore and investigate new concepts in faith and learning!
Nursery will also be offered on Wednesday Nights for children ages 0-2 years. This will be a time for a child to feel loved and safe while their parents are in a class!
Obviously NONE of this can be made possible without volunteers. We ask that you pray about how God can use you to make a difference in the lives of our kids here at New Life!
It is our goal to build a community within the children’s ministry volunteer team-as they say on Disney’s HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, “WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!”
Please let me know if you have any questions!
LESLIE GALEMA
INTERN, Children's Ministry Coordinator
galemas@yahoo.com
***Keep in mind, that the Cross Guard positions every week accept for the LAST SUNDAY of the month (when kids will be in service with their families)…go ahead, say it… “THAT’S A LOT!” The purpose of Cross Guards are to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS and MENTOR these kids-we can’t do that once a month or every other Sunday. Those of you with small children at home, please know that it is my goal to secure a class for your kids 0-5 years EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY during the 8:30 service, so that you can be apart of a service each week! Also, know there will be subs available for those Sundays that you aren’t able to make it! This will be a huge commitment—I just ask that you are prayerful in your consideration.
SUNDAY MORNINGS:
8:30 Service (kids 0-5 years)
***Rotation***
1.
2.
3.
4.
10:30 Service
Kid’s city
WIGGLE WAY (TODDLERS)
(Every other week)
1. (Lead Teacher)
___________________________
2. (Assistant)
____________________________
3.(Lead Teacher)
____________________________
4.(Assistant)
Jump Street (Pre K ages 4-5):
(Every other week)
1. Teacher
_____________________________
2. Assistant
______________________________
1.Teacher
_______________________________
2. Assistant
______________________________
Up Town (K-2nd grades):
(Every week)
1.(cross guard)
______________________________
2. (cross guard)
______________________________
Route 34 (3rd-4th grades):
(Every Week)
1. (cross guard)
______________________________
2. (cross guard)
_______________________________
**bible blvd. (Story theatre)
1.
2
3.
4.
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS:
(Every Week per Quarter)
Nursery (0-2)
1.
2.
Discovery Zone (Pre-K 3-5)
1.
2.
Kids Under Construction (K-4th)
1 Dianne White
2.
Our children and youth did an extraordinary job leading our worship today! They covered nearly every corner of the morning service, from handing out the bulletins, to giving the announcements and to leading the music. Our youth intern and previous youth member, Ashley Fletcher gave the message and challenged us all to find and define our true identity in Christ. Thank you Ashley!
After service we all went outdoors for our annual block party. Praise God, the rain held off and the wind didn't keep us from having a great time. Thank you so much to all of the hard work so many of you put forth to bring this together. The smiling, happy faces prove it was worth it.
Also, volunteer sign-ups have begun for the fall children's ministry. Think Orange! http://www.nlcckidscity.blogspot.com/ is a new blog that explains more, please take a look! As I heard someone say earlier this week, our children are not the church of the future, they are the church of today. Join us in worshipping and learning with and through them.
