To Sit in church or not to sit in church

This is one of the biggest questions in children’s ministry today.  When do kids start sitting through church?  Do all kids start in  the sanctuary and then move on or do they have there own service?  My vision of what Children’s Church should look like is that the kids are dropped off for there very own worship service.  This service would be a  time of teaching, music, crafts, games, and fun.  The kids would learn about the traditions of the church – why we light the candles, why we take an offering, what it means to be baptized, what communion is, etc. etc. etc.  They would sing songs, have a short age appropriate message then do a craft that follows the theme of the morning.

I think that this is what is best for out children at this time.  This gets kids excited about coming to church and making them lifelong disciples.  After kids are used to this set up the transition into adult worship should be much smoother.  The kids will be used to the format of the service and will have a basic understanding of what is going on in the service.  the age group for this  would be 3 years old – 4th grade with the 4th graders taking an active role in leading worship – IE: prayer offering .  Older kids would be invited to come and assist if they decided but would be limited to once a month so that they are attending adult worship.  I think that it would be fun for the adults to see what the kids are doing so that 2-4 times per year the kids would run the adult service.  There would be major practice involved to get them ready but then they could show the adults how much they have learned.

This is my plan for children’s church and i hope to implement it starting in January!

Whats up?!

So I have been the director here for a month already and boy where has the month of June gone?!?!?!?!?!?

It is already time to start planning for fall programming and it is going to be quite a year in the Forest.  We are going to start painting next Saturday and turn our 3rd floor into a place where children are inspired to come and learn about Jesus.  There are also several new programs that I am trying to find people to volunteer for. The biggest is out NEW 3rd & 4th grade ministry on Wednesday nights called pathfinders.  It is a curriculum based program especially for the 3rd and 4th graders.  The program is incredible.  I wish that I was in 3rd grade again so that I could go through it.  WAIT  . 3rd grade …… NEVER MIND that is just to much more school to go through.
Another exciting development in the Forest is the decision by the leadership to take a much more active role in the cub scout pack that meets at St Paul’s.  I had a meeting with one of the directors when I first started and quickly learned that st Paul’s is not doing its job as the pack sponsor.  So in order to try to correct that we are becoming more involved in the pack.

That is just a taste of the new things to come in the Forest.

It is going to be exciting ad we want YOU to be involved.

Hello world!

Wow what a crazy 2 weeks it has been!

Last week was VBS and I had such a great time floating around and seeing all the kids learning about Jesus.  We had a great group of kids and volunteers.  The best part of the week was playing games with the older kids.  Wow what fun.  If you want to see some pictures from VBS check out www.forestoffaith.com and click on VBS.  I feel so blessed to have such an amazing group of people who step up and lead VBS every year.  I really could not do this job with out the people who give so freely of there time and talents.

Another project that I am working on is cleaning up, organizing, and inventorying the Sunday School Office so that all the Sunday school teachers, Children’s worship leaders and everyone who needs construction paper, markers, crayons, or any other supplies for the church can find them.

I am also in the midst of looking at some new ministries for the Kids.  One that I am really excited about is Upward flag football and Cheer leading.  There is only one issue – I have absolutely no athletic ability at all!! So I am really praying that God will point out the right person to lead this ministry.

We are also going to start painting the third floor in a couple of weeks so if you or some one youknow loves to paint have them call me!