Children's Ministry Meeting

Hello from Ukraine,

Originally I planned to be back in Wentzville in January so February 13 was going to be perfect for our team meeting.  However, because I will be arriving on Feb. 9, I will not have enough time to fully prepare for the meeting.  So we are going to move the meeting to February 27 at 12:00 in the youth room.

We will be discussing various goals and the vision and direction for 2011 as well as some major changes!

Please let me know if you will be able to attend, so I can make sure we have enough sandwiches and chips!

Please also let me know if you will need childcare and if they will be eating with us..  This meeting will be no longer than an hour.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Changes to KidQuest and FirstLook for Parents and Kids (Part 6 of 6)

PARENTING RESOURCES AND TOOLS

HomeFront Weekly cards are provided as a parent resource with each week’s lesson which will be handed out in KidQuest and FirstLook, placed on the KidQuest table in the foyer and available for download on the children’s ministry resource page at www.wentzvillecc.org/children. The difference between a HomeFront Weekly card and a GodTime/FridgeDoor or Small Talk card is that the HomeFront card is not a review of the past week in KidQuest or FirstLook; it is an introduction to the next week in KidQuest and FirstLook. This resource is designed to help parents intentionally spend time in God’s Word with their children before coming to church each week. The cool part is this: parents are first to introduce their kids to the Bible content they will hear at church. In this way, the church is supporting parents as they spiritually nurture their child.

There are three sections on the HomeFront Weekly: inspire, equip, and support. The first two sections are for parents to read on their own. They give the vision for the Scripture story as well as some background on it. The third section gives parents ideas for a practical setting where they can read God’s Word with their kids.

HomeFront Monthly is a resource you will receive for parents every four weeks. This is a magazine-like publication stuffed with great ideas about how to create spiritually forming times in the home. It has articles and activities on everything from marriage to family, and food time to blessing. This resource is all about equipping parents with really practical ideas about how to create space for the Holy Spirit to spiritually form their kids.

Remember, this isn’t about doing more; it’s about framing the things parents naturally do with some space for God to work.

HomeFront Monthly ties to the lessons and HomeFront Weekly through the common thread of the Environment. Therefore, there is only one HomeFront Monthly for both FirstLook and KidQuest with ideas for engaging both age levels. This is also where you will find the children’s remember verses. They will be learning one verse over four weeks to help them truly hide God’s Word in their hearts.

We hope you will find both of these HomeFront Resources to be life-changing for you as they intentionally create space for God to meet with your family in brand new ways.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FEBRUARY HOMEFRONT WEEKLY AND MONTHLY RESOURCES.

Changes to KidQuest and FirstLook for Parents and Kids (Part 5 of 6)

THREE BIG WORDS YOU WILL KEEP HEARING

Inspire:

I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.

(Jeremiah 32:40, emphasis added)

We have the great privilege of sharing our enthusiasm for how God is moving in this new generation and the future impact that will be theirs to make on this world! Through storytelling we share the vision God has put in our hearts to bring transformation through spiritual formation and family ministry at Wentzville Christian Church. Before lasting change can occur, whether structurally or personally, one must see an envisioned future that is compelling and attainable.

We desire to inspire others with the hope of seeing families and children who:

• Worship from the inside out compelled by the Spirit, not through expected or mandated behavior. They see worship as a lifestyle, not a moment or event.

• Embrace a kingdom-community mindset and choose to usher in the realities of justice, mercy, love, the presence of God, forgiveness, service, and humility to life in everyday situations.

• Possess a global worldview and feel responsible for their brothers and sisters around the world. They feel compelled to make Christ known to every corner of the globe within their lifetime.

• Are knowledgeable about God’s Word, but more importantly, through it they have come to know God personally. They have investigated the Scriptures for themselves and have concluded that God’s Word is Truth and are unashamed of it.

• Know God’s voice, desire to obey it, and then obey it in and through the power of the Holy Spirit as they depend on Him alone for strength.

Equip:

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

(Ephesians 4:11–13 NLT, emphasis added)

Inspiration is only as great as the ability to come alongside and equip those who have been impacted by it toward the desired and agreed upon goal. As we champion our envisioned future and God brings us His workers, we must dedicate ourselves to the equipping of the saints as prescribed in Ephesians 4. The role of the church is to be an equipping and sending agent for the sake of the gospel. As we give ourselves to the task of equipping, we replicate ourselves in others. At its very core, this is discipleship. The one who equips is constantly assessing what the individual needs in order to successfully carry out the envisioned future.

Included in this area of ministry are: resourcing, training, modeling, giving opportunities, offering suggestions, sharing context, and granting access to information and instruction.

Support:

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

(Ephesians 4:16, emphasis added)

The ministry of support is the opportunity to “come alongside” another. This ministry allows those involved in the dream to be realigned over and over again to the primary vision. This often means re-casting the vision and telling the progress in the journey. Support says that no one person will ever journey alone. We believe that the envisioned future will be arrived upon as a collaborative effort between the body of Christ, the giftings within, and the power of God’s Spirit.

The role of the Spirit is primary here as we look to Him for wisdom, comfort, and guidance. As we seek Him and His plans, we are reminded that this is His plan and that He alone placed it on our hearts for His glory.

Included in this area of ministry are: encouragement, prayer, personal spiritual transformation, feedback, God’s Word, clarity on what is needed at each stage, and personal reflection and assessment.


There is only one part left!!!!

Changes to KidQuest and FirstLook for Parents and Kids (Part 4 of 6)

NEW TEACHING MODEL

We believe that the Holy Spirit is God’s chosen teacher; it is He who causes spiritual growth and formation when and as He chooses. As such, we have articulated ten distinct environments that our curriculum will help create in the church and at home.

We desire to create spiritual space, which we refer to as an environment, in which God’s Spirit can move freely in this teaching model. Each environment will not be highlighted each and every week, but over the course of a year, your child will have experienced each environment and seen how God can use them through it. Following is a brief explanation of these ten environments:

1. Storytelling: The power of The Big God Story impacts our lives by giving us an accurate, awe-inspiring perspective of how God has moved throughout history. It further compels us to see how God is using every person’s life and is creating a unique story that deserves to be told for His glory.

2. Identity: This environment highlights who we are in Christ. According to Ephesians 1, we have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed, and given an inheritance in Christ. This conviction allows children to stand firm against the counter-identities the world will offer to bring them destruction.

3. Faith Community: God designed us to live in community and to experience Him in ways that can only happen in proximity to one another. The faith community serves to create an environment to equip and disciple parents, to celebrate God’s faithfulness, and to bring a richness of worship through tradition and rituals, which offer our children an identity within our church.

4. Serving: This posture of the heart asks the question, “What needs to be done?” It allows the Holy Spirit to cultivate a sensitivity to others with a cause that is bigger than one individual life. It helps fulfill the mandate that as Christ followers we are to view our lives as living sacrifices we generously give away!

5. Out of the Comfort Zone: As children are challenged to step out of their comfort zone from an early age, they learn and experience a dependence on the Holy Spirit to equip and strengthen them beyond their natural abilities and desires. We believe that this environment will cultivate a generation that, instead of seeking comfort, seeks a radical life of faith in Christ.

6. Responsibility: This environment captures the ability to take ownership for one’s life, gifts, and resources before God. In addition, a child must be challenged to take responsibility for his or her brothers and sisters in Christ as well as for those who are spiritually lost. Our hope is that the Holy Spirit would use this environment to allow each child to be nurtured within a kingdom-minded worldview.

7. Course Correction: This environment flows out of Hebrews 12:11–13 and is the direct opposite of punishment. Instead, biblical discipline for a child encompasses: a) a season of pain, b) the building up in love, and c) a vision of a corrected path for the individual with the purpose of healing at its core.

8. Love/Respect: Without love, our faith is futile. This environment recognizes that children need an environment of love and respect to be free to both receive and give God’s grace. Innate in this environment is the value that children are respected because they embody the imago dei (image of God). We must speak to them, not at them, and we must commit to an environment where love and acceptance are never withheld due to one’s behavior.

9. Knowing: We live in a world that denies absolute TRUTH and yet God’s Word offers just that. As we create an environment that upholds and displays God’s TRUTH, we give children a foundation based on knowing God, His Word, and being in relationship with Him through Christ.

10. Modeling: Biblical content needs a practical, living expression in order for it to be spiritually impacting. Knowledge is the “what” while modeling is the “how.” This environment serves as a hands-on example of what it means for children to put their faith into action and is live out through our small group leaders.

Only 2 more parts left.  If you want all 6 parts together, you can pick up a packet on the KidQuest table in the church foyer (with samples).

Story about Christmas Hearts of Gold

A parent of two girls in KidQuest sent me this story about what they did for Christmas.  I hope you enjoy!

Samantha came to me the week before Christmas with an armful of books and puppets and fun masks from her room. She had been cleaning in there and brought them to me and in her quietest voice said, "Mom, I want to take these to an orphanage to share with the kids who don't have what I get to have."

Of course I teared up very proudly and we both went to work with ideas of how and where and when. She kept bugging me every other hour - "When can we go, Mom? When?" We first thought of sending them to Ukraine, but you guys were bouncing around so much I wasn't sure you would get the package to share with the children there.

After trying to contact Children's Home and a few other places, We thought of Children's Hospital where Sofie had her surgery. So we bundled up close to 20 little packages - each with a book, puppet or mask, candy cane and "Jesus Loves You" bookmark.

Sofie wanted to contribute one of her Christmas dresses that she knew she wasn't going to wear, so we took that with us too, "in hopes we would find some little girl who could wear it on Christmas instead of her hospital gown" - in Sofie's words. The three of us headed down to Children's the morning of the 22nd. As we pulled into the parking area and garage, the girls kept saying, "Mom, this is so sad - there shouldn't be this many cars here this close to Christmas."

We were allowed to hand deliver the bundles to some children we knew wouldn't be home in time for Christmas. Samantha just beamed with joy as she handed each little child their package...Sofie helping right along side her.

One little girl who must have just finished being examined by her doctor was with her parents and the doctor and was very upset and crying, saw the girls come in the room and hand her the Minnie Mouse headband-bound bundle of fun and she squealed so loudly and a big smile came to her face as she said "Ohh...thank you." Her mom looked at my girls with tears in her eyes and said "Thank you - your timing was absolutely perfect."

Of course, I started tearing up. (Go figure). Sofie found the perfect match for her Christmas dress, too. That trip to the hospital was the best part of our Christmas this year...for all of us. They kept telling me how much they enjoyed doing that for them and want to start doing it every year, it made them feel so good to see them smile. Little did they know how much I was smiling in my heart and how much God was smiling down on them.

Here is a picture of them in front of Children's after they were finished with their deliveries.

Changes to KidQuest and FirstLook for Parents and Kids (Part 3 of 6)

NEW SCOPE AND SEQUENCE

We believe that the Bible is God’s final authority in our lives. Our goal in KidQuest and FirstLook is to investigate what Scripture meant to its original audience and draw out the corresponding biblical truth principle for application. We are going to switch to a historical-literal approach to Bible interpretation and have used an exegetical approach to inductively extract out these biblical truths in order to be true to the original languages in which the Scriptures were authored.

By using this approach to Bible interpretation, we have discerned certain narratives or doctrines to be taught at specific times in the life of a child in order to best represent the truth portrayed in it. For example, the story of Samson is a typical character study done during the preschool or elementary years. In these years, we tend to focus on things that will interest children of this age, such as his strength and his long hair. However, this narrative is a sad story of a leader whom God chose to be used in Israel’s history, but due to his lust for Delilah, his heart was seduced away from honoring God. This story is not about strength and hair—it is about the choice we have to honor God above all else, above all other temptations. We will choose to tell this story in its entirety during the high school years where we will deliberately discuss the issue of seduction and sexuality and Samson’s eventual downfall because of his choices.

Over the past two years, your children have been taught a monthly virtue.  This has its advantages because it teaches your kids how to live in Christ, so instead of completely ridding ourselves of this virtue model, our monthly virtue and character teaching will now take place on Wednesday nights through The Challenge where we will continue to have a monthly virtue backed up by Bible stories.

One of the downfalls of presenting the Bible in a virtue format is that our kids don’t see the “story” of the Bible as it happened.  They get to hear great stories, but those stories are never presented in the order in which they happened so our kids loose some of the effectiveness and BIG PICTURE of God’s story.

We define The Big God Story as God’s entire story … it incorporates all of history, stretching from Genesis to Revelation and even beyond. Our God, the Alpha and Omega, has woven His redemptive plan throughout time. We hope to communicate each Bible story within the context of God’s bigger story, so that the Bible doesn’t become a collection of short stories or Jesus just another character. We also desire for children to understand that they not only play a part in this incredible story, but are also part of a much larger faith community of past, present, and future believers.

In the past, we told fragmented stories of God, Jesus, or other people in the Bible. We did so in ways that were not linear or not part of a greater narrative. Most children who know the stories of the Bible would still not be able to tell you whether Abraham was born before David, or if baby Jesus was alive when baby Moses was. What happens is that our stories are told in isolation and often don’t tell the bigger life story where God is central. Instead, baby Moses is the key figure one day, Noah is the key figure one day, and Jesus is merely the key figure on another occasion. By putting each story in context of the meta-narrative, we can begin to elevate Jesus, the Redeemer, to His rightful place in the storyline.

Therefore, we have organized teaching the Bible’s content in the context of its original storyline. During the preschool years, in FirstLook, children will have the opportunity to hear a Big-God-Story perspective before they hear the particular piece of the narrative. The elementary years, in KidQuest, will be the years in which we focus on telling “The

Big God Story” in its chronological storyline, while the teen years will give us the opportunity to take a greater in-depth look at issues and character studies referring back to the foundation and context of the greater story. Our desire in the children and student ministries is to create an 18-year path through a comprehensive scope and sequence rooted in the Big God Story. We believe this will enable students to have an acute understanding of who God has been throughout history, who He is today, and the part they play in His story both now and in the future.

Come back in a few days to read part 4 of these changes.

Changes to KidQuest and FirstLook for Parents and Kids (Part 2 of 6)

NEW ROLE FOR PARENTS

God has given parents the incredible responsibility of impressing a love for God on the hearts of their children (Deuteronomy 6:5–7). These impressions best occur as a natural overflow from the lives of parents who are seeking to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength. Our hope is that the KidQuest and FirstLook experiences will be congruent with what is being taught at home in order to create a holistic approach to spiritual formation, uniting what children learn in the home and what they learn at church so that each setting reinforces what was experienced in the other.

The home is an essential place of spiritual formation and we have slightly neglected this fact until now. Sometimes in the past, parents were given small ways to interact with their child about the curriculum taught on the weekend, but it was done in a way that wasn’t stressed. However, we believe that parents are vital to the faith process so we are switching to a curriculum that embeds the importance of parental involvement in their spiritual nurture process both at church and in the home in meaningful and tangible ways. We believe that parents are in the best position to evaluate their child’s spiritual journey, and although it may not be a quantitative evaluation, they will be in proximity to daily life in ways to qualitatively discern growth. This type of spiritual relationship can be nurtured during the young years in a child’s life and last a lifetime.

Therefore, we will give parents the training, tools, and resources to build confidence in order to guide their children through authentic God experiences and Bible learning. In addition, we will work on constructing opportunities to offer parents hands-on opportunities to worship with their children prior to the weekend services, participation in the daily blessing or early parts of the KidQuest and FirstLook services, an overview of the scope and sequence each quarter, guided discussion cards, and through an additional family option, materials giving them creative ideas for starting traditions, prayer, and other family fun on a weekly basis at home.

There will be more information about the specific tools and resources in a later blog, so come back in a few days for those details!

Changes to KidQuest and FirstLook for Parents and Kids (Part 1 of 6)

WHY DO WE NEED TO CHANGE

We are in need of a distinctively God-centered curriculum. As such, the goal of every activity, Bible story, discussion, worship expression, personal application, and relationship opportunity within KidQuest and FirstLook is to reveal God’s character so that children and families will truly know him more and more. By finding a curriculum that awakens curiosity, cultivates a desire to know God more, and teaches how to make meaning from God experiences, we create a generation of disciples, parents and children, who are inspired and equipped with their own hunger to grow in faith. We need a curriculum that will foster a love of God’s Word and grow up adults, youth, and children who rightly handle the Scriptures. As you read over the changes in the next few days, hopefully you will discover the changes that make this switch needed and beneficial.

Take Home Resources

Don't forget that you can always download the Take Home Resources for your child on the WCC website in case they lost them or you missed a Sunday.

You will find the preschool Small Talk Cards and elementary GodTime and FridgeDoor Cards!



http://wentzvillecc.org/472069.ihtml

Pictures from 9:00 1st and 2nd Graders

I want to thank the 9:00 KidQuest 1st and 2nd graders for the pictures they made for me and had scanned and emailed.

They are awesome!

I miss you guys so much and can't wait to get back to see all of you!

Merry Ukrainian Christmas

Merry Christmas from Ukraine. Today is the Russian Orthodox calendar Christmas. So everyone here in Ukraine is celebrating. We asked the director of the orphange what we could buy all the kids for Christmas and she said Lemons and Kiwi because the don't get them very often at all.  What a Christmas. We also bought some toys for the rooms as well.

Well anyways, since becoming a parent of 2, I have been doing a lot of thinking about parenting and I have come up with something profound. No one is a perfect parent.  You would think that God would give us a perfect parent in the Bible right, well not exactly, just look at these examples.

• Noah had a drinking problem
• Abraham offered his wife to another man and slept with another woman to have a child.
• Rebekah schemed with her son to deceive her husband, Isaac.
• Jacob's sons sold their brother into slavery.
• David had an affair, and his son started a rebellion.
• Eli lost total control of his how his boys behaved in the temple.
• You would even think that the parents of Jesus would have been perfect right, well they left Jesus in the temple for 3 days before finding him.

So if there are no perfect examples in the Bible, why do we expect ourselves to be perfect parents?  I want to encourage you not to try to be the perfect parent that you see in movies and pictures, because the don't really exist.

I do however want to encourage you with a few words of wisdom about what can make a great parent. If you aspire to have your kids learn these 3 things, then I believe you will be the parent God wants you to be.  I pray that as I journey through parenting that my kids would learn these above all else.

1. My children would KNOW and HEAR God's voice, discerning it from all others.
2. They would DESIRE to obey Him when they heard His voice.
3. They would OBEY Him not in their own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we imagine the end of our child's life, what will be important.....THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.  So everything wee do and teach should point them towards having a loving relationship with him!

However before we can get our children's relationship with Christ right, ours as parents has to be right as well.  That is just what this month's Parent Link is all about.  Please find some time this month to listen to it and get some helpful tips on getting your relationship right with Christ so you can help your kids grow in him too! You can listen by going to www.wentzvillecc.org/parentlink.

Have a Merry Ukrainian Christmas!