TruBlessings -- New Nursery Curriculum!

Tru Blessings

We are extremely committed to teaching ALL our kids about the love of Jesus as soon as we can. We are always looking for the best way to teach them as well.  With Tru Blessings, we think we have found the perfect curriculum for our precious Nursery kids here at Wentzville Christian Church.  Let me tell you more about Tru Blessings.

Foundational Truths

• God Made Me
• God Loves Me
• God Is With Me

Key Features

• As with curriculum in our other children's ministry areas, we are committed to teaching what we call "The Big God Story." The Big God Story is a method of teaching that Bible that walks our kids through the Bible in chronological order on a yearly basis. Tru Blessings is no different.  However, we are jumping in midstream, so we will start with Genesis in September. 
  
• Repetition
• Each part of The Big God Story will be repeated two weeks in a row, but will utilize different large group storytelling techniques and small group activities each week.
  
• Interactive
• Children will use their senses to explore God’s Word through a variety of touch, see, listen, and move activities and visuals.
  
• Remember and Celebrate
• Remember and Celebrate Sundays happen on the 13th week of every quarter (once per quarter) and will be a weekend to remember the three foundational truths and celebrate who God is. These weekends will align with KidQuest and FirstLook Remember & Celebrate’s.
  
• Worship
•  Kids will worship through music provided with Tru Blessings and encouraged in the home as well.
  
• Environments
• Lessons are not written in any one of the 10 environments, but the parent components will land heavily on the environments and how to create them in the home. These environments will also align with what is being taught in FirstLook and KidQuest (See parenting components.)

Parenting Components

• HomeFront Weekly
• We email out the "take home" sheets to parents we have an email address for every Monday morning. If you would like to sign up to receive this great resource, click here.
  
• Inspire, Equip, Support
• Every week in our email, we hope to Inspire you to be the best parent you can be, Equip you with great Biblical resources for your home and Support you however we can.
  
• Child development tips for parents that align with spiritual formation included in our weekly email.

Here is the basic timeline of what your kids will be experiencing while in the nursery.

• Explore: 15-20 minutes
• Kids explore materials that will help teachers introduce the day's Bible story.
• Discover: 10-15 minutes
•  Bible Story Telling
• Respond: 5 minutes
• Worship
• Prayer
• Bless: 5 minutes
• Snack
• Leaders pray over your children while they are eating
• Connect: 15-30 minutes
• Create a craft that connects to the Big God Story
• Free play

If you have any questions about this transition, please email me.

God's Son Brings Peace (December 18 -- KidQuest)

Last week we heard how Zechariah who did not beleive the angel when he told Zechariah that his son would be John the Baptist and help get the people of Israel ready for the Messiah.

I hope you had an opportunity this weekend to come out and see our Living Nativity.  We had a great time and there were a lot of cars that drove through the hear and see the story of Jesus' birth. This week in KidQuest we are going to learn about the birth of Jesus as well.  We hope you use this blog to talk about the birth of Jesus in your home this week. The HomeFront Weekly has a great game/activity for you to play in the car as you travel. This game will make it very easy to start a conversation about the birth of Jesus.

Old Testament prophecies describe the Messiah as a Ruler who will bring peace to Israel and the nations. The word for peace in the Greek is Eirene, which translates in Hebrew as Shalom. In the Bible, “peace” refers to more than the lack of conflict; it encompasses the actions one undergoes to bring about restoration and wholeness. This understanding of peace is completely different from the pax romana under Augustus at the time. To the Romans, “peace” meant the subjugation of their enemies and the establishing of order. In short, the pax romana was not real peace at all.

Without Christ, the world cannot find peace. Romans 3:16–17 tells us, “Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” In Jesus’ kingdom, peace reigns for everyone who believes. God’s Son brought peace through humility. His peace restores the relationship between God and humans, broken when sin entered the world (Genesis 3:16–19). And those who participatein the kingdom life have the responsibility to use their lives, gifts, and resources to be ambassadors of God’s peace.

We pray we are helping equip you to be one of those ambassadors this Christmas!

Jesus is Here (December 18 -- FirstLook)

I hope you had an opportunity this weekend to come out and see our Living Nativity.  We had a great time and there were a lot of cars that drove through the hear and see the story of Jesus' birth. This week in FirstLook we are going to learn about the birth of Jesus as well.  We hope you use this blog to talk about the birth of Jesus in your home this week. The HomeFront Weekly has a great activity that will help you talk about the birth of Jesus at bedtime.

The news that Jesus was here was what faithful men and women had been anticipating since the garden. In the second chapter of Luke, we read how angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds—not to kings, or noblemen, or men of religious virtue. Shepherds. These men who lived on the fringe of society were chosen to experience the most incredible testimony given by celestial beings. It was here in this humble setting among the most common of people that the “chosen One of God enters creation among the creation” (IVP New Testament Commentaries).

Shepherds were hired by farmers to look after their flock of sheep. They were typically single men who didn’t have families. The duties of shepherds inhibited the men’s abilities to participate in religious activities with the community. However, this did not prohibit them from experiencing the holy. Some scholars believe the shepherds who witnessed the heavenly announcement were not ordinary shepherds. During the time of Caesar Augustus, flocks of sheep were being raised around the city of Jerusalem to be used as sacrifices in the temple. It is quite possible the men who were tending sheep the night Jesus was born were in fact caring for the temple flock. These men may have been tending sheep meant for sacrifices, and then gone on to be some of the first to meet the Lamb of God, who became the final payment for our sin.

Upon finding the Christ child, the shepherds responded by “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20). They broke out in praise because God’s promise had come to pass. Jesus is the deliverer, Master, and anointed King. The prophesied royal leader had come to restore the kingdom. God came not for a select group of people, but for all, with the most common people being the first to receive the news. They were privileged with the opportunity to spread the message that Jesus is here!

We pray that we are also equipping you to spread the message that Jesus was born and is alive!

Jesus is God's Gift (December 11 -- KidQuest)

God provided for and prepared His people for the promised gift of His Son. All they needed to do was trust and obediently serve Him. God would continually remind His people of the promised gift via the prophets. One such message for His people was given to Zechariah, through the angel Gabriel. The angel told Zechariah he would have an heir—a son who would turn the hearts of many Israelites back to God. We know his son was John the Baptist, the one would have the responsibility of paving the way for the ministry of God’s promised gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Zechariah was one of about eighteen thousand priests serving Yahweh. Priests served in the temple only twice a year, and it was extremely rare for a priest to have the honor of entering the holiest place within the temple. “Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside” (Luke 1:8–10).

The opportunity to enter the Holy of Holies was considered a once in a lifetime opportunity, and Zechariah had no idea God would deliver a message of promise on that special day. Of Zechariah’s son, the angel said, “He [John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:15b–17).

Jesus is Immanuel (December 11 -- FirstLook)

Our God was drawing near to us through the Savior in the form of a man. It was so important for us to understand our Savior’s lineage that each of the gospels record the genealogy of Christ with a unique perspective. Matthew lists the generations from King David and traces Jesus’ royal lineage through Joseph. Luke traces the bloodline from Adam to David, and his genealogy from Abraham to David is identical to Matthew’s account. Luke diverges from Matthew after David, tracing the lineage not through Solomon but another son of David, Nathan, to Heli, the father of Mary, Jesus’ mother. The significance is that the combined genealogies establish Jesus’ absolute right to the throne of David through the bloodline of Mary (Luke 3:23–38) and by title through Mary’s husband, Joseph.

The genealogy of Jesus shows God’s hand orchestrating His divine plan of  redemption, but names also play an important role throughout Scripture. They intentionally point to the character and role a person will play. There were several names given to the Lord before He came to earth as an infant. These include: Jesus, “Savior” (Jehovah is salvation); Christ, “Anointed” (the Greek equivalent to “Messiah”); and Immanuel, “God with us.” Each of these names defines His title, purpose, and identity.

God came to earth and dwelt among men. He gave up His kingly rights to become a servant to all. He is the Messiah and the Savior of Israel and the world. He became God incarnate. The name Immanuel, God with us, was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Jesus’ names announced His arrival and His purpose: God Himself will save us from our sins. He is with us. He has come.

Jesus is Immanuel!!!

God Gets His People Ready to Meet His Son (December 4 FirstLook)

We pray that you had a great Thanksgiving with your family! We have so much to be thankful for!  Now its time to transition into the Christmas season.

In FirstLook, that means we take a break from our chronological study of the Bible to learn about Christ's birth.  As you gear up for Christmas this year, please use this and future posts to help talk about Jesus in your home.

Believe it or not, God prepared the people for the birth of Jesus before he was even born. In FirstLook this week we will open to Luke 1 and see how God used Zechariah to prepare the way for Jesus. Also make sure you check your inbox later this week as I send out the December Children's Ministry E-Newsletter.

 As God was preparing the people to meet His Son, He chose Zechariah, one of about 18,000 priests serving Yahweh. Due to sheer numbers, priests served in the temple only twice a year. It was extremely rare for a priest to have the honor of serving the Lord by entering the holy place within the temple. Those chosen were selected by casting lots (a practice often used to determine God’s will in given situations). This opportunity to enter the holy place would probably happen once in a lifetime.

Luke chapter 1 says Zechariah offered incense as a sacrifice to the Lord, representing the prayers being lifted to God. During this time of service, he would have lifted up prayers specifically for Israel. Psalm 141 says, “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” As the incense rose, these were holy moments. While Zechariah lifted his prayers for the nation, the other priests prayed and waited outside.

These priestly rituals had been carried on for centuries. In the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is no record of God speaking to His people. This is often referred to as the period of silence or the 400 Silent Years. Then, “God renewed His activity on behalf of His people in light of promises made long ago” (InterVarsity Press Commentary). God sent a message for His people to Zechariah. The angel Gabriel declared, “Your prayer has been heard” (Luke 1:13). There were two parts to the message that was given. While it is clear that Zechariah, as an elderly Jewish male with no descendants, must have frequently prayed for an heir, Gabriel is also addressing his prayers for the nation. This is clear in the angel’s prophetic message of John’s life. He assures Zechariah that not only will he have a son, but that his son will turn the hearts of many Israelites back to the Lord. God had chosen this holy, pious moment to unveil His plans for Israel.

The Lord is Our Righteousness (KidQuest December 4)

We pray that you had a great Thanksgiving with your family! We have so much to be thankful for!  Now its time to transition into the Christmas season.

In KidQuest, that means we take a break from our chronological study of the Bible to learn about Christ's birth.  As you gear up for Christmas this year, please use this and future posts to help talk about Jesus in your home.

Believe it or not, Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament. This week in KidQuest, we will look at Jeremiah's prophecies about the coming of Jesus. Also make sure you check your inbox later this week as I send out the December Children's Ministry E-Newsletter.

God gave Jeremiah a prophecy, saying, “‘The days are coming … when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness’” (Jeremiah 23:5–6).

In Jeremiah 23:1, Jeremiah denounced the leaders of Judah for the evil way they had ruled God’s people. He said they had been “‘shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep,’” instead of ruling them justly and righteously as God would. Then, he spoke the words of the above prophecy—foretelling of the king of God’s choosing in contrast to the kings who had sat as impostors upon the throne.

Through Jeremiah, God reminded His people that no matter how dark things had become, He would restore the legitimate order of the Davidic kingship and bring a king who would rule justly and bring peace. By sending His Son, God brought a King from the Davidic family line—the righteous branch, the rightful heir to David’s throne. He brought the Good Shepherd who cares for the flock. And most amazingly, He brought a King who not only rules His people righteously, but also puts His righteousness into His people’s account!

Jesus, the Lord, our righteousness, did for His people what no earthly king or the people could do themselves. Jesus took their sins and declared them righteous before God (Romans 3:21–5:11).