SERVING

Every lesson that we teach whether in the Nursery, FirstLook, KidQuest or The Challenge has a time of life application that we call an environment.  For the next 4 weeks, that environement is SERVING.

This environment of SERVING is really a posture of our heart and asks the question, "What needs to be done?" It allows the Holy Spirit to cultivate a sensitivity to others and focuses on a cause bigger than one individual life. It helps fulfill the mandate that as Christ followers we are to view our lives as living sacrifices that we generously give away!

Every time we switch enviroments, we also switch memory verses that help us focus on the application into our personal lives. Here are the memory verses in our different areas of worship:

KidQuest (elementary worship)

Mark 9:35b

"If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

FirstLook (preschool worship)

Galatians 5:13b

"Serve one another in love."

We would love to see your kids put these great verses into their minds and hearts as they learn about serving over the next four weeks!

Upcoming Changes and Needs

I am excited to tell you about the latest happenings in FirstLook, our preschool through kindergarten worship environment. 

We have experience tremendous growth over the past 6 weeks.  We were averaging 8-12 at each service and now we are averaging 15-20 at each service! That is exciting news!

With growth comes growing pains.  We need to bulk up our team and we want you! Right now we have 2 adults with our preschoolers in FirstLook, with the recent growth we feel it is in the best interest of your kids to make that 3 or 4 adults in the room at each service.  We would love to keep about a 4 or 5 kids to 1 adult ratio.

Now I know what you are saying, "I don't want to teach." The best news of this email is YOU WON'T HAVE TO TEACH.  We already have our main teachers in place (even me teaching some on video).
We would love to add you to our great team.  If you are interested, please let me know so we can bulk up our team starting January 1! (email Matt)

 

On January 8, we will move into the brand new KidQuest room! We are excited to have our own space and be able to worship there on Sundays in KidQuest and Wednesday evenings in The Challenge.

Other than dropping your child off in a different place, here are some MAJOR points that you need to know about this room switch.

• The New KidQuest room is room 205.
• We will open a new check-in counter upstairs in front of room 205 to be used by KidQuest and FirstLook families.
• We would ask you to start using the back stairway, next to the nursery, and checking in upstairs at the new counter. There will be a self-checkin station and a manned station. We would like to keep the downstairs foyer computer for our guests and visitors.
• With the growth rate we have had, we are also looking for some new small group leader to serve on the children's ministry team. Your job would simply be to ask a small group of kids pre-prepared questions about the Bible Story and lead and activity (game or craft)

Serving

For the next 4 weeks, we will be using the life of Jesus to teach your kids about service.  Here is the definition we have for what service means:

This posture of the heart asks the question, "What needs to be done?" It allows the Holy Spirit to cultivate a sensitivity to others and focuses on a cause bigger than one individual life. It helps fulfill the mandate that as Christ followers we are to view our lives as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2) that we generously give away!

In this very first week we will all (even the adults) will be talking about Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. In this account truth needed to be told. The truth is: Jesus came to save people, not to punish them. Through his death and resurrection, people would have new life; and only through God's Spirit can people truly become born again children of God. Through the rest of the chapter, Jesus asserts that being "born again" through baptism and into a new life is what is required to receive eternal life, not just believing in him.

But if we continue, we can see that following Jesus is not simply about just believing in him (even the demons do that). He wants our whole live; he wants all of who we are. That is the pure essence of why we serve others, to give Jesus all that we have.

I am looking forward to the next 4 weeks in KidQuest and FirstLook but the best thing of all about teaching your kids about service is a project we hope will engage your whole family and help you begin asking the question, "What needs to be done?"

From May 8-15 we would love for you to participate in what we are calling Families SERVE Experience. We are going to provide you with materials that will help guide your family into a week long serving experience.  You will have times for family devotion and discussion and times to get out of your house and do a act of service in your neighborhood or community.  Then on Sunday May 15, we will come together for our Family Effects service at 5:00 pm and share a meal together, have a time of family worship and share what God did through us in the past week!  This is going to be a great experience and we don't want your family to miss out! The Families SERVE Experience packets will be available starting April 24.