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.

May 15 in FirstLook

Its time for a new environment. The past 4 weeks, your elementary student was exposed to the compassion of Jesus and how he served those he came in contact with. Over the next 4 weeks, they will begin to see how Jesus loved and respected them as well.

For us the environment of "Love & Respect" means this:
Without love, our faith becomes futile. Children need to experience love and respect in order to receive and give God's grace. Innate in this environment is the value that children are respected because they embody the image of God. We must speak TO them, not AT them, and we must commit as parents and as a church, to an environment where love and acceptance are never withheld due to one's behavior.

In the early days after Jesus’ ascension, God’s love compelled many people to respond in  faith. With a population of over 500,000, Antioch enjoyed a prosperous economy due to the strategic placement of the city at the crossroads for highly trafficked trade routes to the south (Palestine and Egypt), east to Persia, and west to the Asia Minor Peninsula. This ancient metropolitan city was a blend of many cultures, beliefs, and practices whose value for art and literature was praised by many. The city referred to as “Queen of the East” was also known for its extravagant, wasteful, and reckless behavior.

When the church in Jerusalem heard what was happening in Antioch, they sent Barnabus—a godly and faith-filled man—to visit. During his stay, Barnabus was a witness to the blessing of God upon this gathering of believers. He was a witness to all that was happening among the people. During his first stay, many more turned and put their faith in the Lord. Barnabus left Antioch long enough to bring Saul—who had once persecuted and killed followers of “The Way”—to Antioch to stay with him for a year teaching the Word of God.

It is from this time of God’s Spirit moving in Antioch that we see the beginning of the Gentile movement: the first Gentile church, the first missionaries, and the first act of generous financial giving for another local church community. It is here in Antioch that believers were first named Christians—Christianoi, which means “partisans of Christ.” What citizens of the city may have intended as a coining in jest, the followers of “The Way” embraced as a fitting title to describe their new identity.

JUST FOR FUN

Find a place in your home where you can move about easily. Explain to your children that as you read this portion of Scripture, you’re going to be moving from room to room in your home. Invite them to pretend that each room is a different city the disciples traveled to or from. Begin reading Acts 11:19–30, standing in one room; each time you get to a part where the people “came” or “went” to a new city, move to a different room in your home.

Once you’ve finished reading, ask your children why they think the people scattered. Discuss together what Barnabas told the people to do.

Explain to your children that just like God gave His disciples unique abilities, He has also given each of us special abilities to be used to build His kingdom here on earth. Ask them to share what some of theirs might be.

Remind your children that what they just heard is part of The Big God Story, and they’ll hear more about God’s love in church this week. Pray together thanking God that His love helps us respond to all He desires for us to do.

May 15 In KidQuest -- Love and Respect

Its time for a new environment. The past 4 weeks, your elementary student was exposed to the compassion of Jesus and how he served those he came in contact with. Over the next 4 weeks, they will begin to see how Jesus loved and respected them as well.

For us the environment of "Love & Respect" means this:
Without love, our faith becomes futile. Chidlren need to experience love and respect in order to receive and give God's grace. Innate in this environment is the value that children are respected becasue they embody the image of God. We must speak TO them, not AT them, and we must commit as parents and as a church, to an environment where love and acceptance are never withheld due to one's behavior.

God’s desire is for restoration: spiritually, physically, and emotionally. In Genesis, God created man “from the dust of the ground.” By healing the blind man with mud, Jesus demonstrated again that He is the Creator. He was revealing the Truth of John 1:3:

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

That fact didn’t escape the blind man, because he said in John 9:33, “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” This might be a confusing statement, considering the fact that we see magicians performing signs throughout Scripture. However, the blind man realized, through faith, that Jesus is God.

Jesus did not just heal the blind man physically; He also healed him socially. After he was healed, his physical ailment no longer excluded him from the community or (according to the religious leaders) condemned him as a sinner. But most importantly, Jesus healed the blind man spiritually.

In John 9, we first saw the blind man as a beggar, condemned as a sinner by his community. Then, we saw him progress to a state of dignity—even to the point of standing up to the Pharisees. Finally, we watched as Jesus loved and respected the blind man enough to restore him—mind, body, and soul. Then, we rejoiced with him as he came to a state of belief, worshipping Jesus, the Son of Man.

JUST FOR FUN
This week take turns blindfolding yourself and your children while trying to do something that is in the normal rhythm of your everyday life (folding a shirt, sweeping the floors, making your bed etc.). Discuss how hard it is to work when you can’t see! Then, read about how Jesus healed a blind man in John 9:1–12.

After reading this part of The Big God Story, ask your children how they think the blind man might have felt after Jesus healed him? Did Jesus have to touch the man to heal him? Talk together about why they think Jesus touched the man. Together as a family, thank God that He loves us so much and desires to heal us. If someone in your family has specific needs for healing, take this time to lift these up to God in prayer.

Share with your children that what they just heard is a part of The Big God Story in the Bible, and they will hear more about how Jesus restores in church this week.

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!!!!