KidQuest October 24 - 30 (God Initiates Relationship)

Don't forget about Trunk or Treat on Sunday afternoon from 3-5pm.  Its not too late to register your trunk, just give me a call at the church office.

Also this Sunday in KidQuest, we will give the kids their new memory verse for the next four weeks. Here it is for you to start working on now.

Matthew 11:29
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

When we switch memory verses, we also switch environments. In our children's ministry an environment is a common goal or focus we can use to create enviroments in the home and at church which draw us closer to Christ.  For the next 4 weeks we will focus on the environment of MODELING. Here is our description of MODELING:

Biblical content needs a practical living expression in order for it to be spiritually impacting. This environment serves as a hands-on example of what it means for children to put their faith into action. Modeling puts flesh on faith and reminds us that others are watching to see if we live what we believe.

The Mosaic covenant did not arise out of a vacuum, but was created in the context of relationship. God initiated relationship with the future Israelites the moment He called Abraham away from his home. He continued to initiate relationship when He introduced Himself to Moses as the Lord who had heard His people’s cries (Exodus 3), freed His people from slavery (Exodus 12), and provided for them in the wilderness (Exodus 16).

In Exodus 19—24, God gave His people the Ten Commandments as part of the covenant at Mt. Sinai. This marked the beginning of a new era in the history of God’s people and the next stage in the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, which was the basis for the redemption from Egypt. In the Sinaitic covenant, God had freed His people so they could worship only Him. The Sinaitic covenant was God’s idea of worship (Exodus 3:12).

The gift of the commandments was God’s way of modeling how He wanted them to worship Him. Their obedience was a form of worship, and showed their thankfulness for what He had done for them. The Sinaitic covenant demanded not only that the Israelites conform to a set of laws, but also that their hearts be oriented toward God. And from this point on, the history of the Israelites hinged on whether or not they stayed faithful to the covenant with God they accepted at Mt. Sinai.

The covenant at Sinai was a beautiful demonstration of the relationship between God and His people. It was also a foretaste of what was to come—the new covenant that would not only be written on stone tablets, but written on the hearts and in the minds of all those who believe (Hebrews 8:10).

You can also go download the MODELING HomeFront Monthly for activities to connect home and church by going to http://wentzvillecc.org/621738.ihtml.

Trunk or Treat Pictures (for more check us out on Facebook)

Trunk or Treat Thoughts

I have been reading some debates on whether not we as the church should do events like Trunk or Treat and allow our kids to dress up on Halloween.  Here are a few of the comments and then my thoughts.

Here are the two sides of the debate:

1. You ignore the holiday completely and witness to your community by your upright stance against such an evil day.

• Common Biblical example: Daniel and his friends refusing to eat the King’s food.
• Daniel 1:8
  “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”

2. You embrace the holiday and participate in the festivities with the intent of witnessing to your neighbors and friends.

• Common Biblical example: Jesus dining with sinners.
• Matthew 9:10
  “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.”

3. Note: There is always a third side to any debate that says there is two sides… just so you know… so, the third option would be any of the gray area between the first two ends of the spectrum.

• Common Biblical example: Paul’s letter to Titus on purity.
• Titus 1:15
  “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” 

From Rob
"We are very active in our neighborhood all year long. Kids are in and out of our house all the time. Our house is always filled with neighbor kids. But on Halloween we don't lock ourselves in the house, we go do something fun as a family. Quite frankly, I think our neighbors would be shocked if they saw us running from house to house getting candy on Halloween because it wouldn't match who they see us as and that is exactly how I want it to be.  "


From Darci
"I try my utmost to respect everyone's belief. I take offense when someone attacks where I sit. If you aren't comfortable with it and choose not to do anything, I am fine with that...but respect that I enjoy the holiday and take every opportunity to teach to the kids that the holiday CAN glorify our Lord and Savior."

From Eric
"Um. Why do we choose one day to be afraid of the Devil? One day to recognize that there is a celebration of evil? This stuff happens every day. Going out trick or treating isn't necessarily a celebration of evil as it is a celebration of Candy. If we revere Halloween as the only day that the Devil comes out to play then we're giving him 364 other days of playtime. I think rather than teaching kids that one day out of the year is a day to stay indoors and not do anything doesn't fully prepare them for the spiritual battle that we all face.
Just my opinion."


From Me (Matt)
I believe I call into category #2 above.  Yes, there are things that are wrong about Halloween, but there are also things that are wrong with how we as Americans celebrate Christmas. Does that mean we should not celebrate Christmas too.  I feel wee need to be out in our neighborhood building community with those that see us and how we live on a daily basis. I agree with Rob above, I like his idea of not going house to house, but what about hosting a neighborhood block party and letting the kids play together, eat soup around a fire and have some fun together.  That is what I enjoyed the most about last night.

Trunk or Treat 2010

Trunk or Treat was amazing.  We had so much fun seeing all the kids in their costumes.  We estimated, based on the number of pieces of candy that were given out, that we had nearly 300 kids walk through our Trunks and decorate a cupcake.

I have pictures of the trunks and will post them later when I get the pictures off the camera.

1st Place went to the Weilers with their Scooby Doo Mystery Mobile, they even included the monster that they caught!

2nd Place went to the Stanfills and their Under the Sea Trunk that included a living mermaid and shark!

3rd Place went to Ostmans and their Red Carpet of Bible Hereos and movie watching station!

Thanks so much to everyone who brought cupcakes in for the kids to decorate, decorated a trunk and helped out in other ways.  Thanks so much to the the Wolf Family for sticking around an extra hour to help with clean up!