Tag: Resources

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Wednesday Nights are Back!

We’re so excited because on January 8th, we’re back on Wednesday nights starting at 6:30 pm! In this new year, we’re still committed to having a quality midweek service for your kids, and part of that commitment means we have to change things from time to time.

Don’t worry. This change is spectacular, and it starts tomorrow night when you drop off your student(s)! We now have a check-in system for our midweek service in the FLC. If you join us on Sunday morning services, fret not! This is the same system, so we’re not springing anything terrifying on you. If you haven’t been with us on a Sunday morning, the system is simple and painless. All you have to do is come in the FLC, check in, and hold on to that fantastic guardian security sticker until you pick up your child(ren) after service.

We decided to add this system to our Wednesday night activities because we value the safety of every family who is involved in our ministry, and we want to demonstrate that this is our priority. We know it’s one more thing to keep up with, but the safety of our kids is absolutely worth it. We can’t wait to see you tomorrow night at 6:30 pm.

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September is almost here!

Hey, gang!

We use such an awesome curriculum in kids church! Every month, we have a new theme, and with our theme we receive a song that reinforces that theme. Now this month we’re focusing in on Trust as we continue our adventure through the Bible, taking a long look at the life of Joseph (Genesis 37-45)!

Check out the companion song to these lessons below!

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The Importance of Time

Last week as Wednesday service came to an end, one of my fifth grade students asked me a question. “How much longer do I get to stay in kids church?” I looked at the calendar. My fifth graders have one Sunday and one Wednesday until they transition to middle school and Echo Student Ministry. I’ve had the honor of ministering to a few of my fifth graders since they were old enough to enter our elementary ministry. Some of them joined us later, and what a joy it has been to see them all grow in their faith and as young people.

Studies show that children are in church for an average of 40 hours a year, only 40 out of the 8,760 hours in a year. The elementary ministry team works hard to make every one of those 40 hours count. We want our cumulative 200 hours with each student to build trust, love, and faith, and as those 200 hours over the course of 5 years draw to an end, we hope we’ve made a positive difference in the lives of our students.

As ministers, we’re only with your children for a little while in the grand scheme of life, but you, you are the constant. Parents, guardians, grandparents, aunts, uncles, you are constant influences in the life of the children around you. Cherish that time. Leverage that influence. On average, a child has 936 weeks of life from birth to graduation. 936. How many have gone by already? How many does your child have left before they leave the nest and begin their new adventure?

If there’s one thing we know for certain (and are very aware of during times of transition), it’s that every second counts. Before you know it, those 936 weeks will be over. For ways to make every week count, check out the Parent Cue app (available through the iTunes store and Google Play) or visit the Parent Cue blog for inspiration, encouragement, and ways to reinforce your child’s faith.

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Staying Connected – Parent Resources

We understand. Life gets crazy. Between family gatherings, vacations, sickness, and so much more, it is impossible to be everywhere at once, and, if we’re honest with ourselves, attending Sunday service is not always at the top of our priority lists. That’s why we want to remind you of a few of the resources available to you at any time and any place.

  • http://Studio252.tv This website features a variety of awesome tools you can use to view and interact with each Sunday’s lesson. Orange, our curriculum provider, offers this site for you the parent/guardian to make lessons real at home. Remember the old VeggieTales slogan, “Sunday morning values, Saturday morning fun”? That’s the kind of content Orange makes available on this website. There are relevenat videos to watch, activities to do, and more, all updating each week to keep up with what we’re teaching on Sunday mornings.

 

  • The Parent Cue App This app is available in both Apple and Google Play stores and is an incredibly convenient tool for smart phone users. Once you download the app, you’ll be asked to provide some basic information on your child which is used to deliver the right content for you and your child. Have multiple children? No problem! You can “add” each child to your profile, and the app will create a separate feed for each. This is especially helpful if you have children in our preschool and elementary ministries as both of those ministries use Orange which means you can use this one tool to reinforce the elementary lesson with your elementary kids and also reinforce the preschool lesson with your preschool kids. But wait! There’s more! Not only is the Parent Cue app useful for encouraging the spiritual growth of your child(ren), it also provides tips and encouragement for you as the parent/guardian because we believe that our ministry works best when we minister to parents as well as their children.

 

  • God Time Sheets Each Sunday we hand out God Time Sheets as your child(ren) leave(s). These sheets always have four devotions, two on the front and two on the back, and they serve as launching points for your child to make their faith personal as they interact with the various devotional activities each week. We encourage you to set aside time for your child to engage this material. Be intentional with it. And if you can’t or don’t want to keep track of the paper once you leave on Sunday mornings, fill out the form below and we’ll email it to you every week because we want to set you and your child up to win.