Fear Not Festival

Ok, I've been a terrible blogger, but a lot has happened since August. We officially kicked off the new children's worship format, so kids are learning all about what worship is and are having the kids put together their own worship service using the main worship services (and sermon themes) as a guideline. Plus, the first Sunday of the month, the kids are in the main service and are helping lead it. They were timid at first but are now scrambling to sign up for spots.

Also the KidsInCers (preteens) have been learning about spiritual gifts and have been putting their gifts into practice throughout the church. Most recently, we learned about serving, and we trick or treated for canned goods for the local food pantry. That was a blast.

Fifth graders have been busy helping teach Sunday School once a month to the little kids. And they served lemonade to the adults after SS.

Personally, I have now officially run a marathon and am thinking about training for another one.

And that brings me to the title of my post--the Fear Not Festival. We're having a carnival type of atmosphere downstairs with crafts and games, etc, but upstairs is the main attraction. Each room upstairs is a different interactive Bible story. Kids will sit in a huge boat as it rocks and shakes with thunder and lightning in the background and then will watch the sunrise as the disciple tells them about how Jesus calmed the storm. Kids will crawl into a giant pit while they hear about Joseph being abandoned by his brothers. They will also hear the story of the resurrection firsthand from Mary in our version of a cemetery and will wind through the wheat fields to hear about Ruth's journey into a new land.

We're very excited, and I will post pictures soon.

Ach! Sorry!

I've been a terrible blogger recently, but life has actually kept me very busy. I'm in the process of moving, training for a marathon, helping my grandma transition into assisted living, attending reunions with friends, and finally spending a week on planning leave.

The good news, though, is that I have a good vision for the CLPC kids this fall. As I mentioned in a previous post, the theme of our Back to School Weekend is CLPC's Amazing Race (Hebrews 12). For the first time, we've all sort of embraced that theme in our different areas, and I can finally see silos start to come down as we work toward a common goal together. Praise God!

It's been pretty easy for me to grasp this theme since I'm training for a race myself (a coincidence, actually). And as I've learned in my training, I need to focus as much on the miles I've run already as I do on the ones ahead. The same thing goes in ministry this fall. I sent a letter out to volunteers reminding them of the great strides we made at CLPC this last year together, and just writing the letter made me excited about what's to come.

I've got to pace myself, though, as I have a tendency to rush toward the future in everything I do (including running 26.2 miles). And God has really been showing me that I've still got to slow down and focus on training this semester--training of volunteers, parents and kids.

So here's the plan in a nutshell:

• Like the adults, our preteen group will be doing a unit on Spiritual Gifts this fall. I've been writing the curriculum all week, and I'm soooo ready to implement it. The best part is that once the kids sort of find the gifts they enjoy and are comfortable with (I like this way of looking at giftings rather than labeling kids and putting them into a box), we're going to give them an opportunity to use them. I plan to pull out kids from Sunday School classes occasionally and help them learn to PLAN what we're doing in CM. For example, I'll pull out the hospitality/encouragement group and work with them on how to make kids feel loved and welcomed in SS and worship. They'll help come up with ideas and then carry them out with help from adults who have the same giftings.
  
• I've scheduled 3 different types of trainings for volunteers: email, face to face, and teacher talks (get together at a kid friendly restaurant and, with a guided table topic, discuss ways to help each other in ministry).
  
• I've also scheduled a parent appreciation Sunday where the kids will put together some sort of video and there will be refreshments, etc. I'm sneaky, though, and I plan to use this event to encourage parents to sign up to volunteer.
• Coupling with adult ed to have some panel discussions on ADHD, Asperger's, etc. We have several child psychologists in the congregation and families whose lives are touched with these learning differences, and it's time we tap into those resources.
• I've divided my team up into 2 groups: CFM discipleship and CFM special events, in order to utilize their gifts more effectively.

So there it is on paper and in cyberspace, and I'm praying it works in reality. It needs to happen though, so now is as good a time as any.

Ok back to my planning (and another cup of coffee).

BTSW 2007

I can't believe it's almost Fall and time for planning the big Back to School Weekend. Last year, we had a safari theme, but this year, it's the Amazing Race type of thing, and we are giving ministry areas different countries. BTSW is an all church event, kind of like a volunteer fair/outreach event. Each ministry sets up a booth with a game or something and uses that opportunity to give people the chance to know more about what we have to offer and/or to sign up to volunteer. During the worship services, we spend time praying for teachers/administrators/cm teachers and professionals/homeschoolers/students. It's a pretty big deal. Here's my CFM team blog post about it. We do our meetings virtually for the most part because of crazy schedules. To my readers from around the world--please let me know of any ideas you have to make your country's representation more authentic. Our area is only doing 4, but most of the major countries of the world will be assigned (and some smaller ones, as well). Keep in mind that it's for all ages (I just post about elementary and under) and that some of the ministry areas do something more solemn like a prayer wall or a missions project.

For some reason, blogger won't let me put a title on this one. This is why I need to switch to wordpress. Sigh, perhaps by fall. I'm such a slacker.

Anyway, I'll make my own title: SUPER SLOPPY SUMMERS REVEALED

I guess I never really explained SSS to anyone, so here goes. SSS was the spawn of a brainstorming session between a friend (youth director at a previous church) and me. I was the CE director, and we were trying to come up with a way for the kids to have fun and a way to connect the jr highers with the preteens (3rd-5th grade). I already had KidsInC going at that church (same preteen group you read about on this blog, only different church), and we had a big sib/little sib program going. The jr highers would pick a tweener, send them secret pal type notes, and then there was a big reveal at a campout type of retreat. The big sibs then would take the role of mentoring the little sibs, teaching them all about youth group and then finally mentoring them as the 5th graders graduated into 6th grade. This way, the kids already had a friend in the group, and the transition was smoother.

Well, we were planning the campout, and as campouts do, things got sloppy in our planning (sloppy in a good way), and then we thought, what if we did an entire summer of this? So we put our heads together, I came up with the name (I think) and then we went crazy planning, and we invited jr highers in for their input bc everyone knows that jr highers love to get little kids messy. The first SSS had a theme: Peer Pressure, and we let the jr highers take the role of counselors.

Counselors would have colored bandanas, and the kids would be placed in color groups. Each group did an ice breaker to start and also had to make up a cheer for their team, and then they rotated from mess to mess, with each mess reinforcing the theme for that day. We even had a movie station outside for clips to emphasize the theme (yes, we had a license).

SSS day came, and we had TONS of kids. I can't emphasize the amount of kids well--TONS! Think megachurch kids on a little church budget. We had strategically set it outside in view from the street so that neighboring kids would come, and they did. It became way too much for our little church to handle with only 2 staff and a sprinkling of youth volunteers and with the fact that I left shortly thereafter, so we didn't do a second one, but the memory lingered, and I think that after I left the current CE director did a smaller version of it.

Older and wiser, I've tweaked this one, and I also work at a much larger church with more volunteers. Sadly, the youth are very busy with their own activities and a bit removed, so I haven't gotten to get the involvement that I wanted. It's such an integral part of it. So what I did this summer was make the 5th graders (upcoming 6th graders) counselors with an adult leader, and that has worked pretty well.

At CLPC, we have SSS every Wednesday night, at the same time as KidsInC. Really, it IS KidsinC; we just change the name for summer. It's 1 1/2 hours divided as such: pizza time and table topics, small group icebreaker, small group challenge (groups compete against each other), large group activity (groups disband for a bit) and then small group discussion time and snack(leaders are given discussion questions based upon the theme) and finally hose down--their favorite.

I looked at Summer Camp curriculum by Standard Publishing for ideas. They didn't have this curriculum when we did SSS a few years ago, and I'm not used to following any curriculum, so I just use it as a base and springboard off. Some of the themes are good (some lacking), and if you need everything spelled out for you, it's a great resource. An incredibly detailed writer, she leaves nothing to the imagination, which is preferable for some people, especially if you've never done anything like this before. I prefer to pick and choose a few activities, tweak them to make them messier or to make a more solid connection to the theme or change the theme all together. Then I add some activities from other books, make them messier, and add some others from my head or pick the brains of the kids. Really, any CM "game" book works if you just add some whipped cream to the supply list or chocolate pudding. Take Duck Duck Splash from my last post--a tweak on an age old game. Let your imagination run wild.

The key is to make sure you have volunteers who don't mind getting kids dirty. I had a couple of volunteer moms who didn't want to put chocolate syrup on the kids so they just drizzled a few drops. This was because they pitied the poor parents who had to wash the clothes (and because they felt girls shouldn't get dirty--sigh, when will this antiquated thinking die?). I tell parents to dress the kids for a mess, and they actually sign medical release forms that have a little note at the bottom about understanding that clothes will get very dirty. So I just walked over, opened up the vat of syrup and poured it on kids with a soundtrack of mass giggles in the background. You also have the option of "no mess kids," outlined in Summer Camp. They wear stickers that say don't get me messed up and shower caps on their heads. I have never had a kid need one.

Another key: goggles. Cheap eye safety. And garbage bags with holes cut out of the top make great ponchos for sending kids home. Parents love them. Just splurge on decent sacks. I bought some from the dollar store, and they were all gathered at the bottom so that when I cut a hole in the top, it made 4 holes. It looked like Charlie Brown's ghost costume from Great Pumpkin.

I think that's about it.

SSS Summer Picnic

Tonight's Super Sloppy Summers was picnic themed. We ate outside and then had a whipped cream pie eating contest where you had to find the cherry sour in a pie tin of whipped cream without using eyes or hands. We also played blanket volleyball with water balloons, which actually ended up being a very nice lesson in unity and cooperation because it was much more difficult than I thought it would be. We covered the parking lot in sidewalk chalk paint [I love the stuff]. And we played duck duck splash, which is like duck duck goose but with a splash ball--oh, and the mush pot was actually a giant rubbermaid container filled with instant mashed potatoes. That was awesome, and I am sure that you can guess what happened after we were done--mashed potato fight! I just found mashed potatoes near my armpit, actually.

Small group time involved discussing the feeding of the 5,000 and also what Jesus meant by the term bread of life.

So much fun, and parents are telling me that the kids countdown the days until the next one. That's cool to me.

postsecret

I am a big fan of this site and am thinking of adapting it for use in children's ministry. I pray for each and every secret.

And in keeping with the theme of secrets and confessions, I have to admit that I would like to write on this blog a few more of my frustrations with ministry and even seek advice on what to do about situations at work, but I don't due to a fear of someone at work reading it or any other retribution of writing about them. I am a little more candid than most of my friends (I actually admitted that I hated VBS, and man, the negative feedback I got from that offline--seems you just can't be honest anymore, since being 'negative' is such a sin ). Still, there are things that come up that I just don't write about. Think, though, of the support and help we could give each other as ministry professionals if we could just be totally honest on a blog.

Am I the only one who holds back?

Random Shout Out

I just noticed that I have a lot of knitters who read my blog. Knitters, you have my utmost respect for the patience and artistry that comes with your talent. I sometimes just look at the pictures of the things you make, and it makes me smile.

Note to Self

When having a fundraising hot dog dinner, remember to put a gigantic sign out front that reminds people to only get 2 hot dogs apiece to start. Otherwise, people think it is an all you can eat buffet and will pile 6 hotdogs on their plates.

And another weird question...if you buy an equal number of hot dogs and an equal number of buns (and you know this because you are meticulous about such things), how do you run out of buns and still have hot dogs? Do people just eat buns plain? Are they carb loading or on some anti atkins kick? Is there a bun gremlin just like the sock gremlins? Does it go into another dimension? I wonder these things.

Pentecost

Our multigenerational Pentecost celebration was such a blessing. Everyone got into it, and I was very pleased. I planned it with the adult ed person who is really starting to get into reading about different generations, which is a great asset in an adult ed person.

We started out together and listened to the kids and youth read the Pentecost story, which was illustrated (and projected onto the screens) by the KidsInCers. Then we moved upstairs and rotated freely around to stations--making windsocks, making pinwheels, constructing balsa wood airplanes [a very cool station because it was led by an airplane enthusiast and a prominent NASA person], candle making, cupcake decorating [birthday of the church, you know], bubbles etc. We also had a missionary visiting who pilots planes to bring supplies to remote villages in Africa. I guess you can see that we were trying to emphasize the wind and fire imagery of the Holy Spirit. Anyway, it was the coolest thing to see the ages intermingle. At one point, I saw an elderly man in a wheelchair holding up his airplane with a smile that rivaled his neighboring 6 year old seatmate. From the smile, you couldn't tell who the 6 year old was, and the man began telling the boy about his plane, and soon, 2 girls came up, and then a huge crowd was gathered. In fact, the buildings and grounds people were counting to make sure we didn't bust fire code.

Then the crowd broke, and they all headed down the stairs and elevators with wind things in hand and filled the sky with their toys, smiles beaming brighter than the sun.

I stood there, red velvet cupcake in hand [cream cheese icing mustache atop my grin] thinking, yep, this is good. This is very, very good.

VBS and burgers

Ok, let me clarify why I hate VBS, but first I need to talk about my favorite burger place.

I don't eat many burgers, especially now that I'm training for a marathon, but when I do, I don't go for McDonalds or the higher class, Fuddruckers. I go to Lucky Burger. The building is shaped like a sombrero and serves up a nice 1/4 lb burger with a side of some of the best fried rice in town. When I go out of town, I search for these sort of places because I like the indigenous, the eclectic, the heterogeneous. I'm just not a happy meal kind of gal.

Now onto VBS. Many years ago, VBS was a different animal. It kind of had the feel of a backyard Bible camp, the closeness of small groups, a distinct personality, and just overall simplistic fun. Perhaps it is just my "neck of the woods," suburban, affluent Houston, TX, but things just aren't the same. Now, VBS is prepackaged, overpriced, and homogeneous to the point that aside from the theme, you can't tell the difference between publishers. One has a chipmunk and a buffalo telling about Jesus, and another has a mouse. It's all the same.

Now don't get me wrong--it runs like a well-oiled machine. When I started this job a year ago, I was told that I didn't have to do anything but walk around and smile, and they were right. Here it is, a year later, and aside from adding a rather large missions component to it, I'm the smiling poster queen, but I hate that. Why don't I do anything about it? It's because at this point, it runs smoothly, it's not broken, per se, and since I am a one staff member team, I've got to pick my battles.

Now to answer Trisha's question-- yes, I am ministering. If you read the rest of my blog, you can see the many, many areas in which we are ministering. I'm busy because I am constantly in prayer, constantly in motion, thinking of ways to minister inside and outside our community and doing all of them. The problem is that VBS is not a ministry to me, at least not in this area. The churches around here call each other in January to find out which publisher each church is using so that they don't duplicate. They also pull out their calendars and fight over weeks because down here, parents want cheap (yes, we charge for VBS down here because the curriculum is so expensive and so are the tshirts and all the little dodads that go with it) babysitting all summer--every week should be filled with a VBS from somewhere, and it is. June is the Baptists, us, the Church of Christ and the Methodists. July is taken by independence day, the Bible church, the other Baptist church, the nondenominational mega church, etc. It is sickening.

And because it is a well oiled machine, it is the most efficient choice to put a cap on the amount of kids who come--200. It means better security, better organization, better planning. It also means that once Suzie and her little friend Betsy and all their little goldilocks friends pay their tuition with checks clipped together to ensure that they are in groups together, the chairperson/s begins having to turn away neighborhood kids, last minute move ins, kids who are outside the flock and sometimes worse turn away reasons--I've seen it all from churches around here, not just ours. That's not ministry to me, but it's the obvious choice when you're doing one of these kits.

I have a volunteer crew of brilliant, creative women and men, and yes, they run the ship so well that it is flawless year after year, but to me, their brilliance and love of the Lord is lost in the midst of (forgive me using the phrase again) Chuck E Church, and the kids get lost in it, too. But my team is only so big, and we are planning unbelievable ministry opportunities all the time, so I can understand why doing something as simple as Group VBS sounds easy and wonderful.

Two years ago, I worked for a church in Bolingbrook, Il that didn't have the funds for one of these VBS to go boxes. We put our heads together and created our own VBS. It was called Bible stories come to life, and the kids became a part of the Bible stories. They crawled into an ark that we made of crates and pallets and heard the story while a friend of mine and I ran around outside holding up rainbows and blue streamers and spraying the window with water and making fake birds fly. Yeah, it was low budget, but the kids loved it, and every one of them could tell you the story afterward. "Yeah, but it's Noah, you say. " Ok, well we also made a life sized ark of the covenant, created a river in the church hallway with rocks and reeds on the side, had the kids carry the ark down the river and into the temple, etc. We had the kids blow trumpets to crumble the wall of Jericho and on another day, had them sit inside the dark well/pit while looking up at the tiny light in the ceiling and hearing the story of Joseph. This was ministry--this was VBS to me, and I even adapted the idea to create the Fear Not Festival last year, which was astounding because of my volunteers' brilliance and artistry. That is my idea of VBS.

Well, I've rambled on enough, and you hopefully understand my point of view now, and if you don't, well, I can't ramble on anymore. It's not that VBS is bad, it's just another happy meal, and next year, maybe we'll do something more.

forever busy

Ok, sorry I've been gone for forever, but I just haven't had time to blog. I'm training for a marathon, and I'm busy planning summer programs and such.

Just finished the last KidsInC for the year and am planning Super Sloppy Summers. The tshirts came in last week, and they are awesome.

Today we decorated for CLPC zoo, and the tshirts came in for them, as well. I'm really excited about this program, and I think the kids will be, too. Also, I'm piloting a new curriculum for the preschoolers.

We've also got VBS underway (secretly, I hate VBS. I'd put it on a post secret postcard, but the public wouldn't care, I don't think, so I'll just say it here--I HATE VBS or at least what it has become), and so that's a time consumer, and then this weekend, we've got this ubercrazy Pentecost celebration going on, which is cool and multigenerational, but man, it is a lot of work.

And then we're constructing an underwater classroom for children's worship, which is a blast. My deco team is outstanding. I couldn't do my job without them.

Add to that some computer problems, and you see why I haven't blogged.

So can you tell I need a vacation? Yeah, I scheduled a little minibreak for New Orleans, but I'm hoping to get out to DC or to CA for at least a week in July. My year anniversary is June 1, and I haven't had a day off yet, other than my Mondays and an occasional holiday.

Anyway, I hope to be a more faithful blogger. Sorry about that.

DC area churches

My elder (and VBS chairperson) and her family are moving to the DC area. Anybody know of some churches with great children's ministry out there? They've got a 1st and 4th grader.

They are Presbyterian, but they might look outside Presbyland. Traditional (stand and sit hymn) services are not their style, btw.

Lock-In

Amazing. That's the word for it. Amazing.

I just looked at the pics today and relived all the fun. We had 10 extra kids from the church (those who normally don't come to KidsInC) and about 5 visitors and then our normal crew. Here are the highlights (remember the theme was friendship):

• Pizza--we always start with pizza
• I shared pictures of my friends and me throughout the years. The kids loved laughing at my 80s hair and grunge look in the 90s. Plus, one of my friends was able to come and help that night, so I was able to share that friendship story, too.
• encouragement bags--they decorated bags and put their names on them, and we put them in a designated area. Throughout the night, people could write notes of encouragement to each other, and then they'd get to open their bag the next morning at breakfast.
• small group time--making fellowship posters about what it takes for a good friendship; discussion of great friends in the Bible and what held their friendship together
• getting acquainted games--they had a lot of fun with these, and they learned a lot about each other. They were designed so that kids had to get out of their cliques and comfort circles and learn more about everyone. Then they had to pick one person they talked to and write an encouragement note to them.
• small group time--snack sculptures (playing with food; we took pictures and voted on them at breakfast); trust drops and some discussions about trust and some "opening up" questions; writing an encoragement note to someone in their group
• partner games--random games to break them up into partners and then doing a trust walk with their partner down to the gym (one is blindfolded); encouragement note to partner
• large group time--run them until they are about to pass out games. My favorite? Go to the Wall. Yell out, "Everyone who loves ______, go to the wall" and they have to run the length of the gym. They love this, and you can keep them running for as long as you need, AND you can tie it in by talking about how we all have different likes and dislikes and even peer pressure (did you run just because you didn't want to stand without your friends?)
• small group time--playing board games together (Friendzee is a great game)
• lights out--we watched movies until they fell asleep

It was great, and the adults were running right along with them. So much fun! One of my favorite parts was that a visitor became really close friends with another girl that night.

Back in action

I've been down with a hardcore virus (me, not the computer) this past week, but I plan to update soon on the KidsInC lockin and summer plans. Just wanted to check in.

KidsInC tonight

Well, it didn't go as planned, but it was great! (Isn't that always the way?) We just found out that one of our 1st graders has juvenile diabetes, and her sister (a 4th grader) is in KidsInC. Many of the kids had questions, so I pulled off this great school guide from the juvenile diabetes research foundation. It has a complete series of lesson plans, and we worked through bits and pieces of them tonight while they ate pizza (usually we have table talk topics during this time). This took longer than our usual eating time, but it was well worth it to dispel any myths. One great section of the curriculum involves how to treat people with diabetes (like a friend!) and has some role playing exercises.

Then we played a life sized board game that walked the kids through the journey of Christ to the cross. Basically, it consisted of pieces of colored paper and a few props. Kids threw a giant die and moved (in groups) the number of spaces. When they landed on a plain piece of paper, they each just had to put one foot on the square or they had to go back to the beginning (the Jerusalem City Gate). If they landed on a pink paper, they had to follow the directions on the paper (go ahead 3 spaces, for example). Finally, if they landed on one of the place spaces (the temple, the upper room, Garden of Gethsemane, the Sanhedrin place, Pilate's place, Golgotha, and the tomb) they had to answer a question about the life of Christ. If they got it correct, they continued. If they missed it, the team had to stay on that place space until they answered a question correctly. The team to reach the tomb first and answer a series of questions wins.

The kids had a blast, and it actually took almost an hour to play! So we didn't get to do our tenebrae service, but one of the parents brought homemade hot cross buns, and they decorated them with icing crosses and read the last words of Christ, so though not as solemn, it worked.

Spiritual Gifts

Looking ahead to the fall:

I'm wanting to do a series in the preteen group on spiritual gifts. Anyone know of any good inventories, ideas, curriculum?

KidsInC Lent

Ok, sorry for the 3rd post in a row, but there's a lot going on. In KidsInC (preteen ministry), we've been doing a Lenten series which came from a hodgepodge of places (books, my head, worship planning, etc). One book that has some really good ideas in it is Seasons of Faith by Abingdon Press. I don't use it exclusively but more as a springboard for ideas. It's a great building block.

We've worked on Jesus' baptism and created a "river" for them to put their feet in while we told the story. It was basically a covered wading pool, some water, pebbles, sand, and some fake rocks and plants, but they got the point, and they loved the tactile sensory stuff. We also did the temptation of Jesus, which led into some peer pressure issues, and then Jesus' healing which was nice because we incorporated some activities from the Bo's Place grief seminar and opened up some great discussion in small groups. And today was the Triumphal Entry lesson. The Seasons of Faith book has some great art projects like a mural incorporating all of these lessons and a Lenten Tree which the kids have had fun decorating.

Next week, it's the Cleansing of the Temple to the Crucifixion, and we're ending the time with our version of a Tenebrae service, which I'm very pumped about. And then the following week, we're doing our Easter celebration, and they can't wait for that.

Then we're doing our monthly service project which this time is goodie bags for the confirmands who go before Session that weekend, and then it's time for our retreat which is going to be focused on friendships.

Ok, I should probably go to sleep now, but I'm just psyched. It was a great night with soooo many kids--a little chaotic, but that's always fun!

CW 4 and Palm Sunday

The pilot is finished, and it was a huge hit! I haven't gotten many parent surveys back yet, but the kids' surveys were all positive. In fact, the only suggestions they gave for improvement were for more stations. Yup! When we get more volunteers...though the response for volunteers for this pilot was actually very positive. Whether that will wane when this becomes a permanent fixture remains to be seen, however.

Verbal parent feedback was also positive, though there are some funny faces when I tell them that the kids will be in the service for the entire time this weekend and that there won't be any cute processionals--we'll ALL have palms in the pews. I think they'll be pleasantly surprised. Plus, the kids have worked very hard on their leadership roles for worship this weekend; we did a dry run with mics tonight, and it was outstanding. It's the first time in the church (and anywhere else I've seen for that matter) where anyone but the pastors have spoken elements of a sacrament (communion), and that is very, very cool to me. They are leading communion alongside the pastors, saying the Great Thanksgiving and prayers for the people, etc. It's very exciting, and I'm lucky to have such forward thinking and kid loving associates.

Pentecost update

So now the thought is that KidsInC, our midweek preteen program, will illustrate the different aspects of the story of Pentecost, and then we'll scan them and project them on the screen as we tell the story.

We're doing a similar thing for Sunday School this weekend. All grade levels are going to get a different "station of the cross" scripture to illustrate and then hopefully, we'll get to display them in order during Holy Week.

Pentecost

We're (adult ed and CFM) planning an intergenerational (well at least semi-intergenerational--the youth tend to do their own thing) SS event for Pentecost which will involve the telling of the story and then a bunch of different stations for activities including the following:

• windsocks
• kites
• bubbles
• candles
• cupcake decorating (bday of the church)
• pinwheels

Then, after they make their crafts, we're going outside and flying the kites and such (provided the weather is good). It sounds kind of boring on here because I just hit the highlights, but I think it will be a nice event, and it's cool that adult ed approached me about planning something together! Maybe we'll start breaking down some of the silos after all.

CW2,3

The last two Sundays of the CW pilot have been amazing. Our numbers were a little small last week due to spring break, but I was glad to see several visitors coming back.

What was interesting to me was comments from parents whom I haven't met before who brought their kids back because the kid "really liked it." Let me explain. These kids don't come to Sunday School, which is rotation and supposedly fun filled and action packed. [Personally, though I like rotation SS much better than popsicle stick Jesus SS, I think it lacks something, but that's an issue I can't tackle right now, and I try to supplement the lessons as much as possible.] But they come to the Children's Worship pilot--no curriculum, no "action," no puppets (puppets give me the heeby jeebies anyway), no flashy lights and mesmerization--just pure adoration and worship of God. It's simple, heartfelt, and real, and these kids want to come back for it. I'm amazed and overwhelmingly happy by that. They aren't coming back to CLPC because of what we're giving them. They're coming back because they enjoy worshiping God, and that is just...well, I don't have words for it...indescribable.

The other interesting comment I've heard is from the workers who all say that the kids are more focused and involved than they've ever seen before. Again, so cool bc it's just pure God and not a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

We've done the worship with our hearts and strength, and this weekend is soul, which I'm particularly jazzed about because a group of kids are doing an interpretive dance as the message. They choreographed much of it themselves based upon the music and lyrics, and it is enough to bring you to your knees. And we're even going to have a dance station where they can just freely dance to music. I'm a dancer, though, so it's cool to me. We tried to vary the messages for the pilot: drama, video, discussion circles, and now dance, just to give them a flavor for the many ways to praise God. And we've varied the prayer station, too, last week being rocks that the kids could write their prayers on. Note to CM workers: that was a hit. They really got into that and put them in their gardens or special places when they got home.

We're putting out a survey for the kids and parents this week, so I'll be interested in seeing what they have to say about it.

Think God!

Worship Pilot week 1 went well. The theme was "Think God! Worshiping God with your Mind." We had a few technical difficulties at the beginning, but they were soon resolved.

From my perspective, it seemed that the kids were very engaged, particularly because we kept them moving with sign language and movements for many of the creeds and songs. Plus, the more emergent part of the service was very well received. The message for the day was in the form of a drama, and Exalt (the kids' worship team) presented it beautifully.

One of the adult helpers shared her thoughts:

"I was in the break out prayer room with the children. I told the children to write a letter to Jesus either thanking him for everything or telling him a problem or concern they have or anything they want to tell Jesus.

I wasn't trying to read theirs but a couple of the children shared with me. They were so touching I almost cried. One little first grader was writing her letter and wrote to Jesus that she wanted him to take care of her cousin in heaven that had died. Then below that she drew a picture of a tomb with a little boy inside with Jesus holding the little boy and above it was the cross and below the tomb was grass and flowers. But the cross was very large and prominent over the little boy's grave.

Another little girl wrote a long note to Jesus very detailed but I did not read it but below it she drew a large cross and in it she drew Jesus with his hands and feet nailed to the cross and above it she wrote. He died for Me! Then around the cross was a couple of angels. Anyways she spent a long time with lots of detail and I thought it was such a great picture and depicted what Christ did for her and us."

We also had a station with heaps of different types of Bibles from comic book style to a standard NIV. Here's what a volunteer had to say:

"What I liked about Sunday was the reading room. I went in there to see how the kids were doing, and several of them asked me to read a story out of the Bible. They would be looking at all the different versions and pick a story and then I would read it. They would all sit around me (almost cuddle up to me) while I read. It was really nice. And, it was several of them, not just a few and not just my son (I don't even think he asked me to)."

All in all, it didn't go exactly as I had in my head-- a seamless, polished service. I had different plans for music (songs with visual images of nature and unbelievable crosses that the executive assistant put together), but the music department had plans for a large chunk of kids being gone to sing in the main service so to compromise, we had the kids come worship and then sing in our service. The music was very choral/ecclesiastical, but it worked, and it showed another form of leadership through singing in a choir. And that's when I was reminded: this was His service--let go. And I did, and it was amazing.

Ash Wednesday

One more little blurb:

As I mentioned earlier, we did a dry run the week before Ash Wednesday to allow kids to ask questions about Lent, about the service, about the ashes, about the sanctuary--everything! As always, they kept me on my toes with astute questions.

We also talked about the importance of a holy, sacred space, and I encouraged them to find something sacred to them to focus on before they even walked in the sanctuary, to remind them of the holiness (akin to taking shoes off before standing on holy ground). At the service itself many of us sat together (although some kids preferred to sit with their parents), and the kids received ashes. I was moved by their solemnity and the energy they put toward looking up the scripture passages and writing out their sins on the flash paper (later dropped in the urn at the altar).

After it was over, several of the kids came up to me and said, "Ms. Kim, it said on the bulletin to enter in silence, but some of the adults were talking. Don't they know it is a holy place?"

In SS, we've been discussing Jesus calling the children, so I reminded them that Jesus called children examples of the Kingdom of God. What examples they were that night!

Pilot starts March 4

It's almost here, the Children's Worship Pilot. We're doing 4 weeks and studying how to worship God with your heart, soul, strength, and mind. We've also got a technology group to put together multimedia presentations.

Also, we've got a children's worship leadership group called Exalt who meet once a week to plan leading worship. They will lead during the pilot and will also lead alongside adults in all three regular Palm Sunday Services.

Ok, more on this later. It's 10:30 and I just got out of Session meeting! I'm probably repeating earlier posts, so forgive me!

APCE and Vday

The conference was jam packed with activity. I don't have much to share from the seminars--at least not anything I haven't learned in past workshops. The plenaries were outstanding, though--Frances Taylor Gench.

Valentine's dinner was spectacular. We reached capacity and had a nice mix of ages. The older adults and other non-parents were so complimentary of the kids, and it was nice for them to get to see how hard the kids work in this church and to see how much they love serving. And the kids had fun! It was awesome bc they would come up to me and ask if it was ok to do this and that, and their ideas were amazing! Truly it was a success.

Helping kids work through grief

I recently went to a 2 day seminar on helping children cope with grief and trauma at Bo's place . It's a fantastic facility doing amazing work, and they gave me permission to highlight some of the seminar's events online, since they are only local to Houston.

The first part of the seminar was understanding the grief response and mainly comes from J. William Worden.

Then they began to focus solely on kids, breaking the grief cycle up by ages and giving the following general advice (keeping in mind the age of the child):

• Answer questions honestly and openly--Avoid euphemisms bc the young child will view them concretely, and the older child will view you as inauthentic
• Allow child's own time table-don't push or lead the child into a certain direction
• Reflect back feelings (validate), and reassure concerns for safety
• Allow for repetition in discussion; each time a child repeats a story or part of a story, he/she is allowing himself/herself to feel and process the emotions associated with it a little bit more.
• encourage physical activity
• help child to connect with a support system
• be mindful of anniversaries
• encouraging kids to get the emotions out; if they are reticent, tell them to cry in the shower bc you're alone there and wet anyway
  

Much of the other general advice they give is what we give to all children--building trust, etc.

Activites and resources:

• Bring in an item of clothing from the family member who died and let the kids make a giant pillow out of it
• Monster Stomp
• Bring in concrete images for preschoolers (e.g. a dead leaf and a live plant)
• When Dinosaurs Die
• Write a letter to the person who died
• Anything from here
• Tear Soup
• Tibetan Prayer Flags--write on them things that you wish to tell the person who died, and then hang them outside (wind takes the prayer to God is the visual image)
• journaling
• make a grief garden (paper flowers attached to tongue depressors that you put in a flower pot with rocks in it--write on the flowers things that you appreciate or have learned from the grief)
• Journey Map--what landmarks or geographical things would you see on a map of your grief journey
• quilt squares
• Tri fold paper (past, present, future--how you feel)
• Fire in my heart Ice in my veins

There was much more, but it's tough to condense it into a blog post. Hope you can use some of it (and actually some of the activities could be tweaked for things other than grief).

Conferences and seminars

Lots of seminars coming up:

• Good Grief for Kids
• APCE--this one I'm attending more for networking and because a church member is receiving a lifetime achievement award
• Promiseland--having recently moved from Chicago, I'm not a huge fan of Willow Creek personally (megachurches just aren't my personal style, and frankly, Barrington has always struck me as a monoethnic suburban nightmare), but they do have great leadership conferences.

Anyone attending any of these?

Upcoming happenings

This has been a week of nonstop meetings and planning (what else is new?), but there are wonderful things happening:

• Weekend in the Word: adult lecture series, but the kids will also have a series which will be a multisensory look at parables
• Valentine's day dinner--an intergenerational event where the kids will actually be working the event.
• New children's worship pilot program to start in Lent (I can't express adequately on this blog how excited I am to see this one coming together).

Big Meetings

Ok, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. The past few months have been filled with, well, Advent and Christmas, and then significant reading, researching, planning, praying, pulling my hair out, praying again...you get the picture. Blogging has been the last thing on my mind.

I've emerged not necessarily refreshed (I need a good vacation, really) but stoked and incredibly nervous at the same time for the exciting changes to come. This week is filled with meetings. Tuesday, we're planning Lent and Easter as a staff, which leads me into my next meeting--new Children's Worship!

For many months now, I've felt guided to change the children's worship at the church. As it stands now, children come in for the first 20 min of worship, have a "aw, look at the cuteypies" children's sermon, and then file out for less than 20 min of busy activities. Well, I take that back. That's what they used to do. Now we have a much better curriculum, but it still only lasts 20 minutes and is really more similar to Sunday School than to worship. There's no real worship going on. It's been nagging me for awhile, and now, we're planning something different.

We're starting with a pilot for Lent. We're pulling the kids out of the main worship service for the full time period (hear me out before you start groaning). The idea is to give them more of an emergent service, different from the traditional and even contemporary services now. Think of everything you know about emergent services (multisensory, visual, etc)--it mostly applies. Furthermore, we're comprising a group from our preteen ministry and teaching them about worship and about how to lead in worship, thus forming a worship team of these kids for drama, dance, music, prayer, etc. This team will actually start earlier than Lent, obviously. Then, on Palm Sunday, the kids (all kids) will join the adults, side by side, in leading worship. Emphasis will be placed on teaching the adults that the kids are not there for the "AW" factor but because they are members of the body of Christ and will lead side by side with the adults in the congregation.

The hope, then, is that if the pilot is well received (or mostly well), then in the Fall (summer is very slow in this community--many vacationers), the kids will spend 3 weeks out of each month in this type of worship, and then will lead and worship with adults on the 4th week. It will be a hybrid of sorts to begin with, with room to blossom into something more.

This is the vision; the meetings are Tuesday and Wednesday, so we will see what happens.

Also on the agenda is an intergenerational event, a Valentine's dinner. The kids will decorate, plan, and serve a catered meal to the adults who reserve a place. The older adults and many single adults and families are responding well to it, and the kids are excited about the opportunity to serve (well 90% of them, anyway). Some of the kids plan to serenade diners with piano, violin, and even recorder music. That meeting is Tuesday afternoon.

Much on the plate, and now I must sleep!

Quote of the day

"I grew up in church and still love God. I am one of the survivors. Many are not so fortunate."--Kathleen Chapman

Alive and well

I'm still here, but I've got a lot going on. Will post soon.

Hope everyone had a wonderful new year!