Though the world is traversing unknown territory with the coronavirus protocols, we will continue to move forward addressing the eight virtues of rapidly growing churches. I’m praying for you all and our families we serve as we count it all joy on this new adventure with grace and creativity.

Matt Miofsky, founding and lead pastor of The Gathering, a multisite United Methodist congregation in St. Louis, Missouri,  together with Jason byassee, Butler Chair in Homiletic and Biblical Interpretation at Vancouver School of Theology, wrote Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches.

Matt came to North Georgia to lead a day of education and awesome colleagues made sure I got the materials since I was unable to attend. I have discovered in my deep dive into the book and through discussions with other kidmin professionals we are all in a state of living the life of a ‘church planter.’ Knowing where the local church sits in today’s culture, the authors remind us, “We are all church planters now.” There are some commonalities of the culture and vision of today’s successful church planters. What does that look like for those who serve in ministry with children and families especially if we are not part of a new church plant? Find my thoughts about Virtues #1 through #4 here. 

Virtue #5 – Rapidly Growing Churches Elevate the Practice of Giving
“People want to give to something that is exciting, making an impact, and visibly connected to changing lives.” (p 55) Don’t we all want to make a difference with our resources? YES! So tell the stories and take the time to celebrate how God is present in our generosity. He gave (John 3:16), so we give. He is a generous giver, so we provide environments and invitational moments for generosity. Giving is an expression of generosity, but not the only one. Little people do not have jobs, but they have much. Just last week our CLUB345 decorated 250 cupcakes to give to a recovery center and ate not nary a one. Generosity is a holy habit and growing churches ‘invite people to participate from the beginning.’ If you start something new, we will begin with a opportunities for acts of generosity, not a regular practice of only receiving ‘free’ or practicing consumerism. We must fight the entitlement culture. Let kids serve. Let kids do for others. Let kids know that to be like Jesus is not to receive as an individual, but live with a heart for others in response to our generous God. ‘God hard-wired us to give, and when we operate in a manner that is consistent with our creation, good things happen in our life. We would never ask someone NOT to do something that we believe makes them happier, healthier, and better able to follow Jesus.’ (p 60-61) Teach at a young age that all we have belongs to the Lord and by returning to Him a percentage, we live a life of trust and obedience. How are you teaching the holy habit of generosity as a thread in all you do?

Virtue #6 – Rapidly Growing Churches Work in Teams
Most of this chapter speaks to the trustworthy ‘number twos’ who come alongside the number-ones. Number twos are those who sit in the second chair of an organization. It may not look like the second chair on the org chart, but it’s the second chair that REALLY makes the church go ’round because of their influence. “Whether you are a youth pastor over thirty kids, a Sunday school teacher with a class of ten, or a pastor of a church of 150-there is power in having a number two.” (p 78) The gifts of a number two include loyalty to God and the organization without being a yes person; loyalty to the congregation’s mission as a noticer with an intuition tuned to individual needs; loyalty to the visionary leadership with ‘nuts-and-bolts know how’ within that body of believers; and is accessible. “Methodism at its best is a tradition that encourages Christians to ‘watch over one another in love.’” (p 76) Who’s your next Timothy or your next Mary in your area of influence? These number twos will not just do the work, but they lead the work, and will take the ministry to the next level with great humility, joy, and love. Jesus never sent out disciples one at a time, but rather two, or three, or 70. My colleague at Asbury UMC in Lafayette, Louisiana coached us to always surround ourselves with people who would die for you and know where all the bodies are buried. You laugh, but you know what she’s talking about. Not just taskmasters, but those who get the big picture and arrive early, stay late, take out the trash because it has to be done. Humility abounds and enjoys the company of other Jesus guys and gals. Is your leadership so trustworthy that number twos can find you, can trust you with confidential info, can grow with you, and you notice each one with great love, compassion, and interest? We are family and we share life, we share laughter, and we share the load. We are brothers and sisters in Christ and we treat one another accordingly. We are better together! Who is on your team?

See you here next week with kidmin thoughts on the final two virtues. Which of the virtues mentioned so far are the easiest to implement? The most difficult?

“Methodists are people of the revival tent and the warm heart that John Wesley spoke of and inspired in others.” 8 Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches, pg 73

Matt Miofsky, founding and lead pastor of The Gathering, a multisite United Methodist congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, came to North Georgia recently to present an education opportunity for church leaders. Dear colleagues made sure I heard about what he taught and made sure I had the material. I’ve been drinking from the fire-hose every since.

If an organization is healthy, it’s growing. Matt Miofsky co-authored the book Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches with Jason Byassee. Jason Byassee is the Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Interpretation at Vancouver School of Theology.  He previously served as senior pastor of Boone United Methodist Church, a 1500-member congregation in Boone, NC. The accounts shared in the book give insight to some commonalities of the culture and vision of today’s successful church planters. Knowing where the local church sits in today’s culture, the authors remind us, “We are all church planters now.” Find my thoughts on the first two virtues as it relates to children’s ministry here.

Virtue #3 – Rapidly Growing Churches love the local

“Christianity is a local story.” (p 39) Not everyone is born in the area where they are in ministry, but it helps. There are plenty of anecdotes in this chapter where the successful church planter is ‘from these parts.’ They know people, places, history, and have immediate connections. But if not, we can get our ‘extrovert’ on and dive deeply into the community with a maniacal work ethic. Do that dashboard research and make quick, deep, personal connections with people at lunches, coffees, in businesses, schools, governmental meetings, table life. We meet and we meet and we meet and we meet…in the community. I have served the Lord in multiple capacities of professional ministry in four local churches in the Atlanta-Marietta district. I know what families live with, live on, live for, and have lived through in this area of North Georgia. I raised my family here.  I know the local politics and local politicians. I know the systems, the traffic patterns, and deep-dive into the lives of those I serve alongside. Love the local community where God invites you and learn the history of how they came to be. Someone wants to meet, do it. Someone wants to chat on the phone, do it. “We have to love those places (where we’re called to serve), or spend our time and energy learning to do so.” (p 38) 

Virtue #4 – Rapidly Growing Churches exist to reach the next person

“What good is a revivalist sect if you’re not reviving anybody?” (p 44) Evangelism is introducing people to Jesus: talking about Him, sharing testimonies of His presence and faithfulness, and telling His stories as family stories followed up with, “Do you know my Jesus?” Our entire faith is based on an historical fact. It’s not intuitive, so we must tell the story of Jesus. We tell the accounts of Jesus then and Jesus now, then invite people to make Him Lord of their lives. In children’s ministry, we must talk Jesus every time, every week, every day. When we share the gospel of Jesus, we share what we know to be good news, indeed. “Jesus is the sort of good news you can’t keep unless you give it away.” (p 52) Evangelism should permeate all we do with energy, joy, hope, and compassion. Invite kids to believe in Jesus. Invite kids to follow Jesus. Invite kids to become more like Jesus in their world, their school, their family, on their ball or dance team. When we model this invitation to know Jesus with a ‘come to’ rather than a ‘join us’, we are looking for new friends to share life with. Are we building Jesus’ tribe?

We are halfway there. More to come next week.

“Churches naturally drift toward what they like and what has worked for them in the past. Like throwing a leaf in a river, the natural movement is downstream. Thinking of new people takes constant and relentless effort – it is like walking upstream.” (p 51)

Matt Miofsky, founding and lead pastor of The Gathering, a multisite United Methodist congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, came to North Georgia last week to present an education opportunity for church leaders. I was unable to go, but dear friends called me immediately afterwards to chat about what they heard and one gifted me with the books discussed. As a student of church culture and a satisfied customer of the local church, I began reading Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches as soon as I got home because, in the words of the author, “We are all church planters now.” (p xviii)

In elementary science class we learned how healthy things grow, but not all growth is healthy. Same goes for the local church. The anecdotes shared by the authors are not intended as a blueprint for church growth, but hearing the stories of successful church planters of today these common virtues can’t be denied nor ignored. As Methodists, we are known as a revivalist movement. We are accustomed to breaking barriers, engaging in holy habits, disagreeing in love, gathering in community, and serving the marginalized. With all that in mind, the testimonies of the various United Methodist planters quoted in the book speak loud and clear for today. I’ll cover two here and two each week as it relates to children’s ministry.

Can I put out the challenge that if it’s good for children, it’s good for everybody? Just sayin’.

Virtue #1 – Rapidly Growing Churches believe in miracles and act accordingly

God is indeed working miracles in our midst. We have no idea what the children will do with their love for Jesus, but I know of the miracles that it has taken for some of their parents to be here.  “Acting as if the Spirit is moving changes everything.” (p 3). Praying fervently, specifically, and boldly can get us moving in the right direction. I am one of those miracles. I know the stories of some of my parents and they are those miracles. I need to remind them they are and call how they are claiming their kid’s lives for Jesus as a priority and call it the miracle it is.  “Rapidly growing churches have figured out how to not only take risks but also deal with failure in a way that does not thwart future bold decisions.” (pg 11) My home church where I received excellent ministry training from amazing clergy and lay folk was never afraid of taking risks. We’d try something, set the goals, debrief afterward with a clear look at what worked, wipe off the table what didn’t, and share how to edit to move forward. It wasn’t personal, but it had to be fruitful. We did ministry in love and with only one fear: the fear we would disappoint the Holy Spirit which led us to do ministry in the first place.

Virtue #2 – Rapidly Growing Churches integrate new people quickly

Deep in our Methodist DNA is an order, a method, to organize discipleship with Christian education alongside service. We must be great at assimilation, helping a guest to know the path for growing as a deeply committed follower of Jesus. We do this in relationships in small groups, around tables not rows, and in community. People need an organized plan. Children need an organized discipleship plan. Children go through multiple developmental stages from 0-5^th grade. We can’t depend on them ‘catching’ their faith.  We need a plan for developmentally appropriate faith formation experiences in Christian education and the systems in place to move everyone through their next steps. We are in partnership with parents and grandparents. When a child is baptized, we vow to ‘so order our lives in the example of Christ….’  We are not event planners, but rather disciple-makers and we can provide families with the next steps to ‘so order their families’ to love their kids to Jesus. “The question in Methodism is not ‘When were you saved?;’ it’s ‘How are you growing in grace just now?”  (p 20) “Assimilating people as disciples has to be our primary focus.” (p 22) The local church can do many things, but our marching orders are to ‘make disciples of Jesus Christ.’

More to come next week!

“Rapidly growing churches are like ducks. They look placid on the water. But underneath they’re paddling like crazy!” (p 17)

Last Friday evening I watched with wonder how my amazing colleagues served our Lord by serving one another and people they’d just met with such compassion and humility that the visual images will stick with me for the rest of my days. Many of these folks have been in professional ministry for more than twenty years using their gifts and graces, not their position, to be fully present for whomever God set before us. We registered early for the event. We attended the required training. We loved our colleague who led the charge so much that she didn’t have to worry about when or where we’d be. We’d be right there to do whatever was needed to provide an exceptional and unforgettable experience for our honored guests and their families. We arrived early. We set up. We stayed late. We mopped. We took instruction. We served. I’d never been so excited to be dressed all in black in all my life!

The weekend prior to Valentine’s Day is Night to Shine. Night to Shine honors teens and adults with special needs by giving them their own special night of games, dancing, food, fellowship, where every boy and girl, man and woman is crowned prom king or prom queen. The Tim Tebow Foundation started Night to Shine six years ago with 44 churches in 2014, now more than 700 churches around the world host the prom. My local church, in partnership with two other United Methodist Churches in our district, provided this special event for 125 honored guests.

Yes, our honored guests were celebrated and their families offered respite and an amazing dinner. But let me tell you what else I saw…

The event-leader was a part-time staff member who is a full-time Jesus gal who led a multi-church team which led hundreds of volunteers to be the hands and feet of Jesus. This didn’t even fall under her role on staff, but organized, encouraging, super-prepared, and all-in, her colleagues joined her in the charge because we love her deeply and whatever she leads, we know will honor the Lord. Her husband guided and directed all things transportation with an awesome team, loaded, carted, escorted, and ….

The Recreation Ministry Lead was assigned the most personal interaction as a buddy. I watched that man laugh, talk with, enjoy the company of, cut the food and hand feed his honored guest, then stayed for hours afterward to mop the floor.

The Youth Ministry Lead took photos and took down decorations. The Nursery Ministry Lead and her husband took professional photos for guest take-aways.

The Financial Department Lead greeted guests with energy and excitement and was the event lead’s gopher for the night, never leaving her post. The Head of the Finance Committee directed traffic in 30 degree weather.

The Worship Minister ran for the medical team when needed, ran messages for food allergies, danced with guests, announced the prom kings, and worked the room of buddies and guests making sure everyone was comfortable while her Choir and music ministry team provided a red carpet experience like no other.

An Admin served in the Sensory Room while another placed crowns on the heads of God’s precious.

One of my Super McEachern Kids Dads took bathroom duty. One new Sergeant and a new Dad took on security like the City Police Officer bosses they are. Another Super Dad shined shoes. A Super Mom cheered along with the Choir and Joyful Singers along the red carpet with her own Mom. Two Super Moms led a team to turn a gym into a Tiffany Blue Ballroom. Almost my entire team of McEachern Kids Sunday Morning Leaders were buddies, served food, played corn hole, ran the karaoke room, or danced all night long.

I didn’t see all the other 200 servant-leader volunteers, but what I did see reminded me how good the leaders of God’s church can be. I serve the local church with die-hard, hard-working, servant leaders who are the 6am workers Jesus talks about in Matthew 20 and the faith-builders in Nehemiah 6. I love these people so much as they live out 1 Corinthians 13 every single day.

In the words of our special musical guest Elvis, “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

Each fall every church I’ve ever served has presented a teaching campaign for stewardship for the congregation. The campaign would have a theme, a date of commitment, mailings, emails, sometimes a book to read, perhaps testimonies to encourage folks to consider their obedience of regular giving to the local church according to the scriptures. I’ve learned that if we can teach the holy habit of generosity to children as part of their discipleship it follows the scripture, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Teaching our children God’s way of handling money is a life skill taught best by the family, so let’s give our families the promptings and tools to do so.

This year the children K5-5th grade received an offering folder with the following teaching attached:
“For God so loved the world that HE GAVE…” John 3:16
GOD GAVE his son Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. JESUS GAVE his life so that when we believe and choose to follow him so closely we become more like him, we are better at life. It is wise to teach our children to be wise and generous. Teaching is best learned when practiced and shared with our families.
As the McEachern Memorial UMC family is asked to make a commitment (promise) financially to support the church each year, children are included. In its most simple form, stewardship is taking care of the world and the church on behalf of God.
Invite your kids to serve the family and their neighbors to earn dollar bills toward a $20 goal and return the folders by Sunday, November 10 or when your family is able.
Generosity Conversation Starters:
• How do you think God wants us to take care of the church?
• How are we ministers to others for Jesus?
• What are some ways the church can help take care of the world?
• What are some things you can do to help the church in its ministry?
• What can you do to help take care of God’s world?
• How can I be generous with my family?

The sense of belonging to a community is an important aspect of faith development for children (and all ages). This can be an asset in exploring how we use what God has given us to include creation, abilities & talents and resources (financial and relational).

Children need approval of family, friends and teachers and hands-on exploration of concepts, being able to relate Bible stories to their lives and the issues of today. It is important that we encourage questioning and exploration, while sharing our own faith and understanding of stewardship in an honest, open way.

One’s understanding of personal stewardship is a continuing journey that should begin in childhood. Most children already have a sense of wonder of how to respond with thanksgiving to God who created them and the world in which they live.

Generosity, charity, sharing, Thanksgiving and abundance are reinforced in many of the themes found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Be encouraged to think about how to use your gifts and how to be more generous as an example to our children. Because we serve a generous God, we should grow in our generosity.

How are the children involved in your local church’s stewardship campaign?

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

By the time this is published, I’ll be attending a national Children’s Ministry conference with a bus load of other kidmin champions. We’ll attend workshops, overhear conversations, spend WAY too much time in a resource center and come home with a slew of new ideas and excitement for what is to come.  The tension comes when I’ve already set my calendar for the year. As stated last week, that document is always a working calendar because we desire to be relevant, helpful to our families, and offer freshness. How do we work out the tension?

Each programming year, the goal is to offer 20% of our programming as ‘new’ items, meaning that 20% of our old programming will take a sabbatical, be fully handed off to laity, or updated to be included in the 20% of ‘new’. This keeps ministry fresh and relative to changing culture and family needs. For example: The Tour of the Nativities has grown into such a huge event set two hours before the annual Christmas Choir event, that it’s bigger than me. Little people handling the treasures of so many has me shaking in my boots, so I’ve already contacted one of the Women’s Ministry groups to take it on in the future, thus opening a spot for something new in that season of church life.

The additional challenge comes when everything you offer is great, or we like to think it is.  But let’s face it.  We all have limited resources in volunteers, champions, funding, and time. So let’s be intentional about offering what is best: be in prayer, talk with your parents, chat it up among your students, run it by your pastor and church leadership in the casual conversations of life. For example, while Christmas Caroling, I was able to ask the children in attendance if they had enough time to make all the stations at Messy Family Christmas to see if I needed to adjust the next year’s timing of Messy McEachern on the Fifth Sundays. I do. Sharing a bus seat with our Princess Class Bible Study leader which took us from home to home while caroling, we were able to discuss a change in 3rd-5th grade programming for the NEXT school year which will suit her schedule and passions as well as meet the prayerful needs of the large group of students coming up into the 3rd grade. Two major programming items for 2019-2020? Done! Now I have a whole year to talk it up.

To aid my focus of adding only what is best, I set aside a dinner with my leadership team two weeks before attending the conference. Away from church. At a local restaurant. These ten servants in the trenches of children’s ministry shared laughter, food, ideas, what they love, and what they dream for us in the years to come.  We talked and laughed about everything from Sunday school to the Christmas Eve children’s play. Very informally they shared their kid’s favorite things about their church and even why. This amazing team of leaders are of all ages, have kids of all ages, been at the church forever or just joined our church this year. These are the champions, the connectors, the voices with seats at leadership tables in other areas of the church, the workers, and the partners who will fuel the new and will be all-in for what we keep and update in our programming. We talked about our shared vision for relationships between our kids and families and agreed that Sunday school is the primary offering of Christian Education developmentally appropriate for our littles. We even renamed a few things that will take on an update in the new year. Collaboration at it’s best before I head off to a conference that will blow my mind without this focus.

Jim Collins wrote in Good to Great, that “Great leaders shoot bullets before shooting cannonballs. Bullets are miniature cannonballs. They’re inexpensive, easy to make, and easy to shoot. Outcomes invite us to face assumptions as we test, evaluate, and adapt on a smaller scale.” We did that with Messy Family Christmas (a take on the Messy Church model during Advent). We did that with McPeachern (luncheon with peach food at the height of Georgia peach season). We will do that with Wonderfully Made and a Middle School panel dessert event we’ll have in late April for what we desire to offer as a series in 2019-2020.

How do you add something to your calendar with intentionality?

“Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:5-8

In preparing for a Children’s Ministry Stakeholder’s Meeting, I asked a 2nd grader what were her favorite parts of church over the last year. Her response surprised me. She replied, “When we read aloud books.” There are many more flashy things we do, but she shared immediately how we end our time in Children’s Church most Sundays. So when I heard Glenys Nellist had written two new rhyming books focused on mommies and daddies, I picked up several copies right away and she didn’t disappoint.

Published by Zonderkidz, these two irresistible padded-covered board books are a MUST for any child’s and children’s ministry library. In celebration of Father’s Day, I’ll focus this review of God Made Daddy Special. With a lilting rhythm, children will hear of the precious characteristics of a polar bear, skunk (my personal favorite because it is laugh-out-loud funny), giraffe, octopus, lion, flamingo, bat, and elephant. The last pages elaborate on human Daddies. I LOVE books that share the laughter, playfulness, joy, strength, and humor of daddies with their kids. Even a pre-teen enjoys hearing the reminders that their dads are amazing creations of God and ‘a precious gift to me.’

Both books are illustrated by Estelle Corke, who uses traditional paints and watercolors making every parent-animal an absolute visual delight. The images and even the print was intentional: The heart-shaped ‘O’ on the cover of God Made Mommy Special is the publisher’s response to Glenys being from England. In England, they don’t call Moms ‘Mom’, but rather ‘Mum’ making the marketing on both sides of the ocean relative.

Glenys is indeed an accomplished author of children’s books pointing families to the Lord. Might there be something on the horizon about Grandmothers and Grandfathers? This Mimi would be thrilled. Stay tuned!

Want to get BOTH books for your library for free? Comment below with what you’ve planned to do for your Dads and their kids in your ministry with children. We’ll be enjoying donuts with Dad in the Children’s Welcome Center. This pair of books are perfect for a preschool classroom, too. You must be over 18 years old and have a US street address. The giveaway ends on Tuesday, June 12. I’ll announce the winner on that day. Thanks, Glenys! Thanks, Zonderkidz!

To connect with Author Glenys Nellist, find her across various social media @GlenysNellist and visit her website. To connect with Illustrator Estelle Corke, check out her Facebook page.

“Every good and perfect gift is from God.” James 1:17

Glenys Nellist has partnered again with illustrator Sophie Allsopp to provide a beautiful book for children and the young at heart in Easter Love Letters From God: Bible Stories. Glenys has authored two popular book series: Love Letters from God and Snuggle Time. She serves ministry with children in Michigan and comes from northern England. Sophie Allsopp is an award-winning illustrator of many children’s books and lives in England. These ladies have come together to present an interactive Easter journey that is delightful!

Seven sections take the reader through seven events of Holy Week: Triumphant Entry, Washing Feet, Last Supper, Gethsemane, Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection. Each page has a 3-D look to it with the appearance of multiple items placed together to further visualize the setting of each event. The artwork is lovely, simple, and delicately fills each page to add to the story. Even the detail of the stamp on the lift-the-flap share an image that compliments each of the seven events of Holy Week.

In the writing of the story, Glenys does well in speaking of the humanness of Jesus.

“And even though he felt all alone, he knew that God was with him.” (pg 16)

The lift-the-flap love letters from God were a reminder on each page, in each scene, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Even the darkest events were written tenderly, yet truthfully. Sin is not mentioned, but forgiveness is.

Dear _______,  Do you like surprises? Inside that quiet cave I was working on a surprise that no one could imagine. It would be the greatest surprise the world had ever known. Something was happening to Jesus. My son was going to have a brand-new life. But for three whole days the world had to wait.  Love, God (pg 27)

In just a couple of weeks there will be a free, downloadable activity and resource pack available to accompany the book designed for families and those who serve in ministry with children.  The first look of that resource will be made available at http://www.glenysnellist.com.

Though the events of Holy Week are the saddest in the whole Bible culminating in a way I have a hard time wrapping my head and heart around, this is the basis of our faith: the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, God’s own perfect son who came to seek and to save the lost. We must share this with our little people. They need to know. We need to know. If we already know, we need to be reminded. This hardy book shares the stories and does an amazing job of sharing images that are kid-friendly. It’s perfect for family devotion and to accompany the teachings of Holy Week in the local church.

You can win your own copy! Just comment on the blog THIS WEEK with an idea of how you share, celebrate, or remember an event of Holy Week. It can be in your classroom (for all my preschool champions), your church (for all my Sunday school and small group servant-leaders), or your home (for all our Mamas & Daddies & Grands sharing their faith in our fabulous Jesus with their little people.) Zonderkidz will be sure you get your copy early in Lent.

How will you share, celebrate, or remember our best friend Jesus this Lenten season?

“Can you believe that my son, Jesus, came back to life? Only the King of the whole world could do that. Jesus is the King of Love, the King of Hope, and the King of Heaven. And he wants to be the King of your life, too. Will you let him?” Glenys Nellist, Easter Love Letters From God, pg. 31

We are discovering a variety of skills are appealing to both parents and kids with the Wesley Chapel Academy. Even though some of the boys who signed up for sewing basics were concerned there wouldn’t be other boys, we found there were an equal number of boys to girls at the third Wesley Chapel Academy class.

Ordering Sewing School: 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love To Make with kid-friendly graphics from Amazon, we chose two projects we thought the kids could accomplish in the time frame of 6-7:30 with tutor introductions at the beginning, a small break mid-way for a story about the sick woman healed by the power of even the touch of the fabric of Jesus’ cloak, and certificates with summer fun registration information attached.

Supplies included: 2 needles per student, scrap fabric for the pillow, batting for stuffing the pillow, 2 small sewing kits with small spools of thread, crayons/chalk for outlining patterns, large 2-hole buttons, dark colored felt (the darker colors make for a stiffer fabric), scissors, paper bags for carrying finished projects or storing unfinished projects, ice water in the large dispenser with small cups for the water-story break.

6:05-6:15 Introductions and housekeeping

6:15-6:45 Station #1

6:45-6:55 Water and story break

6:55-7:25 Station #2

7:25-7:30 Certificates earned and class photo

Two seamstresses in the church (Titus 2 women!) and two young people who could take instruction AND keep the littles on task along with keeping their needles threaded/knotted (we did have some 1st & 2nd graders) were wonderful tutors. They spoke, they displayed, then encouraged the students to keep trying to do it themselves.

One brother and sister team drove over an hour to attend the class. They heard about the class through our registration tool Eventbrite. Twenty registered, fifteen attended, three students were new faces!

The next Wesley Chapel Academy is next month and we’re breaking out the power tools!

“When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”” Mark 5:27-28

Since January our families have been picking up Praying On The Go Bags each month to build their faith muscles in prayer with simple directions and a prayer prompter to take home.  I wanted to do something different for July following Vacation Bible School and came across a great facebook post of a blog offering  Take Out Church.  Thankfully, everything they used with photos and pdfs are at the link.  Gotta love it when colleagues share their goodies!

With a spin specific to us and our Children’s Ministry tagline, I prepared a pizza box (purchased at a local pizza shop @ $1 each) for each family, ordered the prayer cubes, and filled it with some goodies to clean out my own shelves along with the following instructions:

Summer Church On the Go Instructions

Summer Church On The Go is a way for your family to bring church with you as you vacation and enjoy wonderful family time this summer.  Building memories around faith practices. In this box are ways you and your family can

GROW (App List, Coloring Scroll with memory verses),

TELL (Flat Jesus, Conversation questions),

SERVE (Serve Your Neighbor Game),

WORSHIP (VBS CD, Prayer Cube, Skittle Prayers), and

BELONG (give the Wesley Chapel Welcome Postcard to a friend and invite them to church, Write a note of encouragement on the funny postcards and mail them to whomever you want – grandparents LOVE this stuff!)

Through it all we want you to remember to take Jesus with you. He is the most important thing in this box, but especially in our family life. Color FLAT JESUS and then take it with you everywhere you go. Take a picture and post it on facebook or email it to the church office at church.office@wesleychapelumc.com.

Have fun, be safe, and enjoy church on the go this Summer!

We introduced the boxes at the children’s moment the Sunday following VBS as a way to continue growing in our faith during the next month when most of us might hear, “Mom, I’m bored.”  It was quite dramatic to see a stack of pizza boxes near the church office and the kids headed straight for them after services were over.

What is your follow up to VBS?

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” – Colossians 4:2 NIV