Small Things To Do That Will Make A BIG Impact On Your Child

If you are a parent of small children like myself,  you may have questions on how to bring your children along in the things of God.  It is never to early to start teaching and sharing in the experiences of our Father in Heaven.  He loves to give good gifts to His children!  A simple way to start is to read one bible verse a day with your family.  Weekly I will be posting different verses that will help in your week.  Yesterday the kids learned about Daniel and his friends.  They were taken from their home in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon to train for three years and serve the King.  Daniel and his friends chose not to defile themselves by eating the King’s food.  (It is said that the food and wine may have been offerered to idols)  Because Daniel and his friends chose to follow God, God honored that choice and made them wise, healthy and strong! 

As parents, when our children see us make choices to follow and love God, we are preparing them to do the same.  Your children are imitators of you! 

Prayer for parents:  Dear Lord, allow us as parents to follow and love you so that when we step out of the way our children will be right behind you and follow in your way.  Open up our eyes to see you and our ears to hear you God.  We love you and we want to be servants of only you.  In Jesus Name, Amen. 

Through the Week…
Monday: Read Psalm 40:3.  “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” 

 What has God done in our family that we could tell others about to help them trust God?

Tuesday:  Read Psalm 56:3.  “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.”

When are you afraid?  How can you trust God in that situation?

Wednesday: Read Romans 8:28.  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”

When has God worked out a situation in your life for good? How can that help you trust God more in the future?

Thursday: Read 1 Peter 5:7. “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

What worries can you give to God right now?

Friday: Read Psalm 46:10. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Why is it so important to be still before God? How can we help each other do that?

Saturday: Read Psalm 23.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

When is it hard to trust God’s plans? How can this passage encourage our family to trust God?

I hope this has given you a place to start with your children!  I would love to hear of some other ways you have made your faith a daily practice with your children.  Be blessed in your week!

 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.  -James 1:17-18

post created Monday July 14 by Erin Esser-Nusery Director, Children’s Ministry Assistant

Prayerwalking & kids (Part 3): Tuning in to God’s voice

One way I tried to help the kids understand prayer walking last week was to help them visualize hearing God’s voice. Earlier this month, our church hosted the Global School of Supernatural Ministry, and during that time, I remember God teaching me about how to hear His voice more clearly. I began to see how hearing God’s voice  is like tuning an AM radio dial into the right frequency (possibly both are vibrations in the air?).   I need to (perhaps it is HOT 77.7) ! I just have to tune Him in. My dear friend, Kristen Hickey, and I were talking about this and she pointed out how radio frequencies come in clearer during the night.  She, appropriately, is  one of the   watchman on the wall listening and crying out to God in the stillness of the night. I also was thinking about the fact that radio frequencies are more difficult to hear during storms ).  The voice is still there, we just need to be very engaged about hearing it.   I remember when I was a kid, I listened to the radio before I went to bed, but there was a lot of noise in my house, so I had to get under my blankets and  even under my pillow to hear the music and the radio announcer.  Today, I see that as a shadow  of a prayer closet.  So, anyway, I shared this whole radio-image-thing  with the kids when I was talking with them  about “getting nearer so  pray clearer”.  I believe when  they position  themselves closer to places or people who need prayer, and listen closely, they can really tune into God’s concerns for the people and places they are near.

 

Kids prayerwalking (part2)

Well, last night, the kids had the opportunity to practice prayerwalking.   I used a  wonderful resource  with Praykids! magazines and issue #8 is all about prayerwalking.  Witht the 50 or so kids ages K-5th grade we talked about why we should prayerwalk–”getting nearer so we can pray clearer”.  Often, God will give us words of knowledge on what to pray for simply by being closer to the place or people he wants to touch.  Of course, God can hear us anywhere, but being in the midst of our school, neighborhood, city park, church playground, etc.  give us clues on how we can pray for those places/people. 

HERE IS THE PRAISE!:  The children and  leaders planned where each group was going and then decided to go (GOKIDS!).  The 2nd and 3rd grade girls decided to head East on the busy 26th street and just kept walking, allowing God to lead them where to go. One of the girls suggested going to the house of one of the girls who was absent last night. The walk was becoming a lot longer than the leader was expecting and she suggested turning around so they could get back to church on time. But, the girls insisted on continuing on the journey.

So, they finally get to the house and the girl’s aunt was there and informed them that their friend had just been taken to the hospital because she fell off the trampoline with  possibly had a broken leg.  Scary, of course, but the girls knew just what to do. They gathered on the girl’s front lawn and prayed for her healing and protection. I finally saw them running back 15 minutes late with their prayerwalking testimony. They were so excited that they had followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and were able to be at the place that they needed to pray.  If they wouldn’t have gone there, they would never had known that their friend was needing prayer.  I believe their faith was greatly increased last night seeing the fruit of trusting the Lord’s leading. My daughter and several others who were with the group planned on following up and calling the mom of the girl when they got home to see how things turned out. The report came back as a clean bill of health!!! Praise the Lord and may the children continue to see miracles and signs and wonders!

Weekly Boost Hope in Jesus

Weekly Boost Welcome Parents and Guardians!

Hey, we are on the countdown for opening the new building! I’m cheering for the 3^rd weekend in April, but I am realistically expecting the first weekend in May J

I would love to get your feedback on ideas for decorating, etc. for the new building. If you would like to be a part of the process, please email me your ideas, etc. We have been meeting on Tuesdays from 11:30-1 to bring our ideas to the table. You are welcome to join us!

We will not be meeting April 1, but we will be meeting April 8.NO KIDMO or WEDNESDAY NIGHT ACTIVITIES on April 9 and April 16. We will be having Wednesday night KIDMO on April 23 and the LAST night of KIDMO is April 30. 

May 7^th is dress Rehearsal for the STOMP & PRAISE children’s choir program and May 14^th is the perfomance of the program. All children are welcome to participate in this including decorating, handing out programs, serving food, ushering, helping with props. We want all children to attend the performance, even if they are not singing. WE will send home reminders of all of these dates

.KIDS FOR CREATION   (KFC) TRAINING CAMP (alternative to traditional VBS) will be held on May 17, 18, and 19^th  (SATURDAY through MONDAY) from 6-9. This will be for grades K-5 and parents are encouraged to participate with their child. Talk to Rachel Weisbecker if you have any questions or email me and I will get you in touch with her.

We are planning on transitioning to a new check-in system in which you will scan a barcode per family and then a nametag with a parent receipt will print out. Watch for more details soon so that you can get your barcode assigned to your family.

We are looking forward to our new youth pastor Jared Dupert and his family joining us. They will move here as soon as their townhouse is sold, so pray for a quick sale!  He and I have talked about starting a 5^th and 6^th grade youth group, so I will keep you up to date on the developments of that.

Still  looking into starting a SCRIP program as a way to raise funds for the children’s ministry. For every $1000.00  in HYVEE cards purchased for food and gas, the church gets $50.00. I figure if 50 families commit to $500.00 per month, the church can raise $1250.00 per month for toys, sports equipment, craft supplies, chairs, tables, baby wipes, etc.  If you are interested in heading this up, contact me ASAP!

Also,again,  the church officially has a new 15-passenger van with a wheelchair lift! YAY GOD! WE WILL USE THIS VAN! If you are interested in being a driver for kids, or for adults, let us know ASAP, as well.

We are still  looking for someone to head up a coffee ministry. The church acquired some coffee brewing equipment from a coffee shop that went out of business. Call the church or email me if your interested.

The North Campus  Wednesday children’s ministries continues at the Heartland House community room The youth group girls and leaders as well as the regular children’s ministry leaders hosted an outreach last Wednesday. The report was that it went very well and they had a great turnout.

This Coming  Weekend at CATG GOKIDS! Children’s Ministries

MEMORY VERSE:“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.”  Romans 5:3

Bible Lesson:
Peter Explains Belief in Jesus  1 Peter 1:3-9

Take a night next  week to have some teaching fun with your family with one of the following activities related to the Bible lesson:

Hope Day!    On your family’s calendar, put a circle around one date this week.  Call the day “Hope Day”! Every day this week, build your family’s anticipation by asking, “What do you hope will happen on Hope Day?”  On Hope Day, plan a special, hopeful celebraiton for your evening meal.  Serve your family’s favorite food.  Then have a special dessert.  Talk about what it means to hope in God and how certain we can be that God will always do the best for us. 

OR  

Spend time in  a weekly devotion together (see below):

Monday:           Romans 8:28     How can this verse help you the next time you’re worried or afraid?

Tuesday:           Isaiah 41:10      How can this verse help you face your problems?

Wednesday:     Matthew 6:25    Everyone faces problems at times.  How can this verse give you hope?

Thursday:         Psalm 23   How can reading this passage the next time you face trials give you peace?                   

 Friday:         John 3:16  What is God’s promise that can help you through any tough time you could ever face?  

Saturday:          John 16:33  How does it feel to know that Jesus is bigger and more powerful than any trouble you might face?

 Weekly Challenge for Children and Parents
In your child’s memory book, there is a journal page and weekly challenges. Please look at the introduction to  the journal and then encourage you child to draw or write the things that God says to him/her or things that he/she wants to say to God. In addition to the ideas in your child’s verse book, here are a couple more for your family:

 ·         Reminder: Store is rescheduled for May. encourage your child  to work on their verse memorization weekly, reminding them that having the Word in their heart is an eternal blessing, but in the short-term, they get points to spend at the store. **Your children earns points by attending Go Kids!, memorizing scripture and completing their weekly challenges in their Go Kids! Bible Memory Books, and by bringing their Bible and/or friends to church.)

Service Opportunities:

Take part in the blessing of serving in Children’s Ministry.  If any of the areas below interest you, please reply to this message or sign up at the Registration Desk.

1. Children’s Prayer Coordinator- Coordinate prayer meeting times for parents and/or teachers and/or children to pray for one another.
2.   Greeter for new visitors with children during weekend services at the check-in desk- Great parent job.
3.  Children’s Worship Leader for Wednesday nights or when the new building is opened- Training kids to worship with Instrumental Music, banners, dance, & vocal music.  Will train!
4. Bible Memory Listener: Listen to children say memory verses at beginning of Children’s Church and pray with them when needed.

 See you this weekend at Go Kids! and Blessings to you and your family.