Christian Education
CEWeb:
Q&A - Your Responses
On
our Home page we put forth a couple of questions and you have responded.
Thank You. Read on to view that input on what has worked for others.
Here are the questions. (You
can still share Your ideas.)
" What summer Christian Education
activities have you had at your church that worked well for you?
(Send a digital picture if you have one!)
" What good books and resources
have you discovered recently?
And your responses:
First
Baptist Church, Richland Center:
Vacation Bible School
In
July 2004 the Richland Center First Baptist Church joined with other
Richland Center community churches to provide VBS for nearly 100 children.
The children are challenged to bring more friends each night, and
if they do, the pastors, (and children) do the "chicken dance".
If they topped last years numbers, this year the
pastors were to color their hair. By the pictures you can see that
this was accomplished. Pastor Bob whose wife is a clown came prepared
with hair color and face paint.
Mary Jeffries, pastor for Ash Ridge 
and
Richland Center First, borrowed a bright blue wig from Bob's wife
who is a clown and wore it instead of coloring her hair.
The Sunday following VBS, the children, teaches,
and pastor all wear their T-shirts and outfits from VBS, and share
songs, stories, and Bible verses with the two congregations.
This year Pastor Mary led worship in her bright blue
wig.
It
is amazing how many times children will stop me in a store and chat,
because I have been there with them at VBS, and they have seen me
just being human and having fun. They learn that pastors are not scary
people, and hopefully will feel comfortable coming to worship beyond
VBS.
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First Baptist
Church, Green Bay:
New Library and Summer Reading Initiative
As the 'lazy, hazy days of summer' rolled around
the Board of Christian Education developed a reading challenge for
the children of the congregation. With
the development of a very kid friendly "Kids Library" just
off the Nursery are of our church's main level. Everyone got involved.
Books were purchased, organized and displayed in ways that were attractive
and easy to access. A special rug was woven by the Care and Share
(women) of the church. This provided a very comfortable place to sit
and explore the books in the library itself. Throughout the summer
children and their parents were challenged to read regularly, to record
their books and pages and report the progress in mid August. The successes
were celebrated when the children and other family members gathered
at the local swimming pool on a Sunday afternoon to enjoy a fun time
together. The 'readers' were credited for providing access to the
fun event for their whole family, as well as, being recognized for
the discipline of reading good books, growing intellectually, and
spiritually.
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First Baptist
Church, La Crosse:
Adult Sunday School
We have Christian Education classes for all ages
at La Crosse. At the moment, however, we have more adults than children.
So we have put some emphasis here. We have three classes currently
meeting, using different times and different styles of teaching. Two
are Sunday School classes. One uses Judson Journeys curriculum and
is team-taught by two members of the class. The other class chooses
topics or books of particular interest to the group and leadership
is shared. The third class is an in-depth Bible study meeting on Thursday
evening. The current topic is "How to Interpret the Bible."
The result of the time and curricular options has been rewarding in
that we have a high percentage of the congregation involved in some
sort of discipleship program
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Whiting
Community Church, Neenah:
A New Ministry
Is midweek ministry in the local church still a possibility?
For several years my wife Denise and I, have pondered that question.
We have had some exciting monthly ministries for children, meeting
on Sunday afternoons, but we had visions of a ministry to children
that met more frequently.
Along with the vision for children, was one for adults.
I have led a midweek small group in my home for several years. However,
I was looking for a way to expand that ministry and involve people
who had not been involved before.
With a vision for children and adult midweek ministries,
Denise and I started our planning with hope and lots of prayers.
In order for this ministry to become a reality we
needed the following:
-
Many leaders and helpers; such a ministry would
not be feasible with only one or two.
-
A time convenient for most of the children as
we were aiming at both preschoolers and elementary age kids. We
knew that starting out we wouldn't be prepared to provide a meal,
so we needed a time after supper that was both suitable to accomplish
our ministry and would enable kids to get homework done and/or
meet their bedtime needs.
-
Interest on the part of the parents for such a
ministry.
-
A good curriculum that would be fairly easy to
use and yet very affective in getting kids excited about coming
back week after week.
-
A willingness to let go of the adult small group
that had met for several years.
The conversation with parents of children was encouraging,
yet there were still some uncertainties. We were unsure that when
it came right down to it whether or not this ministry would attract
enough leaders, parents, and kids to be viable. And what about the
adults? Would they express interest in an adult study? (Our history
was against us. We have struggled getting small groups to develop
outside of the one that has existed for the past several years, with
the same faithful people.)
We decided, after much prayer, to go for it. Denise,
who is the children's ministry director for our church, decided to
use FW Friends, published by Group. We have used their curriculum
for Vacation Bible School and found it to be terrific - the kinds
of materials kids really respond to. I chose for the Adults a curriculum
called Foundations, written by Kay Warren and Dave Holladay. It is
a study that focuses on 11 basics of the Christian faith including
the Bible, God, Jesus, and the Church, but on a deeper level than
the average Bible Study. It would be a challenge to teach and a challenge
to learn.
The more we thought about it, the more we felt the
youth were being left out. Our youth have participated in the big
events like Power Of One, and Super Bowl parties, but have never become
a group that met on a regular basis, no matter how hard we tried to
make this happen. We had a great fear of starting a group and having
it fail, again because of our past history. Still, we decided if we
could find a leader, we would give it a try. God gave us Christy,
who is fairly new to our church and who has a heart for ministry.
She was very willing to give it a try.
On September 21st, we had our first midweek experience.
We were amazed with how God blessed us! We expected and hoped for
about 10 kids. We had over 20! In fact, we have had to reorder materials
a couple of times to keep up with the kids who are coming. The adults
have also participated. We have had anywhere between 8 to 10 people
weekly, and several of them are people who have never participated
in any Bible Studies at our church in the past. A couple of the participants
are also new to our church. And our youth? We were overwhelmed! Our
first night we had 10 youth, and since then we have consistently had
between 6 and 10 youth every Tuesday. The youth are excited about
coming - and they bring their friends!
What have I learned from this experience? Never give
up hope. And never say, "it can't happen here" without trying
it at least once, if not twice or three times and even more. (I have
had a vision for a midweek experience for many years.) Of course,
good leadership is a must, and I'm thankful for the leaders who have
stepped up to help. I'm thankful for the parents who are faithfully
bringing their kids each week. Most of all I'm thankful for the participants.
Kids can't wait to come back the next week. Youth are responding in
a way I never dreamed possible. And the adults have encouraged me
with their positive comments about our study.
Our midweek experience has renewed my hope for our
church and given me a dose of encouragement, which a pastor of any
church can use.
Pastor Jim Schmitz
Whiting Community Baptist Church
YOUR input
could join in here, and perhaps aid others as these ideas may have
helped you.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Maxine Ashley
Staff Associate in Christian Education
Christian.Education@abcofwi.org
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