Please note: due the transition to the new Faith Alive website/online store, some of the images and links in these e-newsletters may not work after January 2009.

July 2007 Welcome to Connect, the monthly e-newsletter for those who minister to children in small Sunday schools, midweek programs, and new church plants. Family Connections I once attended a workshop where the speaker began by telling the audience that kids’ ministry leaders are not the number one religious influence in a child’s life. Ouch! My mind flashed back to all the hours spent preparing Sunday school lessons, sorting take-home papers, and making desperate late-night trips to find obscure craft items. WHAT? I was not the most significant religious influence in their lives? I wanted to stuff my notepad into my nifty teacher’s tote bag and head for home! Truth is, we only interact with our Sunday school kids for about an hour each week. The rest of the week, kids are influenced by the media, their friends, and, most of all, their families. That means our work with kids needs to have a dual focus. First we need to make every minute of that one hour count by using curriculum that is relevant, relational, and Reformed—stuff that gets kids so excited about the Bible that they want to open it again after class ends. (For more about that, visit the Kid Connection website!) Second, we need to walk with the folks who ARE kids’ biggest religious influence—their parents. Here are some ways you can minister to the families of the kids who attend your program. Celebrate Milestones with Tools Instead of Trinkets Commemorate and celebrate milestones by giving families practical and purposeful tools they can really use. When a baby is born or is baptized, give parents a Christian lullaby CD and a notebook in which a few other parents or grandparents from your church have written a “Welcome to the Family” message. These messages might include an idea about how to encourage the child to walk with God and a piece of practical parenting advice. Present a child who is moving from the nursery to the preschool room a kids’ praise CD or a colorful kids’ Bible such as “The Beginner’s Bible.” When kids graduate from Sunday school to remaining in the worship service, give them a Bible, and make a big deal about it. Invite kids and their parents, guardians, or mentors to gather together one week. Seat them at tables stacked with worn and well-used Bibles borrowed from church members. Encourage everyone to flip through the Bibles and see how they are meant to be written in, highlighted, and used. Invite an older member of the church to share how reading the Bible has been an important part of his or her walk with God. Give the person who brought each child the opportunity to write a personal note in the Bible that child will receive. Demonstrate that graduation from church school is another step on the faith journey and not the end of the road by giving kids a cool kids’ devotional, a subscription to a Christian kids’ magazine, or a gift certificate to a Christian bookstore. Get Them Talking Many parents don’t know where to begin when it comes to speaking about faith with their kids. Try these ideas to help them connect faith with everyday life. Take pictures of their kids as they participate in Kid Connection sessions. Tape the photos to a card and add a note that says, “Ask me what I’m doing and why” and send them home! Give families a “question of the week” to encourage discussion at home. Email them to parents, or make several copies of the question and hang them on your classroom door with a “Take One” sign or use a post-it note to attach it to their kids as they leave. Use open-ended discussion-starting questions such as “What do you think heaven will be like?” or “Which person in the Bible reminds you most of yourself?” or “God loves you with no strings attached. What does that mean? How does that make you feel?” Send It Home Help busy families by handing them simple and easy tools that incorporate a faith walk into their daily running around! Make CDs of the music kids love at church available to families. Since not all families can afford to buy a CD, make it possible for them to privately pay what they can. Encourage families to read and use the Guess What! family magazine. The monthly calendar contains spur-of-the-moment-no-supplies-required ideas that can help busy families connect with God, and the parenting column contains ideas every parent can use. Get kids and parents to check out what’s inside the magazine by sticking a post-it note on the cover that says, “Check out page 4!” or “CUT IT OUT! (Calendar page 12)” or remind kids to show their parents the pages that are just for them! Tip: If attendance is sporadic, consider mailing families their copy of Guess What! each month. You’ll be sure it gets to everyone, parents will appreciate the free magazine subscription, and kids will be thrilled to receive something in the mail! Okay, so you’re probably not the number one religious influence in the lives of the kids you’re ministering too. But you are making an impact and God has given you an incredible opportunity to help kids and their parents connect with God. Think about that as you begin to fill your nifty teacher tote bag for next season!
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Please note: due the transition to the new Faith Alive website/online store, some of the images and links in these e-newsletters may not work after January 2009.

July 2007

Welcome to Connect, the monthly e-newsletter for those who minister to children in small Sunday schools, midweek programs, and new church plants.

Family Connections

I once attended a workshop where the speaker began by telling the audience that kids’ ministry leaders are not the number one religious influence in a child’s life. Ouch! My mind flashed back to all the hours spent preparing Sunday school lessons, sorting take-home papers, and making desperate late-night trips to find obscure craft items. WHAT? I was not the most significant religious influence in their lives? I wanted to stuff my notepad into my nifty teacher’s tote bag and head for home!

Truth is, we only interact with our Sunday school kids for about an hour each week. The rest of the week, kids are influenced by the media, their friends, and, most of all, their families.

That means our work with kids needs to have a dual focus. First we need to make every minute of that one hour count by using curriculum that is relevant, relational, and Reformed—stuff that gets kids so excited about the Bible that they want to open it again after class ends. (For more about that, visit the Kid Connection website!)

Second, we need to walk with the folks who ARE kids’ biggest religious influence—their parents. Here are some ways you can minister to the families of the kids who attend your program.

Celebrate Milestones with Tools Instead of Trinkets

Commemorate and celebrate milestones by giving families practical and purposeful tools they can really use.

When a baby is born or is baptized, give parents a Christian lullaby CD and a notebook in which a few other parents or grandparents from your church have written a “Welcome to the Family” message. These messages might include an idea about how to encourage the child to walk with God and a piece of practical parenting advice.

Present a child who is moving from the nursery to the preschool room a kids’ praise CD or a colorful kids’ Bible such as “The Beginner’s Bible.”

When kids graduate from Sunday school to remaining in the worship service, give them a Bible, and make a big deal about it. Invite kids and their parents, guardians, or mentors to gather together one week. Seat them at tables stacked with worn and well-used Bibles borrowed from church members. Encourage everyone to flip through the Bibles and see how they are meant to be written in, highlighted, and used. Invite an older member of the church to share how reading the Bible has been an important part of his or her walk with God. Give the person who brought each child the opportunity to write a personal note in the Bible that child will receive.

Demonstrate that graduation from church school is another step on the faith journey and not the end of the road by giving kids a cool kids’ devotional, a subscription to a Christian kids’ magazine, or a gift certificate to a Christian bookstore.

Get Them Talking

Many parents don’t know where to begin when it comes to speaking about faith with their kids. Try these ideas to help them connect faith with everyday life.

Take pictures of their kids as they participate in Kid Connection sessions. Tape the photos to a card and add a note that says, “Ask me what I’m doing and why” and send them home!

Give families a “question of the week” to encourage discussion at home. Email them to parents, or make several copies of the question and hang them on your classroom door with a “Take One” sign or use a post-it note to attach it to their kids as they leave. Use open-ended discussion-starting questions such as “What do you think heaven will be like?” or “Which person in the Bible reminds you most of yourself?” or “God loves you with no strings attached. What does that mean? How does that make you feel?”

Send It Home

Help busy families by handing them simple and easy tools that incorporate a faith walk into their daily running around!

Make CDs of the music kids love at church available to families. Since not all families can afford to buy a CD, make it possible for them to privately pay what they can.

Encourage families to read and use the Guess What! family magazine. The monthly calendar contains spur-of-the-moment-no-supplies-required ideas that can help busy families connect with God, and the parenting column contains ideas every parent can use.

Get kids and parents to check out what’s inside the magazine by sticking a post-it note on the cover that says, “Check out page 4!” or “CUT IT OUT! (Calendar page 12)” or remind kids to show their parents the pages that are just for them! Tip: If attendance is sporadic, consider mailing families their copy of Guess What! each month. You’ll be sure it gets to everyone, parents will appreciate the free magazine subscription, and kids will be thrilled to receive something in the mail!

Okay, so you’re probably not the number one religious influence in the lives of the kids you’re ministering too. But you are making an impact and God has given you an incredible opportunity to help kids and their parents connect with God. Think about that as you begin to fill your nifty teacher tote bag for next season!

You are subscribed as %%emailaddr%%. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to %%email.unsub%%. If you have questions or comments about this list, e-mail us or call 1-800-333-8300.