June 2008

Welcome to Connect, the monthly e-newsletter for those who minister to children in small Sunday schools, midweek programs, and new church plants. To invite your ministry staff members and volunteers to receive Connect, click here.

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Team Effort

Every week I drop my kids off at basketball practice. Their coach is knowledgeable and the teaching techniques help them hone important skills. But my kids and I know that if they really want to improve as players, a one-hour practice isn’t enough. They need to pick up the ball during the week.

Sounds kinda like kid’s ministry programs, doesn’t it? That one hour is great, but if we want our kids to have a lasting faith, families need to “pick up the ball”during the week. And that’s a team effort churches need to be a part of.

Earlier this year we sent out a survey to find out how your Kid Connection programs were going. Many of you told us how much your kids were enjoying their monthly issue of the Guess What! Family Magazine. Others shared that they were looking for creative ways to fit it into their budget for next year. At Faith Alive we’re convinced that Guess What! is an excellent tool to help families “pick up the ball” during the week.

Editor Carol Reinsma recently compiled two “Top Ten” lists of how Guess What! connects with families and helps them as they nurture the faith of their kids. I’d like to share those lists with you this month. I encourage those of you who already use the magazine in your program to share it with your leaders and get them excited about its potential. Those of you who are looking for a creative way to fit it into your budget—here it is! Share it with your pastor, your education board, and your treasurer. Encourage them to be part of a team effort designed to help families as they “pick up the ball.” Get them as passionate as you are about partnering with families as they faith-walk with their kids!

So here it is:

TOP TEN ways Guess What! Family Magazine helps us partner and support families in their faith walk (and why that’s a big deal):

#10. Families need to faith-talk as they do life together. We’ve been commanded to impress the ways of God upon our kids—when talking, walking, sitting, and standing (Deut 6: 6-9). Guess What! provides parents with practical ways to make faith talk part of their daily walk.

#9. Families need visual reminders. We’re commanded to impress the ways of God upon our kids with things they can see, touch, and handle—the symbols we wear and the ones hanging in our houses (Deut 6: 6-9). That’s the underlying purpose of all the ideas and crafts to do in Guess What!

#8. No one knows you better than your family. A child’s first sense of identity and security comes from his or her family—what better place to learn your identity as a child of God?

#7. Families need guidance from a Christian perspective. Families today come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Guess What! is designed to be accessible to ALL families, no matter who is doing the parenting or where they are on their own faith journey.

#6. Faith-building grows strongest in a family. It doesn’t need to be formal, but it does need to be intentional. Guess What! gives parents ideas to get them growing.

#5. Family includes all of us. As a church family we care about the kids in our congregation and in our community. It’s our responsibility to partner with parents and walk with them as they faith-walk with their kids. One way to do that is to make sure they have the tools they need.

#4. Lessons learned early are more likely to “stick.” Habits of prayer and Bible reading can last forever when started early in a child’s life. Each issue of Guess What! contains Bible stories and simple family devotional ideas.

#3. Family service is important. In families children learn how to reach out to others. Guess What! provides families with suggestions for how to serve together.

#2. What kids learn at church lasts longer when it’s learned again at home. Each issue of Guess What! contains Bible stories along with fun facts and activities to keep kids connecting as they share them with their families.

#1. Parents are busy and they are tired! But studies show that those hectic child-rearing years are also the key years for passing on faith. The activities and parenting tips in Guess What! are designed with busy families in mind and are designed to help them share their faith in do-able ways.

Here’s our second top-ten list:

Top Ten ways Guess What! Family Magazine connects with parents and kids.

#10. No ads! The fun is real, and it’s not about needing the latest and greatest stuff.

#9. Fun for your funny bone. Each issue contains jokes that kids can read, ask each other, and share with their family.

#8. Delicious recipes and cool crafts. Doing something together is an opportunity for communication. The simple instructions for kids and adult helpers encourage that!

#7. Fun puzzles and quizzes. Kids can solve the problems on their own and then show off their knowledge to a family member.

#6. Four Bible story activities. Each activity is designed to retell, quiz, or interact with the stories told each week of the month in your kid’s ministry program, giving parents a heads-up and kids a reminder.

#5. Stories to read, lead, and share. Some of the story activities for older kids encourage them to lead other family members, while other stories are written for young readers. Nothing makes an emerging reader feel greater than being able to read out loud to others!

#4. Calendar to cut out. Each issue has a monthly calendar containing quick fun questions and challenges that families can use anytime—as they’re walking out the door, setting up for or cleaning up after dinner, while driving, walking the dog, or waiting for an appointment.

#3. Practical parenting tips. Each issue features a parents’ page that addresses real, everyday situations that arise when raising a family. It’s written in a friendly, conversational tone; reading the parent page is like sitting down to coffee with a friend!

#2. Interactive family worship. Every issue provides families with suggestions for family worship in which love is put into action, forgiveness is demonstrated, service is required.

#1. Designed to draw kids in. Each issue is packaged in full color with a child or animal on the cover that seems to say: “Here’s lookin’ at you!”

And, fabulous folks who’ve spent the past year faith-talking with kids—here’s lookin’ at you! Thanks for planting faith seeds in the heart of the kids God sends your way. Thanks for the time you spent preparing, caring, and sharing with them. You’re awesome!

Karen DeBoer
Kid Connection Editor