All posts tagged Summer

More or Less in Family Ministry

By | July 20, 2012 | Ministry Ideas | No comments
Flickr by

I looked at my front window one sunny day in June to see a trail of kids walking, skipping and shuffling along the sidewalk in front of my house.  My eye caught the face of a girl who attends our church.  I rushed onto the front porch just in time to hear her say to a friend, “I know the people who live here.  Really, I do.”  I called her name and waved.  Delighted, Katie* ran over for a hug and proudly strutted back to the line.   I’ve gotten to know Katie pretty well during my time in the ministry.  I’ve gotten to know her family too.

  • Recently, I had many a phone conversations with Katie’s mom about a possible teenage pregnancy in the family.
  • Katie’s older sister comes to my house every other week for some hang-out time and casual mentoring.
  • Her grandma just emailed me to ask if she could bring a birthday cake for Katie to our mid-week program.
  • Katie’s cousin stops in occasionally to our house for dinner and a cooking lesson, usually with board games afterwards.

Family Ministry Means Being a Family

My husband and I don’t do this stuff because family ministry is our heart’s burden.  We do it because that’s how the church is supposed to work.  Family ministry isn’t about creating programs to meet the needs of every family member.  It’s about being a family.  It’s about being a community.  It’s about being a part of each other’s lives in a way that’s authentic and meaningful.

Nice looking family!

Family Ministry is not a new concept.  You see a beautiful picture of the kind of community God envisioned for his people in Zechariah 8:4-5:

4 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. 5 The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there. ”

This happened just last night at our Summer Blast program.   The thing I love most about VBS is how it pulls a congregation together.  People serving as small group leaders, people running games, people doing crafts and projects.  And old people, some with canes in hand, sitting along the edges of the gym, watching the kids running to and fro, sipping their coffee and smiling.

Brand new parents, who had never stepped inside the doors of our church before, were playing right alongside their kids, gluing hearts onto paper plates and clapping to the music.   The teenagers from the youth group were running cookies and little napkins out to the snack table and filling up water balloons as fast as their fingers could tie.  Young kids were greeting new guests and telling them “I’ll be your friend!  I’ll show you where to go and stuff”.

That’s family ministry.   It’s about being a family.  It’s about being a community.  It’s about being a part of each other’s lives in a way that says, “You belong.  You matter.  You’re important here.”

What Does Family Ministry Look Like?

Ever since the rise of the “Family Ministry” movement, I’ve tried to determine how it plays out in our church.  I’ve realized it plays out in ways like these:

  • Watching fireworks with a couple families from the church and a few friends from the community.  Chatting and wrestling with our kids the way people do when they are gathered around a living room
  • Hosting a Story Time in the Park to reach out to stay at home parents and grandparents who are looking for a community where they can belong
  • Running into a grandma that attends Story Time in the Park at the grocery store and stopping to ask how her weekend was
  • Inviting one of the youth group girls over as a Mother’s Helper
  • Taking one of the youth group guys (this was my husband on this one) on a two hour drive to Pittsburgh so theycould see the Lecrae concert together
  • Revamping the entire Sunday School program so everyone, 2 years old and up, is learning the same Scripture passage each week, making spiritual conversations a little easier to start
  • Going to my friend Michelle’s house for a Coke and to hear her wisdom, Titus 2 style
  • Showing up in droves to help a family move
  • Handing my crying baby over to a small group leader on Wednesday night (hey, she asked!) so I can grab a few more props out of the storage closet
  • Going to a summer bonfire at another families house and learning what’s important to their family as we sit around and talk
  • Laying blankets next to each other at the church softball games and talking with other moms as the kids run in the field nearby

This is stuff families just naturally do.  This is stuff the church should naturally do.

I agree this method isn’t very systematic, but it may just be what people need.  Sure, a child dedication class can be helpful (we started one this year).  But I think the friendships formed during the class are even more helpful.  I’m thinking…less programs and more community.   Less checklists and more chatting.  Less pressure and more enjoying the moment.  Less trying to think of new ideas and more of just talking to moms and dad (I’ll admit having kids really gives you an in on this one!)

You’re Important in This Family

When you’re a part of a family, you’ve got a role to play.  Have you ever checked out the Duggar’s show?  Every kid has a jurisdiction in the house.  And they take serious ownership of that job.   They know they have responsibilities that come with being a part of a family.  Perhaps you too remember the delightful sticker chore charts mom used to hang on the fridge?  I wonder if we’ve stolen something from the people of God by catering to their every need instead of treating them like part of the family.  That’s my dream for family ministry.  That it will become less of “ministering to the different members of the family” and more of “becoming a family”.

How about you?  What’s your dream for family ministry?

Leave me a comment and let me know!

This post is part of a Family Ministry blog tour.  Check out this page to see all the other great posts! 

 

*Not her real name

Summer Blast! {VBS Alternative}

By | July 6, 2012 | Holidays and Events, Summer, Vacation Bible School | No comments
12Jul_standard_bottomline2

I have to admit, I don’t know where to fall on the whole Vacation Bible School debate.

Flickr by Shalom VBS 2010

On one hand, it seems like a lot of work and a lot of cost. It’s exhausting to organize, it’s exhausting to execute, and it’s a little frustrating when the program is seen as nothing more as free babysitting.

On the other hand, it’s a whole lot of fun.  There’s something so cool about transforming the whole church into Egypt for a week and getting a “first-hand” experience of Joseph’s life, especially if it involves life animals!  And even if parents do view it as “free babysitting”, it still gets the kids in the door and hearing about God’s Word, right?

Last year, we took a break from VBS to try a few other ideas.  Story time turned out to be an incredible experience but Family Movie Nights tanked.  I have to admit, it was exhausting trying to convince the church to “try something new”.  It was exhausting trying to wrangle in volunteers for these new uncharted programs.  It was exhausting to hear everyone complain about how they didn’t really like the new programs.  It was perhaps more exhausting than just running traditional Vacation Bible School.

In May of this year, the kids in our Wednesday night program started asking, “When are we going to do that really fun week again?”  Suddenly, I felt a little bad for killing VBS.  I read this post by Jon Acuff about how his church refuses to do VBS and wondered if that’s how people talked about me and East Lake Road Alliance.  I didn’t want to be the “no fun” church.   But I didn’t really want to make a big decision just to stay in the VBS club.

So, we came up with a plan.

We’re bringing VBS back!  Sort of.  Instead of cramming all that VBS fun into one exhausting week, we’re running our VBS program on four Wednesday nights, starting July 11th.  Here’s why:

1. It’s less exhausting

Can you tell this is a big motivator in my life?

2. It establishes a pattern of attendance.

I’ve heard that if you get a family to return a second week to church, you’re halfway to integrating them into the church community.  Hopefully, the same principle works here.  If kids attend every Wednesday night for 4 weeks (and have fun), chances are, they will keep on coming.

3. It’s more cost-effective.

Instead of buying a VBS curriculum, we’re just using the curriculum we always use for our Wednesday night program (252Basics).  252 Basics already built some hype into the summer months by making the theme EPIC LOVE and adding  some over-the-top lessons and games (perfect!).   We’re adding to this foundation by moving our song and lesson time into the sanctuary so we can use “the big screen” and moving game time outside (who doesn’t love outside games?).  I would have bought some decorations for our Wednesday night program anyway, so I just added a few extras to the cart, like this giant whale!

Giant Inflatable Whale

(Get yours at Oriental Trading!)

4. It’s more volunteer friendly.

It’s way easier to volunteer once a week than for an entire solid week, especially if you’re fairly new to the church and aren’t sure if you want to make that kind of time commitment.  We have folks that are doing all four weeks, some that are doing just one week, and some that are popping in as they can.

5. It introduces everyone to the current curriculum.

Sometimes I think we don’t get VBS kids to return because we pitch Vacation Bible School as a “one time event”.  I’m hoping to communicate to the kids, “This is the stuff we learn about every week.  This is the format we use every week.  Sure, this is a little over the top, but it’s the same basic idea!”  That way, if VBS kids do return for a “normal” week, they are already familiar with “what we’ve been learning” and some of the other basic patterns and terminology of the curriculum. Not only that, it exposes the parents to the curriculum in a fun, nonthreatening way and it allows church members to get a taste of what volunteering for Children’s Ministry would REALLY be like.

6. It stretches out the fun!

We’re going to be decorating the sanctuary in a “Summer Blast” theme, and the decorations will stay up through the whole month.  I think this makes buying decorations more worth it, because not only do you use them longer, but they give a great first impression to any guests who come in on a summer Sunday morning.  I think it really communicates “family friendly”.  If we stuck with the traditional VBS schedule, there might be one or two Sundays of decorations, but with our Summer Blast schedule, we’ll get six weeks. I only spent about $110 in decorations, and I think that’s a pretty good investment!

What About You?

Where have you fallen in the VBS debate?  Are you trying some alternatives or sticking with the summer tradition?

 

Fourth of July Flag Crafts

By | July 4, 2012 | Holidays and Events, Summer | No comments
Flag Painting1

Hey Everyone!

Hope your having a great summer so far!  I’ll be spending the day having picnics with the family, watching the parade, and checking out the fireworks and hope you’re doing the same.  In case your looking for a great project for the kids during the festivities, check out these two flag crafts!

Super Simple Flag Craft

Painter’s Tape and Finger Paint Flag 

If you’ve got some time to click around, feel free to check out some fourth of July posts from the Growing Kids Ministry archives!

Questions From a Reader: Summer Ministry and VBS Alternatives

Our BIG Summer Plans!

Tips for Fourth of July Parade

Counting the Cost (of being in the parade)

Story Time: Counting

By | June 6, 2012 | Erie, Summer Story Time | No comments
Summer Story Time in the Park

Monday was our first story time at Whitford park.  It went great!  Story time is one of my favorite parts of summer ministry because we get to be OUT in the community.   I love seeing someone I met at story time at a parade or at the grocery store and you can kind of see the light click…”Oh, these church people are just like me.”   I love that we can serve local families this way.    Here’s what we did this week!

Books:

  • 10 Apples Up On Top
  • One Moose, Twenty Mice

 

Ten Apples on Top is over 50 pages, but there are only 1-2 sentences on each page, so it moves pretty quick.  The kids didn’t seem to mind the length at all and there were some pretty young kids there (2 years old).  As for One Moose, Twenty Mice,  the kids LOVED this one.  On each page, the author asked “But where is the cat?” and the kids were only to happy to help the story reader find the little orange kitty hidden among the other animals on each page.  Kids would race up, point to the cat, and race back to their seats, only to do it all over again as soon as the page turned.  It was very entertaining!

Songs

We decided to use songs this year to engage the kids a little more and to give a buffer for late-comers.  Last year, we would get a little gathering at 10:30, so we would get started and by the time the stragglers came in at 10:40, the story was over.  A website I found suggested doing songs at the beginning so the early arrivers have something to do, and the late-comers don’t miss out.   Turned out to be a great idea!     Here’s what we sang:

Open Shut Them (beginning of this video)

 

If You’re Happy and You Know It

(The boys were a little hesitant about the songs until we got to the “Stomp your Feet” part of this song)

Please Sit Down (It’s Story Time)

 

10 Little Apples

This is the simply the song “10 Little Indians”, but I changed “Indians” to “Apples” to go with our story and made the last phrase, “10 Little Apples, up on top!”

We’re hoping to do the first three songs each week, and then throw in a 1-2 “Themed” songs as well in between stories.  The kids seem to respond to the songs pretty quickly and it does help them settle in and get focused.   Last night, when we were driving back home from my husband’s softball game, I heard my two-year old in the back singing “Shh! Be Quiet, please sit down.  It’s time for our story!”  so I guess the songs stick!

Craft

For the craft, we went with the “10 Apples” theme.   We used washable tempera paint, cut apples, and this counting page and let the kids go at it.   We put our church’s name at the bottom of the page with a note that says “Thanks for Coming!”   Here we are, at home, testing out the craft to make sure it will work.

Sample Craft

All Set Up!

Should I paint with the apples or my fingers?  Tough choice!

Apples for me!

Here’s Some More of our Story Time Selections!

 

Staycation Ideas for Erie, PA!

By | June 4, 2012 | Erie, Parents | 1 Comment
staycation-2012-wide

It’s that time of year again — Summer!  If you’ve got kids, that means planning the days ahead in order to make the most of the summer and to ward off that boredom bug.  I had a blast putting together last year’s Staycation post and was thrilled to participate in The Happy Housewife’s “Year of the Staycation” blog tour again in 2012.    Many of the ideas in last year’s post are still applicable for this year, so I won’t repeat myself — just click on over and check out Staycation ideas from 2011.   Be sure to check back in tomorrow for link-ups of other Staycation posts from across America!

To get started, check out some of these fabulous Summer Planning Guides:

The Basics

What’s a vacation all about?  Eating, Sleeping, and Activities, right?   Let’s get some of those basics covered!

Eating

If you’re doing a Staycation in Erie, don’t visit a chain restaurant! Visit some of the local “Erie-only” places!  Don’t forget to check in your “Save Around Erie” book for some great discounts and coupons.   Wondering where to find these local restaurants?  Start downtown, especially State street.  My personal favorites?  The Breakfast Place (on E.38th), Sara’s (by the Peninsula) and Tickle’s (on State Street). If you want more ideas or to read reviews (and prices) before you go exploring, check out these sites:

My Summer goal?  To eat at 3 new Erie restaurants this summer.   I’m thinking about Pie in the Sky, The Summer House Cafe, and Papa Joe’s.  What about you?  Where is your favorite?  Or somewhere new you want to try?  Leave me a comment and let me know!  Of course, a picnic lunch is always a winner too (and way cheaper!)
Flickr by by Locobone

Sleeping

The beauty of a Staycation is that you get to STAY in your own home, significantly lowering the vacation costs.  But don’t be boring about it!  Mix things up a bit.  Have everyone sleep downstairs in the family room for one night, maybe watching Disney movies until you just can’t keep your eyes open any more.  Maybe head out to the backyard for a little tent-sleeping close to home.  (Build you own, with the help of Pinterest!) House-swap with a friend for a night!  House swap with a stranger through Airbnb.com for a night!  Or if you want to get really crazy, you could even go camping out at Presque Isle.   With prices starting at $15, it might be worth a try!  Check out the full listing of camping options here or you can look at the cabin and cottage options if you’d like something a little more cushy (I know I would!!)  Also, the author of Cheap in Erie suggested checking out loyalty programs to get some lodging perks!

 

Activities

Of course, most of the fun of vacation lies in the activities of the day.   Try not to burn yourself out by running all over town (you are supposed to relax a little on vacation!).  Here’s some ideas to get you percolating.   I’m hoping to post my own Summer Bucket List, so stay tuned!

Cooks Forest

The Erie Times News just did a great article on all that Also, Cooks Forest has too offer.  Activities include tubing, canoeing, horseback riding, and lots more.  There are lots of options for lodging and you can’t beat the scenery.  My husband and I traveled here (to Hideaway Cottages to be exact) for our honeymoon and had a splendid time walking through the woods and enjoying nature.

Take a Class

I know! I know! It’s not exactly vacation-style, but learning can be fun!  Check the schedules at Asbury Woods, the Erie Zoo, the YMCA and the Erie Art Museum to get started.   Often, the Enjoy Erie site will list upcoming classes.   I saw an upcoming photography class with Art Becker that would be fantastic (but doesn’t fit my budget!).   There’s a Lunchtime Learning series offered by Hamot from 12:10-12:50 for only $5 a class.  There’s even a Hula Hooping class offered on Tuesdays at Frontier Park ($60)!

Don’t Forget about Reading!

Summer is the perfect time to catch up on reading, whether while lounging on the beach or chilling out in your backyard (with some tasty Chick-fil-a Lemonade!).   Check out these great programs to get some rewards for all your reading!

Flickr by wsh1266

Library: Buried Treasure!

Speaking of reading and the library, I was at the Iroquois Branch library the other day checking out Sign Language books.   The librarian told me about Manga, the online language learning service the library offers for free.  Sign language is one of the options, along with a ton more.  She told me there are lots of free resources at the library that no one knows about (like Freegal, the free music download service, for instance).  So stop by your favorite branch and ask what things they have available.  In the meantime, don’t forget about story hour times and the children’s events calendar.  Check out their home page for features and the latest news!

Fresh Every Day

Follow these people and hashtags on Twitter for fresh (mostly local) Summer time ideas everyday!

More Local Sites to Visit:

More Free Ideas

Summer Idea Newsletters

Tomorrow, I’ll feature links to blogs from all over America with more staycation ideas!

 

Questions from a Reader: Summer Ministry

By | January 9, 2012 | Holidays and Events, Ministry Ideas, Preschoolers, Summer Story Time, Vacation Bible School | 2 Comments
Flickr by William Arthur Fine Stationery

Just got an email from a reader with some great questions about our VBS alternative Summer programs.  I thought I’d repost her questions and my answers in case anyone else was wondering the same things!

Q) Overall, how did the programs go?

A) Story time in the park was GREAT.  It was so exciting to see the same families week after week and start to develop relationships.  I was especially encouraged when I started seeing those families in other places: the library, the grocery store, the fourth of July parade.  It gave them a chance to see that “these church people” were real people who were doing mostly the same things they were.  There were no “spiritual” conversations, but I felt like we finally got out in the community.  Our church mostly does things “inside our four walls”, so it was nice to actually get out a bit!

Story time at the church didn’t really take off.  Our regular kids of course still came, and the occasional friend, but no one from the community.  Still, I thought it was good for our church kids to hear “The Big Story” of the Bible.  Admittedly, I did not put my full effort into this program, being very pregnant at the time (my son was born on July 21, right in the middle of all the summer programs), so perhaps with a little more concentrated advertising, it would have taken off better.

We are planning on doing a Winter story time at the church, the same time the park story time was, Monday’s at 10AM. We hope to reach the “stay-at-home-mom” crowd again and perhaps bring the park story time people one step closer to becoming part of the body of Christ.  One thing we should have done was take names/emails/addresses during the summer to let people know about other upcoming events.  We wanted to be non-threatening, so we didn’t do registration or anything, but a voluntary sign up sheet would have been a good idea.  We did hand out literature, so hopefully they will check the website once in awhile and come to another event.

Movie Nights… well, it seemed like such a good idea at the time.  By the time you buy the licenses and go through that whole headache, it is a sizable budget for a experimental program.  We had a projector and borrowed a screen, so that helped, but we still used up around $800 ($200 a movie!) to show the flicks.  We had to wait till dark to show the films, so they didn’t start until around 9PM.  I don’t know if that was TOO late for families with young children, people were just busy, there wasn’t good “word of mouth” or what, but even our own church families didn’t show up.  The most popular night was the 1st movie and that drew around 20 people.  We did have a few visitors and a couple people who saw the screen and came on in, but not really worth the huge budget.

Now, onto your other questions:

Q) Did you develop your own curriculum for The BIG STORY? Or did you use a guided program? Or other resources (other than the obvious, Bible)?

A) I mostly developed my own “curriculum” drawing on resources from all over the web.  I picked “the big stories” (some of kids had never even heard the story of David and Goliath!) using the Read and Share Bible and My Awesome God Bible as a guideline. Once I picked out the stories, I googled for activities, crafts, etc.  Ministry to Children is very helpful, and I bet Pinterest would be great for something like this (I didn’t know about it at the time).  I posted some ideas here.

 

Q)Did parents participate with their kids during the BIG STORY?

A)Parents did not participate.  We invited them to, but no takers.  We have not really established a “parents are always welcome” culture just yet.  That’s something we will really be pushing this year, so maybe that will increase participation next year.

 

Q)What movies did you use for your Movie Nights?

A)Despicable Me, Ramona and Beezus, The Black Stallion, Doug’s 1st Movie, and Bringing up Bobby

 

Q) What other books did you use for the Story Time in the Park? Could you share any of the resources you used?

A) There are a few “Hubpages” that give great ideas for story time books and activities (including this one about starting a story time).  Again, google was my friend. Try to keep it really simple if you do a craft — since the kids can be really young. For example, if you read “If You Give a Pig a Pancake”, have the kids color a picture of a pig, or color a picture of pancakes, or cut out a pig nose and glue it on.  We did paint for a few weeks, and parents weren’t especially appreciative. :) Our park had a great playground, so sometimes kids would make crafts, leave them to dry, play on the playground and come back in 30 minutes or so.  Also, Mommy and Me Book Club has soon good ideas.

 

Q)What was the reaction from your congregation? And volunteers involved?

A) The congregation seemed very supportive, but I was a little surprised at the volunteer turn-out.  We usually get around 30 volunteers for VBS, and for these events, we probably got 6 volunteers across the board and they were the “same 20% who do 80% of the work”. At least with VBS, we get some new people in the mix.  Perhaps it was the timing — if people work, they couldn’t help during the day, and who wants to volunteer on  Friday night in the Summer?  Hmmmm… so, that’s something to think about for next year.

Hope it helps!!!

Got your own questions?  Head to the Contact Page! 

More Related Posts

Our First Story Time: What We Learned

How’s Your Summer Going?  

 

 

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