| What's
Children's Church up to?
It’s like being parents to a great number of children. Each child
is special and unique in the eyes of the parent. Each one needs
to be loved and cared for in a special and unique way. And to the
parent, they are each “the favorite child” (in their
own special way). As a church Vineyard has lots of children we call
ministries and each ministry is special in its own way. One such
‘favorite’ child is our children’s ministry.
In the past few months we have formed a task force to look at the
needs of this ministry and how we might help it to grow and accomplish
its goals of helping our children grow in a closer relationship
with Jesus. While the goal sounds simple and straight forward it
is much more complicated than it sounds. The lives of our children
and their families are each unique in their own right. We have a
wide range of families in our church from the wealthy and affluent
to the less fortunate, each, loved so dearly by our ministry leaders
and our Father God.
One of the areas that our children’s Ministry is changing
to improve reaching our goal is taking a second look at the form
and function of what happens on Sunday mornings. As an experiment
we tried changing things up a bit by trying a new schedule. This
schedule had the teaching centers (i.e., Crafts, Recreation, Drama,
Snacks, etc.) in stationary locations and the children rotated at
certain times between the stations. While at first this looked promising,
there were aspects of this that were too difficult to manage. We
feel that the safety and security of our children is critical and
we felt that the rotation allowed for a less controlled environment.
Our current Structure helps us to maintain a safe and controlled
environment for the children while expanding the ways our children
learn about and express their relationship with Jesus. The most
significant changes we’ve done so far include increased volunteer
recruiting, a “Children’s Own Worship” time, reducing
the large size of the older “Kid’s Church” class,
and a common (across all age-groups) curriculum and crafts.
If you are a parent with children in this ministry (or interested)
the following schedule should help you understand a little of how
we’re ministering to your children.
Help Wanted:
This ministry is vital to the health of our church. If you have
a heart to help the church minister to the parents of children or
to the children themselves we invite you to ask Suzann (Church Office
Manager and Children’s Ministry Director 371-0838) about being
a volunteer teacher or assistant. If you don’t feel you can
work once or Twice a month with the children, we invite you to pray.
Pray for our continued health and growth in this ministry. Pray
for our leaders to be refreshed each time they serve. Pray that
God will use this ministry to help these precious children know
more about his love.
Contact Suzann for an appointment to join this vital ministry
Phone: 352-371-0838 or email kids@vineyardgainesville.org |
