The Funny Thing About Blessings

A colleague of mine recently said, "You know the funny thing for me is that I go to church to be a blessing and I always leave blessed!" Last Wednesday night I was reminded of how true this is. The evening had an unusual amount of hugs and tears, but the highlight of the night was when a 4th grade girl told my red-headed self , "When you stand under the light, your hair looks like GOLD!"

I often pray that God will give our volunteers a sense of reward for what they are doing. That night, he answered the prayer for me!

The small group difference

I need to do some work with my volunteers to help them see the difference between leading a small group and teaching a class. I know I've seen resources on this (maybe at a Promiseland conference?), but I'm having trouble finding it. Can you help me compile a list? What are some key differences between leading a small group and teaching a class?

To get things started...

In a classroom, students sit on folding chairs around tables.
In a small group, kids sit on rugs, beanbags, pillows, or comfy chairs.

In a classroom, the children are called "students."I
n a small group, the children are called "kids."

In a classroom, the adult is "the sage on the stage."
In a small group, the adult is "the guide on the side."

In a classroom, the teacher knows everything and passes that information to the students.
In a small group, the kids and leaders study and discuss the Bible, working together to discover the answers.

In a classroom, there is competition between students.
In a small group, there is cooperation, community and fellowship.

In a classroom, the teacher is concerned with controlling the behavior of the students.
In a small group, the leader is concerned about seeing the kids' lives transformed through their relationship with God and with others.

In a classroom, the teacher talks and the students listen.
In a small group, everyone has opportunity to speak, listen and be heard.

Sadness to Joy

At the end of tonight's club program, I noticed a first grade girl was crying. Her small group had held a gift exchange and she ended up with a giant candy cane. She sobbed, "There was something else that I wanted, and my mom doesn't let me eat candy so she'll just throw this away!" She was so sad!

Thanks to some quick thinking, I ran to our prize stash and pulled out a few Beanie Babies. I told her that I'd trade her candy cane for a stuffed animal of her choice. She picked a cute little kitty cat and then gave me the tightest squeeze of a hug I have ever gotten from a kid.

I wanted to say to the girl, "Oh honey, this was nothing! You should see the way that Jesus turns sadness to joy. Follow Him and He will!" This is one simple way we can be like Jesus - by bringing some joy to those who are sad. And if we turn to Jesus, He will give us joy too. Are you willing to let Him turn your sadness to joy?

Thanking volunteers at Christmas

We have traditionally done our volunteer appreciation gift at Christmas. This year our budget is very tight, so we had to be creative. Tomorrow our team is meeting to make cocoa cones for our volunteers. The cost is a very budget friendly forty cents per gift! These cute little concoctions sell for five or six dollars at gift shops. Our volunteers have responded very positively in the past to our gifts, but they especially seem to appreciate the homemade gifts! I look forward to a fun evening with my co-workers assembling these little cuties.

The cone bags were purchased in bulk at a local cake and candy supply store. Each bag gets 1/2 cup of cocoa mix, 1/4 cup of marshmallows, and 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. We'll tie the bags with raffia and attach a card with a greeting and instructions for "cocoa for 2."

Worship anywhere!

Today was a holiday weekend, so we took a planned pause in our elementary kids programming. Many of our volunteers are out of town, as are our kids and their families. I took the opportunity to sleep late on this Sunday morning - it was heavenly! Then, because one of the kids had a birthday party to attend at 11, we had church at home. It was a first for us, so I wasn't sure how it would go.

I asked each kid to choose something from the Bible to share. All of them went off on their own to select their reading. We alternated their readings with some worship from the Hillsong Kids DVD. We ended by writing prayer requests on slips of paper. We spread the slips of paper on the floor and did "popcorn" prayers.

Some highlights of the morning:

1. Justin, our soon-to-be 10 year old, read John 3:16.
2. Emily, our 8 year old, asked where to find the story of the plagues. I told her that was a really long story, and probably too long for our purposes. She said, "I'll just choose my favorite plague!" Again, I wasn't sure how that would go. When she finished, we asked, "What can we learn about God from that story?" Right away, the kids started talking about God's power and how He uses people to do His work.
3. Lindsey, our first grader, did a nice job reading the Creation story from a Bible story book.
4. Praying together for a neighbor with cancer, our missionary friends, homeless people and an upcoming birthday.
5. Our new puppy, Ginger, got to go to church this week! She nibbled on the Bible storybook when we weren't paying attention.
6. The kids saw that we can worship anywhere.

I'm just waiting for next Sunday morning, wondering if the kids will say, "Can we PLEASE do church at home again today?" We won't be dropping out of church anytime soon, but this just might be the start of a new family experience for us!

This week I learned that a former 3rd grade student of mine had been killed by her boyfriend. I was shocked and saddened. Then I got to thinking... would I have interacted with her differently if I had known she was going to be murdered at age 19? How would I have interacted with her parents?

I'm not limited to my role as a Children's ministry person or a former teacher in this thinking. As a human being who comes into contact with other human beings on a daily basis, it causes me to think about how I interact with those I meet. A long life isn't promised to any of us. Is my interaction with others life-giving? Do my interactions with others point them to Jesus?

It's a good lesson to learn from a tragic, painful situation.

New from GO FISH

I just checked out Jamie Statema's (Go Fish) blog. The Go Fish guys are writing a VBS curriculum for 2009. I look forward to seeing what they come up with! Someday I'd like to see them produce resources for kids worship. Their music is great, but for some reason we don't end up using it in our kids worship time.

Makes me laugh!

I have been smiling, chuckling and forwarding links all morning after reading Marko's reference to a new blog. It's called "Stuff Christians Like" and it does a fantastic job of humorously analyzing the cliches and trends in the Church. It is irreverent but easy-to-relate-to. Through the sarcasm, you can see the author's heart for God and for authentic Christianity.


For Kids Ministry people, there are several insightful and hilarious VBS entries! Here is an excerpt...

I can't prove this, but I secretly think some VBS teachers try to send the kids home as messy as possible. They do crafts like "make a picture with pine sap" or just give kids tubes of glue and say "go." And if the craft doesn't get them
sticky enough, they often give them snacks that involve peanut butter and honey.
Do you know how long it takes to get a honey and peanut butter mixture out of a
kid's hair? Roughly 19 months or 19 seconds if you use the scissors and just cut
the hair right off. I'm just saying, that's an option too.