I'm sitting in my messy house enjoying the dying fire. Tonight we had a crazy New Years Eve party with two other families from church. We started out the evening with sledding. Then we had dinner at our house. First we served kid-fare to the 11 little ones, then the adults ate. The kids were dying to get started on dessert with the chocolate fountain I got for Christmas. By the time we got dessert ready, it was time for our early countdown complete with noisemakers, hats, confetti and toasts. Everyone headed home by 9:30 to get their kids to bed. We had games and a time of sharing on our agenda, but that didn't happen tonight. Tonight it was all about the kids. And they had a great time!
This is our small group. We began meeting about a year and a half ago with the desire to intentionally include the kids in a meaningful way. We were looking for something that had been missing from other small group experiences. In a lot of ways this new experience has been successful. But I always feel a little frustrated that our meetings are somewhat disjointed and not all that focused with the inclusion of the kids. It was one thing to SAY that we wanted to include the kids, but it is another thing to DO it.
Tonight was no exception. I was disappointed that we didn't get to have any significant, spiritual sharing time. But when I was able to connect with the kids over cups of confetti, when I saw the kids' friendships with one another developing, when I felt a longing for everyone to stay another hour or two, I knew that we had made another step in the right direction.
Happy New Year. May 2008 bring families together for shared spiritual experiences that result in following Jesus more closely.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
This year's top reads
I read a lot of books this year based on recommendations of other bloggers so most of these won't be a big surprise to anyone, but this is what I liked this year...
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: I'm not quite through this one but it is great. I'd love to take a class from the authors and complete assignments to put their principles into practice.
Seven Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones, and Reggie Joiner by Andy Stanley. Our team read this together and it definitely lived up to the hype. It was perfect for where our team was this year: a new leader, several new staff members, and a newly articulated church-wide vision.
A Life of Faith Collection by Martha Finley and Kersten Hamilton. Historical fiction for girls with a heavy emphasis on principles of Christian living. I read this with a lot of skepticism since it was billed as a "Christian American Girls" series. We love the American Girls series at our house and I bristled at the thought of Christians trying to do their own version of it. It turns out that these stories pre-date American Girls. The characters Elsie, Violet, Millie, Laylie got under my skin (in a good way). They are really sweet and have great spiritual lessons for girls. I read them all and can't wait to share them with my girls in the next couple of years.
Revolutionary Parenting: What the Research Shows Really Works by George Barna. I blogged about this earlier this year. This follow up to his Spiritual Champions books was fantastic. Huge ministry application as well as a challenge to work harder in my own parenting!
The Big Idea: Focus the Message-multiply the Impact by Dave Ferguson, Eric Bramlett, and Jon Ferguson. I'm a big fan of the ministry of these guys at Community Christian Church in Illinois. Their kids ministry director has a blog about multi-site that has taught me a lot. I was challenged by their premise about picking one key idea to communicate each week. Plan ahead, share resources, reach all groups within the church with the same message. Very cool. I loved peeking into their creative process!
The Fabulous Reinvention of Sunday School: Transformational Techniques for Reaching and Teaching Kids by Aaron Reynolds. Just some really practical stuff that can be put into practice immediately to improve the quality of large group programming. I'm so excited that he's coming to Minneapolis in January. I'm making the across-town drive to hear him!
The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago. This is an incredible kids Bible story book that points to our need for a savior and God's plan to send a rescuer in every story. The language is fresh and kid-friendly. The illustrations are fresh too - not cutesy and not old-fashioned either. We read this as a family and I loved it as much as the kids did! I can see using this as curriculum in a kids worship setting!
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: I'm not quite through this one but it is great. I'd love to take a class from the authors and complete assignments to put their principles into practice.
Seven Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley, Lane Jones, and Reggie Joiner by Andy Stanley. Our team read this together and it definitely lived up to the hype. It was perfect for where our team was this year: a new leader, several new staff members, and a newly articulated church-wide vision.
A Life of Faith Collection by Martha Finley and Kersten Hamilton. Historical fiction for girls with a heavy emphasis on principles of Christian living. I read this with a lot of skepticism since it was billed as a "Christian American Girls" series. We love the American Girls series at our house and I bristled at the thought of Christians trying to do their own version of it. It turns out that these stories pre-date American Girls. The characters Elsie, Violet, Millie, Laylie got under my skin (in a good way). They are really sweet and have great spiritual lessons for girls. I read them all and can't wait to share them with my girls in the next couple of years.
Revolutionary Parenting: What the Research Shows Really Works by George Barna. I blogged about this earlier this year. This follow up to his Spiritual Champions books was fantastic. Huge ministry application as well as a challenge to work harder in my own parenting!
The Big Idea: Focus the Message-multiply the Impact by Dave Ferguson, Eric Bramlett, and Jon Ferguson. I'm a big fan of the ministry of these guys at Community Christian Church in Illinois. Their kids ministry director has a blog about multi-site that has taught me a lot. I was challenged by their premise about picking one key idea to communicate each week. Plan ahead, share resources, reach all groups within the church with the same message. Very cool. I loved peeking into their creative process!
The Fabulous Reinvention of Sunday School: Transformational Techniques for Reaching and Teaching Kids by Aaron Reynolds. Just some really practical stuff that can be put into practice immediately to improve the quality of large group programming. I'm so excited that he's coming to Minneapolis in January. I'm making the across-town drive to hear him!
The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago. This is an incredible kids Bible story book that points to our need for a savior and God's plan to send a rescuer in every story. The language is fresh and kid-friendly. The illustrations are fresh too - not cutesy and not old-fashioned either. We read this as a family and I loved it as much as the kids did! I can see using this as curriculum in a kids worship setting!
Questions for 2008
As this year comes to an end, it is time to look forward to a new one. Here are some questions that I will take into 2008.
1. How can our take-home papers be improved so that parents are compelled to take them home and read them?
2. How can our Sunday program and our Wednesday program complement one another? How can we maximize the impact we have on the kids who attend both?
3. How can we improve the quality of our large group programming? How can we bring in more volunteers who have skills and passions in the area of music, communication and technology? How can we help people see that Kids Min is an area where those gifts can be used?
4. How can we get to deeper discussion, closer community and more authentic reflection in our small group times with kids?
1. How can our take-home papers be improved so that parents are compelled to take them home and read them?
2. How can our Sunday program and our Wednesday program complement one another? How can we maximize the impact we have on the kids who attend both?
3. How can we improve the quality of our large group programming? How can we bring in more volunteers who have skills and passions in the area of music, communication and technology? How can we help people see that Kids Min is an area where those gifts can be used?
4. How can we get to deeper discussion, closer community and more authentic reflection in our small group times with kids?
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