This morning it was raining so our attendance was down. This didn’t stop those that did come from having a blast! One little girl told me that Sundays were her favorite day of the week because she gets to come to our church! How cool is that?
Momma Gigi went over the memory verse with the kids today. They spend about 20 minutes at the beginning of each service memorizing scripture. At the end of the service there were 28 kids who could repeat the verse without any help at all!
Malaya helped me tell the story of when the Angel came to Joseph in a dream to explain that Mary would give birth to the King of Kings. She’s becoming such a natural in front of the crowd. My shy little girl is not so shy anymore.
I then spent 10 minutes asking questions about this story and the previous weeks’ lessons. For every correct answer I gave away a jingle bell bracelet! I have to say I was pretty impressed when Levi raised his hand and could tell us the whole story of Rahab and the spies which was 3 weeks ago. Good to know my little boys are actually paying attention!
We then sang a few songs and Mikela & Malaya led the kids in Big House – which is one of their favorite songs to dance & exercise to.
After Big House we played a game. The kids lined up in groups of 4 and threw little freebies. The person who threw it the furthest won a piece of candy. Everyone got to keep their freebies.
Then it was time for coloring & a little more singing! We played a game to see if we could out-sing the rain that was pounding the tin roof.
It was another great Sunday! Seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces – hearing them repeat & memorize scripture- seeing everyone raise their hands & actually KNOW the answer to questions about lessons that were weeks ago….AMAZING! Talking to them about the meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate the season…..MY FAVORITE!
The thing that I love the most is watching my girls lead……I think they are almost at the point where they could do the whole service by themselves. The kids in church are so well behaved – way better than they were months ago when there wasn’t any structure and they were in the tiny little shakoon.
I’m so grateful to Emily Spring who has created all the curriculum for Children’s Church. It’s made all the difference in the world. It’s no longer a child-care/baby-sitting center but the kids are actually engaged & learning …and they LOVE it!
Leading this each week has really rekindled a passion I had when I was in high school & college and would help my sister who was a children’s minister. I forgot how much I love to teach. It’s pretty cool too that my girls are developing that same passion. The boys…..well let’s just say that they no longer have to sit in time out during church….. which is priceless 🙂
Incentive Program: Each week the children come they get a point. If they memorize the scripture they get another point. If they invite a friend they get another point. We tally up the points each week. Every two months those with the most points get something special. In October they were awarded with a party. Next week they’ll be award with a bag full of little goodies. Malaya, Rosie, & I sorted out 25 piles of little trinkets for the kids today so that we’ll be ready to hand them out next week.
Here’s some pics & a video clip from this morning’s Wet & Wild Sunday Service! 🙂
