It’s All About the Children...

Galilee Children’s Ministry

By Heather Arnold

Welcome to Galilee’s children’s program. Here the focus is on teaching children how to find and follow God. We take our lead from Jesus who Himself took time to teach the children. Matthew 19:14 It is important for children to learn about God and His Word at an early age. Proverbs 22:6 states, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” How true this verse is, but even though the church does everything it can to provide an excellent education, it is imperative for parents to continue this education.  Deuteronomy 11:18-19 states, “Fix these words of mine in your heart and minds… Teach them to our children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  With all of us working together, we will be able to raise a generation of Christians which shine like stars in the universe, Phil. 2:15.

Year in Review 

Wow! What a year we have had in the children’s ministry. If you have not been around, then you have missed a lot. The children’s ministry has undergone a complete overhaul. There are new programs, new rooms and new excitement. We have taken a close look at the children’s ministry and worked hard to improve everything about it. We have replaced every curriculum with new material, and we have even begun using larger facilities for our kids. We have experienced a lot of ups and downs with each change, but through it all we kept our eyes on the prize. We wanted to give our children the very best, and we feel that we have accomplished this over the past year. We are still working hard to improve and will continue to do so because in the children’s ministry you are never done improving. Here are a few articles about our recent additions in the children’s ministry. You will want to check these out so you do not miss a minute of the excitement.

 Awana

 Every Wednesday night of the school year our kids participate in the Awana program held at the church. Everyone ages 3 through 12 meets in the old sanctuary at 6:30 p.m. to begin the evening. The program starts with the opening ceremony during which the kids say the pledge to the American and Awana flags, pray and prepare to split up into their age groups. Following the opening ceremonies, the cubbies, 3 and 4-year-olds, head out to their room where they spend the rest of the time learning a Bible story, working on their memory verses, playing games, watching a puppet show and much, much more.

Sparks are all Kindergarten through second-grade students. These kids enjoy game time every time because they get a chance to run around and release some of their never-ending energy. They have a large group time during which they hear a Bible story or learn a fundamental Christian truth taught by a skilled leader. There is also a small group or handbook time each evening. During the handbook time, the kids focus on memorization and applying what they hear in the large group to their lives. They work closely with the volunteers who come to share God’s love. Truth & Training, T & T for short, is for all third through fifth-grade students. These kids also have game time, large group time and handbook time, but because of their older ages they hear more in-depth stories and work hard to do extra memorization. This age also enjoys special responsibilities each club night. They often lead the pledges and opening and closing prayers among other things. To close the evening out, all of the groups come back together for closing ceremonies. During this time, the kids receive any awards they have earned and hear about any fun events or theme nights that are coming up before closing in prayer and dismissing.

In addition to the regular club activities, we have monthly theme nights which bring out the smiles on everybody. Theme nights give the kids and leaders a chance to get creative and wear some fun and funky outfits. Theme nights for the 2007- 2008 school year include: patriotic, wacky hair, sports teams, happy birthday, pajama, hat and luau night. To close out the year, we hold a special parents’ night combined with the year-end award ceremony. This proves to be a lot of fun for everyone because the kids love to show off all of their hard work, the parents enjoy seeing their little ones is action and the volunteers like having a few extra hands. Last year we had right at sixty parents, grandparents, kids and leaders attend parents’ night, and we plan on that number increasing over the upcoming years.

If you or your child have never tried out our Wednesday night program, you do not know what you are missing. If you are new to the church or have been a member for years, you should come out and try it. Many of our kids say this is their favorite time at church. Maybe it could be your favorite time as well.

 Promiseland

 Promiseland is the exciting new Sunday morning experience for kids at Galilee. We have taken the everyday children’s worship and turned it on its head. From 9:30 to 11:45 a.m. every Sunday morning the first through fifth-grade students meet in the gym for two plus hours of fun, kid-oriented lessons and activities. The morning starts with snacks followed by an activity time in which the kids play games, make crafts or work on service projects. The goal of this hour is to provide kids with an opportunity to do more than sit and listen to a lesson. They actively participate in the learning process and focus on building relationships with each other as well as the adult volunteers. The second hour’s activities begin around 10:20 a.m. and do not let up until the parents come at pick-up time. The kids transition into our large group room where they have a high energy praise and worship time filled with songs the kids love. This is followed up by our communion and offering time.

After all of this is done, it is time for the large group lesson. The lesson is presented in a creative, kid-oriented way each week, and the kids never know exactly what to expect. One week they might find themselves acting out the life of Daniel and the next they may be watching a movie clip. The large group lesson is designed to present the Bible to kids in a way that they can both understand and remember. Following large group time, the kids split up into small groups depending on their ages. This is when the volunteers work closely with the kids to help them apply the Bible story to their lives. It can sometimes be difficult for a child to understand how something that happened thousands of years ago can apply to their lives today, and that is why small group time is so important. It helps the kids learn that the lessons from the Bible help us in our everyday lives. Promiseland is designed to reach kids on their level. It reaches out to them by ensuring that they have fun each week and that they are never bored. It is our goal at Galilee to ensure that the kids are able to understand what they hear and that they are able to apply it to their lives.

All of our volunteers work very hard to ensure that each child is given the best opportunity to learn about God’s love for them because we want to make sure that the next generation of Christians is ready to face whatever comes along. Now that you know more about our weekly programs, you may also want to know about our special events that we hold each year for the kids. Over the course of the upcoming year, there will be a pre-teen lock-in, an out - door movie, two children’s choir special presentations, special holiday outings, a Christmas banquet, a barn party, an Easter egg hunt, vacation Bible school and so much more. These are just the things that we do every year for the children. There are also special things that we do in addition to all of this. There is constantly so much going on in the children’s ministry that it is important for you to regularly check out what is happening. If you want to get your child involved with any of our programs or if you have questions concerning the children’s ministry, please contact:

Heather Arnold at Galilee Christian Church, 706-367-8072 or email  heather@galilee.org