3 more hours with 5-7

This Sunday, February 17, I spent three more hours helping out with the five to seven year old children at St. Aldates. Rachel and Simon (the children's minister and her husband) were not there this week, so there were less leaders in the group. Amanda, Anna and I set up for the lesson right when we arrived at 9:30 AM. 

This week the topic for the lesson was the Holy Spirit. It has gone in chronological orders. We first talked about God the Father, then the next week God the Son and now this week we talked about the Holy Spirit. Amanda, Anna and I prayed for the children for a long time before we started the lesson. This is such a unique time to get to pray intimately with people who I don't know that well, but have Jesus in common with! Because of this common ground, it makes our relationship feel as if we have known each other for a long time. 

We once again set out cups for drinks and cookies for snacks for the children. We set up a craft, game, and blankets for the room. The craft this week was the kids cut out a white paper dove onto a pop-out piece of construction paper to symbolize the Holy Spirit when it came down on Jesus after his baptism. The game was also symbolic of the topic of the Holy Spirit. We cut out fish and had a roll of newspaper where the kids had to bat the floor in order for the fish to move. It was a relay race between teams of the kids to see who could get their fish to the other side fastest. The wind is supposed to symbolize the Holy Spirit because even though we cannot see it, we can see the effects it has and the way it moves us. The Holy Spirit is described as fire and wind also in the Bible. We read these scriptures to the children after we played this game. 

Anther activity that we did was play charades with the kids. The leaders and I acted out the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness...) and the kids had to guess which one we were trying to act. We talked about when we receive the Holy Spirit, other people can see Him because of the fruits he gives us and the actions and qualities that we possess because of the Holy Spirit. 

The kids were so excited to play this game. After the game was over we split the leaders up into smaller groups with the kids and talked about the fruits of the spirit in more detail. We asked them which fruits they thought they possessed and which ones they would like to pray for God to give them more of. One little boy named Lucas was adorable. He said that he had the gift of generosity and kindness because he loved to share and he is good at making new friends. Other kids in the group prayed for patience with their siblings and parents, and self control. 

When the lesson was over, parents came to pick up their kids. Myself and the rest of the leaders cleaned up the room and put away all the supplies for the week. Jill and I cleaned the cups from snack time. It was another successful week in Children's church! God is so good to give me this amazing opportunity to learn from other leaders and from kids about Him. I'm richly blessed to be in Oxford. 

remix.

This morning was a new experience. Molly and Jill were sick, so St. Aldates was short on Children's leaders this morning. Rachel asked me to switch groups for the week to work with the 8 to 10 year olds. While I still got to see some of the kids that I worked with last week, it was a whole different ball game working with the older ones. I was with the "Christopher Columbus" team. 

When I arrived at church this morning, we set up for snacks (made juice, set out cookies and cups), prepared for the games, and for the class project. We gathered our whole team to pray before the eventful morning began. Worship was my favorite time this morning. There was a little girl named Abbey who sat in the back. She was a very quiet little girl, but very cute. During the songs she still stood solitary in the rear, however she was doing all the sign language and hand motions. I could tell that she was praising God with all her heart. This blessed me to see how the Lord is using these people to bring up a nation of believers who will in turn help others as they mature into society. 

The idea we were trying to convey and teach the children this morning is how Jesus was both fully human and God. The metaphor we used to paint a picture of this idea was "super heros". The game was like "Simon Says". Each child had to make a super hero action such as Superman, Mr. Incredible, Catwoman, Spiderman, or Elasticgirl when the caller was turned around. If they were doing the action that the caller said, they would be out. The last four kids remaining get points for their team. The kids loved this, and really had a fun time with it. 

Neal taught the lesson this morning. He created a worksheet for the children to complete in where they were given a Bible story and asked to state whether this was a fully human, superman or mix of both characteristics according to the reference. The kids are so smart here! We worked in our teams to complete the assignment, however each child worked rapidly on their own to go right through the worksheet. They would raise their hands and say what they thought about each Bible story we read and say if they thought it was a human or super hero characteristic. 

As we cleaned up the room, which looked like a tornado had run through it from all the kids, I talked with Zeda and Neal. Neal was feeling discouraged because the kids were a bit rowdy during the lesson. Zeda and I encouraged him that the Lord worked through him this morning and through his words. One little boy named Jake asked if Jesus was both human and a superhero if he would weigh twice as much. What a concept! I thought this was so neat to see how little children wrap their minds around difficult ideas in a vastly diverse way than adults do. This would be something very silly for an adult to say, but hearing this from a child made me want a faith like this. 

Next week I will be back with the 5-7 year olds, but I think the Lord worked on my heart this morning with the older kids for a change. I realized this morning as I was cleaning the dishes from snacks, preparing to leave the church, that there are many ways in which I do not place my full faith in God all the time. It's not silly or dumb to ask questions like Jake did, or to speak your mind like some of the girls in my group. It can only help you or the people around you to talk about it. Jesus told us to have "faith like a child". Being around these children this morning and for the next few weeks, hopefully I will get a small glimpse of what that really means and learn to live that out. 

the first day...

This morning at 9:30 Jill, Molly and I arrived at St. Aldates for our first day of Children's Church! I was excited, yet had no clue about what I was getting myself into. Anna and I got everything ready for the children to have class. We made juice and set out cookies for a snack, set up blankets to sit on, cut out circles for the craft, and most importantly our group prayed for the children before they arrived. 

At 10:30, all the leaders walked over to the main auditorium to pick up the children from their parents. Each child checked into class and the fun began! First the kids had a little battle of the sexes competition- playing Wii! It was so cute to see them all cheering for their friends as the boys and girls raced each other on the video game. We also sang and danced to many songs! There was a guitar, a drummer, and a piano player who were the worship leaders. After the songs were over, each child split up into their groups and walked into the classrooms. 

This morning the lesson was on our "Heavenly Father". The object of the lesson was to help kids understand that we not only have an earthly and biological father, but also God is our Father and he loves us so much! This is something that is hard for a young child to understand. Lily, a girl who was adopted from China was in our class. She and her mother came and talked about how we are the adopted sons and daughters of Christ. This was a neat illustration, especially for children who come from broken families or do not get to live with both parents. 

I met the cutest little children ever, and the accent made them that much cuter when they talked! (: A little boy named Lucas told me about how he and his family recently went to the Dominican Republic. They saw many children who did not have homes or families and had to live poverty stricken on the street without food, water, or shelter. This softened my heart to hear a six year old boy talk about how lucky he is to have a family, a home, and food. Many times we are not always satisfied, but God has richly blessed us beyond measure! I met children by the names of Ellie, James, Nathaniel, Lily, Dean, and many more. (Also, Kennedy was in my group! yaay!) 

Amanda, a volunteer in our group led the story today. She told the parable about the "Lost Son" and explained that God is our Father who waits for us with open arms. The children played a game, similar to Simon Says, where the leader yells out a command from the story and they have to do it. The last one who does it is out. For instance, the leader would yell "Father" and the children would salute. Or, the leader would yell out "Pig" and they would all make an oinkng noise like a pig. What a fun morning it was! After the game we had snacks and orange juice, which the children loved. 

When children's church was over around 12:30, the leaders and I stayed in the room until all the kids were picked up by their parents. We played a game of soccer with them. When they had all been picked up, we made sure everything was back in its place. We folded the blankets, washed the cups, and put up all the activities from the day's lesson. By the time all the parents came and the kids were picked up, and everything was cleaned it was not until about 1:45. I hope each child has a new understanding of the many dimensions of our wonderful God, especially for our Heavenly Father. I am left in anticipation to see all the children I met this week next Sunday! 

jump in!

Last monday night at 7:30 I met up with Rachel Smith, the Children's Minister at St. Aldates. I had asked her through an email about helping with the children, and we had been emailing for about a week. I was so excited to finally meet her. When I got there, I met the two interns named Isaac and Zoe who also help out with the children at church. I helped set up coffee, tea, fruit and refreshments before the meeting started. 

During the meeting we started off with a prayer around 8:30. One thing that I noticed from the volunteers is that they expect big things out of their children. As we prayed, big things were asked of God to do in the lives of the leaders who help, the children who attend, and for the parents of the kids. A girl named Lizzie said, "If we ask big things of God He will answer in big ways, if we ask little things of God he will answer the little things. Lets ask with great expectations and see what He does this term." It was so neat to hear that of these leaders, see the faith they had in God, and to see the important emphasis on the children's ministry. I think sometimes we underestimate the knowledge of children; they are very smart! 

At about 9:00, the leaders split up into smaller groups. I was placed to work with the 5 to 7 year old age group. Simon, Anna, James, Amanda, Rachel and Rebecca are in my group. I am very excited to get to know their hearts for children and for the Lord- they each seem like amazing people. We talked about the itinerary of what the lessons would consist of during the upcoming term. Rachel had already made binders with lesson plans, but each group went through to revise and modify for the age bracket they would be working with. There are some deep conversations that will occur during this upcoming term with the 5 to 7 year olds. The lesson plans are split into each week with topics about the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, God as our Father, God the Son (Jesus), and the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. 

When all the leaders were together, Rachel gave some advice about how to discipline and teach the children. It was amazing to see the patience she has while working with them, which is key in my opinion. She told us that if we are disciplining them, we should try to shun their actions rather than the child. Say "The way you were acting is not appropriate. Do you understand why?" and let the child have a time to reflect upon what he or she did. I left the church building that night around 10:30, and even though it was late all that I could think about was how excited I am to have the chance to work with children. It will be an amazing experience!