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SSTN # 77 - September 1, 2005
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
...Write On My Heart Every Word
1) Getting parents to bring children
2) Children have no respect
3) Pastor's Love Day Skit?
4) Fear Factor - What's the Point
5) Fear Factor
6) Fear Factor
Trinity Twister - Video Clip
7) Fear Factor Shameful
8) Children have no respect
9) Fear Factor ...what is the point
10) Fund Raisers
11) Missionary project for 5 -12 yr olds
12) Children have no respect
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...Write On My Heart Every Word
Tell Me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word. Those words,
from that old beloved hymn, were the inspiration behind writing my latest
Hands-on
lesson series, "Tell Me The Story of Jesus". This two-semester
series contains crafts, games, skits and enrichment ideas to tell the
story of Jesus, from childhood to Pentecost. I've value-priced it too! One
book is all you need for TWO-Semesters! To get a sample lesson, go to the
Curriculum page to learn more:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html
Your webservant,
Sarah Keith <><
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1) Getting parents to bring children
>The church I attend has a lot of children. Unfortunately, we also have a
>lot of parents >who do not come to the church building until time for the
>sermon. We have been >brainstorming for ideas on how to get parents to
>come earlier.
Connie:
Fear not...our Youth Ministry battled with that same question. And the
answer was so simple, and has made a HUGE difference in our children, and
parents, being on time.
A simple sign in sheet with a time limit, and word of mouth...by the
children- if you will - may be your answer! We set a standard the
beginning of this year, which is: "Parents must sign their kids in in
order for them to come to class. If the sheet is gone...class has already
started and their children cannot come back to class."
I know this sounds harsh, but listen to what happened when all the Youth
leaders and Pastor stood in agreement, lovingly for the betterment of the
ministry. Here's what happened: the kids who kept missing class, would
hear about how what they learned was so fun, that they began to bug their
parent(s) unrelentlessly about not wanting to miss class!!! And it is the
KIDS who always grab that sign in sheet and shove it in mom or dads face
and say "PLEEEEAASE sign me in!"
And an added bonus to it...all families sit in the sanctuary for praise
and worship before the youth are dismissed by Pastor. Sometimes he forgets
and the kids will have this look on their face like they want to stop the
entire service and say, "Hold up...what about us...we have class today,
too!" They simply don't want to miss class for anything. It's been
wonderful.
And for those who we don't see all the time, we are implementing a system
where we each take a certain number of kids and simply call, call, call
and even send letters to say "We miss you! And Thanks for being a great
parent and supporting your childs spiritual growth!" and that's it. After
a little while...they come back!
Andrea J
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2) Children have no respect. Please Help!
> I am a volunteer children's director at our small church. This weekend we
> held a camp out. This makes the fourth time we have held this event. This
> time was different though. I realized that most of our children have no
> respect for anyone but themselves. We had so much bickering and name
> calling, whining and complaining. I'm not sure how to explain it. The
I will help you look for lessons that will teach this. I do have a unit on
the Fruits of the Spirit that would be good. I'll keep looking for more.
Sandy
hammocks@gcecisp.com
--from SSTN: there are many Fruit of the Spirit activities in the site.
You can search for them at: http://christiancrafters.com/archives.html
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3) Pastor's Love Day Skit?
We are in the planning stages of our "Pastor's Love Day" and would like
some help or suggestions on a skit for our Youth Department to present.
It will include children ages 3-12. We are beginning our study of The
Good Shepherd in Children's Church and would like to try and tie into this
idea. Any ideas?
Veronica, Birmingham, AL
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4) Fear Factor - What's the Point
In my opinion, youth groups (where I expect these programs are taking
place, and not a regular worship service) needs to be fun. There is way
too much stress in teens lives already, by presenting church and
especially youth groups as fun, it offers a safe, Christian environment
for teens to to worship and have fun together. Times have changed a lot
since you and I were teens unless you are in your early 20's (I am in my
early 30's.) There is a lot more stress on Teens today than there ever has
been. School, jobs, sports, clubs, boy/girl relationships, etc. Teens do
not want to do anything else that is hard or stressful, for the most part.
Make Youth group too hard and I guarantee you you will have lots of teens
drop out. Who are you reaching then. By showing them the Fellowship part
of the church and making it fun, you make them want to come back for more.
The more Fellowship they come back for, the more Christian learning they
get. The more Christian learning and support they get at this stage of
their lives, the more it will help them make good decisions. When you
'force feed' children and especially teens any thing, be it learning at
school or at church, the more they will reject it. Offer something in a
fun a positive light and then show how it all reflects back to Jesus. Yes,
being a Christian is hard, but for children and teens, show them the joy
and the love of Christ and make that a cornerstone of their lives. They
will always have that to fall back on when life does get hard and the
choices get more and more difficult. When Youth groups do things like Fear
Factor, bike trips, etc. they have an opportunity to also reach kids who
might not normally come to church or youth group. My niece and her family
are not church goers, however she was invited to a youth group that does
fun things. She now goes to youth group every Thursday and takes her own
self to church every Sunday. She is 13. THAT is the point.
Lisa/WI
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5) Fear Factor
I agree that the gross-out factor should be left out of church, even if
the kids do love it. I believe we are straying further and further away
from the holiness of God and His church by bringing in more of the world's
ways of doing things. It also scares me that the kids will take these
games a step further away from church and end up truly harming themselves;
i.e., the marshmellow game where children have choked to death after
seeing how many marshmellows they can cram in their mouths. As a parent, I
wouldn't want my daughter participating in games that will make her throw
up. What is the point, after all when we're trying to teach them about
Jesus? PS. Just because the kids love it doesn't mean it is good for
them. Nancy in FL
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6) Fear Factor
In a way I was not surprised to read the negative comments about Fear
Factor. Sometimes as "grown-ups" we forget what it was like to be a child
and what it is like to have fun. Granted, the tv shows, "Fear Factor" and
"Survivor" are not appropriate or suitable for children to view. However,
have you ever watched how much fun children have during events such as
this that are Biblically based and age appropriate and suitable for
children?
I have combined "Survivor" and "Fear Factor" into a one evening camp-out
and the children had a blast. Not only did they have a blast but they
learned God's Word. And not only did they learn God's Word but they
remember the fun they had and the Scripture's and Bible lessons taught. To
this day they remember. Fun and learning go hand in hand. It is a great
way to help them learn not just with their minds but also with their
hearts.
As teachers of children it is ok to have fun and do silly things as long
as we are teaching God's Word in the process. Children learn best by hands
on activities and if that involves eating whole potatoes or whatever,
"Hey, that's great!" Just think of the Scriptures/Bible lessons they will
remember every time they eat a potato or whatever it was they had to eat
or fun/weird thing they may have had to do.
Even Jesus taught by using object lessons. Think of all that He taught
us by teaching about the mustard seed. I have taught children for about 6
years and have 5 children of my own. I have used the M&M object lesson
many times and many children remember this lesson today and some of them
are now in high school. They have remembered that M&M's are kind of like
people. We are all different on the outside but on the inside we are all
the same. We all have the same needs and the most important is the need we
all have for Jesus. Lessons like this are very memorable and is brought to
your mind when you eat M&M's.
While learning, children don't always have to be sitting in a seat at a
table with pencil and paper at hand. So go ahead, have a green mashed
potato food fight or a Hershey Syrup tug of war, let the kids have a
flashlight scripture hunt and eat a couple of things a little out of the
ordinary. Just remember to have fun and keep God's Word and what your
trying to teach as the main focus.
(I don't recommend ever forcing a child to eat anything or having anything
to eat that will make them sick. Coloring applesauce or mashed potatoes
with food coloring is enough to get them laughing and curious)
God Bless,
Karla from Ky
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Trinity Twister - Video Clip
Check out our newest Make N' Take download craft to coordinate with your
lessons on the Trinity. View a short video clip too at:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html
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7) Fear Factor Shameful
I was a little annoyed at the fact that, Saints of the Most High God, feel
a need to mimic the world.
Fear Factor is primarily about grossing out. How nasty can we make it.
Let's get rating up because this is what society feeds off of, and the
list goes on.
It is amazing how we try to justify a lot of nonsense. We serve a mighty
God! The word of God is our instruction manual-not Fear Factor. It is
the Word of God that is going to keep us. When are we going to stop
feeling inadequate against the world?!
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8) Children have no respect. Please Help!
Have the children participate in some service projects. If they are
serving others they are not focusing on themselves. Instead of a gift
exchange at Christmas, the kids bring a present for the Angel Tree
program. We have written letters to missionaries, made Valentine cards
for the widows, cleaned and organized the church pantry... There are many
projects the kids can do and have fun with while learning to serve others
and share the love of God.
Angie in CA
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9) Fear Factor ...what is the point
I wholeheartedly agree. It amazes me all the stuff people want to pull
off of TV and remake to use in church. Let's be original!
Teresa
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10) Fund Raisers
>my church has just started a youth group and a puppet ministry, I was
>just wandering what type of fund raisers would be good to help raise
>money, so they could go on trips
One of the ways we raise money is to have suppers on Wednesday evenings
before church.We rotate among the women of the church.Families come to eat
and donate money.We do this once a year for our missions.We have the
suppers for 6 weeks.
Another way we have raised money is buy making cookbooks.The women of the
church bring recipes and we bind them ourselves.It's almost clear
profit.The only cost is for the paper.We sell the books for $10.00.People
in our area will buy church cookbooks because they have home cooking
recipes in them.MMMMMMM
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11) Missionary project for 5 -12 yr olds
Our Sunday School is currently doing a prayer mission project for orpahns
in Cambodia. You can get the info from warmblankets.org or reply to me
erhunt@swnebr.net. They will send you free a list of orphans, a DVD about
the orphans, life in Cambodia, and prayer suggestions. The DVD really
helped our kids. It opened their eyes to another part of the world. We
are collecting our offerering to send to this organization. Prayer is the
first step. We have also done something so simple as collect our offering
and go the grocery store and purchase food for our local food bank. Erika
in NE
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12) Children have no respect
I think this is a problem in every church. I addressed this in my sunday
school class after I noticed when I would have all the kids get into
groups, there would be certain children in certain groups. From that point
on, I began grouping the kids
together. I made sure none of them were in a clique. This made them learn
to work together with less bickering. Our ushers also pop their heads in
on occasion too.
Hope this helps.
In Him, Kristin
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