I’m a Wonder—this is True!
This has been a challenging and rewarding year in Early Childhood Ministry. We have seen substantial growth with our kids and serve team, we’ve hosted some well-attended team trainings, and enjoyed some awesome events! Within this past year, we’ve also introduced a new curriculum to our “littles” called, ‘Wonder Ink’. A fun fact is that our very own Pastor Denise Snyder is one of Wonder Ink's writers!
This year one of the challenges was navigating a whole new curriculum. The ‘Wonder Ink’ lessons have spurred our “littles” on into deeper thought and contemplation. With the premise that all children are a wonder, this is what we want our children to believe:
- God Knows Me
- Jesus Loves Me
- Holy Spirit Leads Me
- I am child of God
If you make your way over to the kid’s area on a Sunday morning, you will hear our “littles” singing these truths out loud and with confidence. Tac the Cat is an orange puppet that we’ve added and he is very curious. Tac the Cat helps the children think about themes that are within our Bible stories for the month. It has been a transition to start a new curriculum, but it is functioning well now. Parents enjoy having the same Bible stories for their kids in pre-k and K-4. A huge thank you to Jaqi Tiechroeb for all her hard work on getting ‘Wonder Ink’ into the hands of our teachers and children on Sundays!
We cannot serve our “littles” and their families without the help of many people with huge hearts! Some of the serve teams we have include baking, teaching, teaching assist, cleaning toys and organizing, or serving at the welcome desk. Our teams are made up of all ages - Grandparents, Single Adults, Young Adults, Parents, Teenagers and Juniors! I appreciate each and every person who embody the hands and feet and care of Jesus to our “littles”. We have heard many testimonies of how God has brought so much joy and community into people’s lives after beginning to serve. If you want to grow in your faith and be blessed, serving somewhere in the church is a wonderful way to do that! If you are missing out on enjoying this privilege, ask God where He would have you serve with your talents and giftings.
We have had four Child Dedication events within this past year, and 23 children total have been dedicated to the Lord during these services. This is a precious time in the lives of our families. This service is an opportunity for family and friends to gather in the chapel and support families. We also dedicated 5 children in private, family get-togethers. We give God all the praise during these celebrations and we believe that each child is a gift straight from the heart of the Father.
We, as Early Childhood Ministries, have had three events this past year; Daddy Daughter Date Night, Teddy Bear Adventure and Sock Wars. All three events are fun filled and action packed for the children and either their mom or dad. These events are intended to impact relationships between dads and daughters, moms and sons, and parents with their kids. We believe Jesus wants us to love each other deeply and through being intentional in relationships, this makes loving each other easier. We pray these relationships will have a lasting impact through the years and we are planning to continue our support through more of these intentional “dates” between parents and their kids!
We look forward to summer in Early Childhood when we say goodbye to our 4-year-olds and send them upstairs to Kindergarten, we graduate our 3-year-olds to 4-year-olds, our precious 2-year-olds will come over to the pre-k hall area and we get to start watching them mature and settle into a little bit more structure. By Christmas all of the “new kids” will be totally acclimated and in control. Just kidding!
I am so glad this is the ministry I am a part of and I would not wish to be in anywhere else! Thank You for the opportunity to serve the “littles” and their families.
Gratefully,
Pastor Tammy
