Children’s Ministry Update, April 2021
Sunday School
Sundays, 10:00am
Our Faith formation Theme for April is ‘Surprises,’ and our lessons (from Growing in God’s Love: A Story Bible) are:
April 4: (Easter) Mary Finds Her Friend—John 20:11–18
April 11: Thomas Wants to See—John 20:19–31
April 18: Memory and Surprises—Luke 24:13–35
April 25: Jesus Gives Peter a Job— John 21:15–19
We continue to offer Children’s Bulletins by mail, our Parent Portal with new content added every week, and a Parent Check-In Thursdays at 9:00pm. Take advantage of any or all of these opportunities, and email Becky for more information.
‘Kitchen Table’ Church
In this pandemic time, the phrase, “The Church has left the Building” has never been more true. We worship in our living rooms and spare bedrooms; sermons are delivered via the pulpits of ipads, smart TVs and desktop computers. As I look at the faces in the Google Meet grid on a Sunday morning for virtual Sunday school I see toddlers cuddled on a parent’s lap on the couch, ‘pre-tweens’ eating their breakfast in front of a laptop, children on the living room floor surrounded by LEGO and more. And while I can’t wait to gather in the building again, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the faith formation occurring in your homes each week. Parents are the primary faith educators of their children—and that has never been more evident than in these past 12 months.
I received a lovely note a few weeks back, a portion of which I share here (with permission of the writer!)
Just a note to say thank you for continuing to send our family children’s bulletins. We still have not logged into church service, and I’ve felt bad that we aren’t “at” church. But something else really great came from this—we talk about the stories connected to the bulletins you send and we spend time on the front cover talking about what the words mean and how it connects to our lives. We’ve had some great talks because of this and maybe in some small way we have a little “church” around our kitchen table.
I’d love to hear from you—where has your family ‘had church’?
Junior Choir
Wednesdays, 5:30pm
Junior Choir has continued to meet virtually, something that has become almost normal in the last 12 months. Like so many other ministries, I have been so grateful that music ministry can happen from home. Each week, it is a delight to see what the children have been up to, and work closely with them on all aspects of musicianship. Whilst we miss being gathered in person, together, connections and community are still happening. Soli Deo Gloria!
Recently, our wonderful Junior Choir created their own virtual choir performance of that well known hymn ‘Go with us Lord,’ adding to our worship experience each Sunday. I am so proud of the achievements these young and gifted musicians continue to make, especially in such difficult circumstances. To that end, we are beginning a new project. We have advertised in both our own Presbytery and the Geneva Presbytery to collaborate in a wider Virtual Children’s Choir. All children (with or without choir experience) are welcome to join. More information can be found on the below flyer. Anyone interested in joining this project, please contact James Kealey (jkealey@thirdpresbyterian.org) for more information.
