This past fall, we started our new Children’s Church Theme which is called – Board Games!

This theme is definitely one of their favorites. Each week, we introduce a different game as part of our object lessons. Depending on the game –  we either show “how to play” videos from YouTube – OR –  we have volunteers actually play the game upfront. Prizes are awarded for anyone who plays the game – win or lose.

Below is a picture explaining how these Board Games introduce various Bible stories. 

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Shopping for this theme was SO much fun!  Joan (friend/therapist/mentor) told me she often buys her play-therapy supplies at Goodwill –  and that they always have a huge selection of games.

Joan, Malaya, and I spent MANY afternoons dropping by the 4 local Goodwill stores searching for decorations.  Depending on what you are shopping for, there’s typically very little change in selections from the day-to-day. BUT with the games, I can go back to the same Goodwill every 2 days, and immediately find another selection of games that weren’t there 48-hours earlier.

Most of the games were less than $2.00 and it didn’t matter whether we had all of the pieces or not – because we just wanted them to decorate. We bought 22 different board games!  We dumped all of the game pieces into a ziplock bag and then randomly selected & glued those pieces to all the different boards. So for example, I might have THE GAME OF LIFE board- but then on top of that board there’s Monopoly money, candyland cards, scrabble pieces, etc.    

CHECK OUT OUR DECORATIONS & CHILDREN’S CHURCH SET-UP

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Our Children’s Church meets every Sunday at 4:30pm-7:30pm.

We realized that we could reach more kids if we moved our services to the afternoon, because they wouldn’t feel embarrassed about not having “church” clothes.

We typically run between 140-220 kids every week. It often depends on the weather – as to how many kids are able to attend. We have MANY children that live up the mountains, and it’s a 45-minute walk (each way). 

Each time we begin a new curriculum, the children begin to earn points.The children with the most points are invited to a party that happens at the end of each theme.  When we start another curriculum, the points are erased and they begin all over again. 

Points are earned for: attendance, homework, memory verses, answering questions, & inviting friends. Our services typically follow the same format.

1. 1. We take attendance first. Visitors are applauded and given candy as a ‘thank you’ for coming
   2. We collect homework from the week before. 
      • Each week the children have 3 questions to answer from the Bible lesson that was just taught. The questions are on the back of their coloring sheets.  (So they color in church, answer the questions at home, and bring it back to receive points).
      • This has been one of the most rewarding activities that we have started doing this past year. SO many kids have to go home and ask their families for help to write the answers. It provides an easy opportunity for the kids to share the Bible with them. 
      • Sometimes the questions might be something personal, not related to the story. For example, I might ask, “What are your biggest fears?”  When they ask their parents for help, they often get into deep discussions and learn something new about each other. Many of my staff have children who attend, and they constantly comment about the homework and how it has offered them a way to engage with their child.
   3. We introduce the game as part of the object lesson.
   4. We learn the memory verse.
   5. We share the lesson
   6. We play a game together
   7. We pass out coloring sheets/homework along with bread/chips.

Below are some pictures from the past few months of Children’s Church. We still have another month to go, as we didn’t meet every Sunday in December due to our other Christmas activities.

I think the thing that I love most about this program  – is that my own kids are excited to take on a leadership role and ALL of them attend. Mikela takes pictures, Rosie takes attendance, Malaya helps set-up and run the games, & the boys pass everything out. Even though we are missionaries, we all have our own interests/activities that we are involved in. So it’s really special that we have this weekly ministry where we can have a blast together!

SUNDAY AFTERNOON SERVICES..