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SSTN-Volume 1 Number 142
January 15, 2001
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
1) Outreach new VBS ideas
2) Outreach-VBS
3) Inexpensive curriculum
4) Workshop Ideas
5) Bulletin board ideas?
6) Getting kids to invite friends to vbs
7) Outreach Sunday school?
8) Inexpensive curriculum
9) That's my Seat
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SSTN NOTES:
* PRAISE-AMATIONS! (TM) is now available! Get a FREE pattern by clicking
on "Jump For Joy-Frog" from the 'Free Featured Resources' section of the
home page of www.ChristianCrafters.Com. A great resource for your mid-week
or VBS program, with 27 reproducible mini-movie flip card design sheets.
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1) Outreach new VBS ideas
We hosted a week long drama camp for something different. I picked out
a video the children enjoyed, got permission from the publisher, wrote
the script and assigned the big parts in advance for the main characters
to learn. We invited kids from age 4- 5th grades to come, because it
wasn't the same old VBS many kids did this in addition to other summer
programs. They invited friends, and we blanketed the immediate
neighborhood with flyers, and put up posters with registration forms at
the grocery store and pizza places, and fast food places.
Kids were involved in all parts of the production- they were the choir,
background actors, prop painters, costume designers, program colorers,
decorating committee, ushers, invitation makers- etc. There was a lot
of prep work behind the scenes to make kids feel they did it all.
Having the set ready to be painted, copies made, fabric ready to be
draped, music ready to learn. etc. These are best handled by
committees. This was advertised in the paper inviting others to the
production. We had acting classes, craft times, choir time, and broke
into small groups at the end for a lesson time each time, emphasizing what
lessons could be learned from the drama you are putting on for each age
group. It was a big success and everyone came to see the young actors
on stage. This is ideal for a group of 75-100 kids.
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2) Outreach-VBS
About 4 years ago, I carefully tabulated all the information on the number
of kids that were unchurched that came to our VBS. Out of 250 kids, I was
only reaching a maximum of 5! All the rest were from other neighboring
evangelical churches! Since our purpose was "outreach", I felt all the
work and recruitment was not reaching the goal that had been established.
After praying and evaluating what might be more of an outreach to the
community, we decided on Day Camp. This year we will expand from 220 kids
to over 300 and run two different weeks with 150+ kids each week. My
volunteer counselors are high school youth group kids. ( the Sr. Hi. group
uses this as a mission- we train the kids for two days and use them as our
lead counselors.) The morning runs similar to a VBS , but very upbeat with
skits and songs. The small groups(6-8 kids) are where the counselors tell
the Bible story and application. The kids bring a lunch and we rent buses
to go to a field trip ( water park or beach, etc. ) in the afternoon. I
charge $85.00 per child and we have a waiting list of neighborhood kids
that want to get in! At least 1/3 of the kids are unchurched. One kid had
never even heard of Jesus before! Last year there were 30 decisions for
Christ in the two weeks. God has blessed this move with more kids and we
are getting more of the unchurched kids. Just last week I had my first
call from a community person asking when our summer camps are scheduled
for this coming summer. Families plan their vacations around the camps.
We have now established a great reputation in the community. Working
parents are looking for safe, quality activities for their kids in the
summer. Along with the Day Camp kids, the counselors establish great
friendships and it really bonds the youth group in working with the Day
Camp kids. We celebrate with a party for the counselors at the end of Day
Camp.
This has cut down on my recruitment a lot! Now all I need are occasional
volunteers to come and help with crafts. The youth pastor and I each have
an intern for the summer. The four of us each split some of the
responsibilities.
Another outreach that we have done for the past three years is a 4 night
evening event combining with four neighboring churches. We share expenses
and bring in a quality talent for the four nights. Sometimes we have done
two night with one talent and the other two with another one. Each
presents the gospel and we have counselors that are available to talk with
kids if they wish. We have had great results with this as well. We had a
total attendance of 2200 for the four nights with 30-40 decisions. Every
kids registers and then each night we have drawings for prizes donated by
community businesses. The work is shared by the four churches. For more
info you may reach me at pvanrossum@mtka-baptist.org
Phyllis
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3) Inexpensive curriculum
We use Kids POWer Hour, available from Pentecostal Publishing House
(www.upci.org). You can download a sample lesson. The cost for one
quarter is $14.95 for the book and $4.95 for the tape. It has everything,
including reproducible take home papers. Other curriculum that we have
used or examined costs $75.00 and up per quarter and does not include as
many ideas as this one does.
Teresa Children's Director, La Marque, TX
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4) Workshop ideas
We are working on our annual Children's Ministry Workshop, which is a day
long workshop packed with ideas for anyone working with children. If you
were attending such a workshop, what classes would you like to see
offered? We try to offer a variety including discipline, puppetry,
clowning, object lessons, decorating, etc. What specific subjects would
appeal to you, what area do you need ideas for, and what are the
weaknesses in your children's program? You can email me direct
(puppetworkshop@aol.com) or send to the newsletter.
Thanks for your help.
Teresa - Director of Children's Ministries
Faith Tabernacle Church, La Marque, TX
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5) Bulletin board ideas?
Looking to design a bulletin board for 1 and 2nd graders. Do you have any
ideas? The vision God has placed in my heart is. Ways Jesus show's Love.
1.) word- affirmation of words-words of encouragement
2.) touch- huggs
3.) acts of service
4.) quality time
5.) gifts.
I would like to post Bible stories pictures with all this types, and
discuss each one in full
detail, with a test to follow. Any ideas of any references to Christian
bulletin board websites? Thanks for your help.
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6) Getting kids to invite friends to VBS
Hi, I recently discovered your site while looking for crafts to do with
our church children's group. It is fabulous. I will try several of the
ideas. I am responding to the writer who stated that it is difficult to
get children to invite their friends to VBS. Our church group uses a
reward system, with the rewards being very inexpensive [i.e. candy, dollar
store toys or jewelry, etc...] When a child [lets say Sally ] brings a new
friend [Jane], Sally gets a reward. Next day, Jane brings Tommy, and Jane
gets a reward, and so on. It gives the children incentive to invite new
children. The key to keeping the interest of children is a program which
is fast moving, and changes activities often [ at least every 15 minutes.]
We do a 1 hour program once weekly, and in that one hour we have songs, a
story, a craft that the child takes home, and a game [ different every
week]. The children love it . We started our group in September with 11
children and grew to 80 children registered by Christmas.Hope this
helps.May God bless you and your group.
Tammy
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7) Outreach Sunday school?
I'm a 3,4 and 5th grade teacher at a Episcopal Church in Southbridge Ma. I
am a new subscriber to this newsletter and this is also my first year as a
teacher. I was wondering if anybody had some helpful information on ways I
could begin an Episcopal outreach in our community for my Sunday school
class they like doing things hands on and they love to learn and I want to
help them put what they learn to practical use. I was also wondering if
anybody had any suggestions some Episcopal things I should be teaching my
students I want them to be able to at the end of this year to say that
they learned something and at least for my older kids to be able to
incorporate what they have learned in their everyday life. I would
appreciate any ideas on either question.
Thanks Jill Mancini from Sturbridge Ma.
--from ChristianCrafters.Com: you can't ever go wrong if your teaching
them about Jesus. Make sure you are using an easy to understand version of
the Bible such as 'The New Adventure Bible For Kids' (NIV). It has
discussion questions, suggested memory verses, and even activities to
reinforce the Scripture. Our church gives these to the third graders every
year! There are many great Bible choices in my Bookstore or any Christian
Bookstore for that matter. It's always great to include Bible games, or
crafts with your lessons to make it fun and memorable. There are many free
resources in the site for you to use. One verse that comes to mind is
this, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the WORD of God." Romans
10:17.
Blessings to you in your new ministry!
Sarah Keith - Your Moderator and colaborer in Jesus.
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8) Inexpensive curriculum
This is in regards to Mary Beth Konvalin's request for info about
curriculum for Children's Church. I just found a book titled HURRAY FOR
CHILDREN'S CHURCH! by Lisa Flinn & Barbara Younger. It's designed for
children ages 4-approximately 8 years old. I found it at Cokesbury
Bookstore for $13 so it's very affordable. Good luck!
H. Everett
--from ChristianCrafters.Com- it's $12.95 in our bookstore. ;o))
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9) That's my Seat
This is for Virginia with the College/Career class in Sylvester, Ga.
I too am from Sylvester, Ga. and would like to correspond with you through
e-mail. I teach a Jr High Class @ Bethel Baptist Church in Omega, GA. it
is in Worth County but our address is Omega. I have come across that
program "That's my seat" somewhere and will try to find it. Would love to
hear from you and maybe share ideas. We also have a College/Career class
at our church. My e-mail address is Dlpboz@aol.com. It was nice to see
someone from my town in the newsletter.
I love this newsletter and have gotten lots of great ideas from it.
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