Children’s Ministry – Page 27

June 18, 2015June 7, 2018 Peter Witkowski Vacation Bible School

5 Reasons Why VBS Is A Big Deal

i-love-vbs

Ah…Vacation Bible School, there is nothing like it. Screaming kids, water games, snacks with gummy worms hidden in them. What kid wouldn’t be up for a week of summer fun? (I was always ready for some gummies and water balloons!) Hopefully, we adults are also getting bit with the VBS excitement bug! Sure we have to manage all those sugar filled, crazy kids. But hosting a great VBS is worth the cost! Here are my top five reason VBS is a big deal!

1. VBS Connects Us To Our Community!

Yes, some kids spend their entire summer hoping from one VBS to the next. When they drop into our VBS, we should be thankful! Each time we connect with a new family, we develop a better picture of what our community is really like. VBS will help us to better understand how to ministry to our neighborhoods.

2. VBS Demonstrates The Love Of Christ!

Bible believing Christianity is increasingly unpopular in our culture. If we affirm biblical marriage and label sin as sin, we w kids free 1 ill be unpopular and perhaps even labeled as bigots.

One of the best means for fighting against the angry Christian stereotype is to love our neighbors. VBS gives us the chance us to do just that! As we serve our neighbors’ and co-workers’ kids, we can dispel many of the myths that surround our church. Remember the words of Paul: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

VBS provides our church a premium stage for wowing the world with the love of Christ! Remember the words of our savior, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Let’s highlight God’s love this summer by loving kids via VBS!

3. VBS Fulfills The Great Commission!

Evangelism is not just something missionaries do. Nor is it something we do “out there.” Jesus said all of us are to be making disciples (Math 28:18-20)! We need to be sharing the gospel in Asia. But, we also must talk about the good news of Jesus in our towns, homes, and ballparks! VBS gives us an amazing venue for reaching and discipling the kids in our community! By participating in VBS, we get to experience the joy of obeying Jesus’ mission call!

4. VBS Connects Us To The Unchurched!

Many kids only come to church during VBS. By breaking out the wacky games, we can reach the usually unreachable. VBS expands the reach of the gospel into our community introducing Christ to kids who have never sat in a pew before.

5. VBS Can Lead To Redemption!

This is the big one. We have VBS every year because God saves. We welcome kids to church this summer because God uses VBS leaders to open the eyes of the blind. And I’m not talking about just the back kids. I’ve heard many reports of “good” church kids getting saved during VBS. Anytime the gospel is present, the Holy Spirit can move in powerful ways! He often works through VBS. Let’s hope and pray that God uses our VBS to bring many to salvation!

And now it’s your turn! Why is VBS a big deal to you and your church family?

Click Here To Register For VBS @ Amissville Baptist Church!

June 11, 2015June 15, 2015 Peter Witkowski Vacation Bible School

VBS 2015: Everything You Need to Know

In a few weeks, we will be journeying off the map with Lifeway’s VBS! I am super excited about this year’s VBS! The lime green shirts will be looking cool, the music will be rock’n, and our kids are going to be making some awesome memories! And honestly, the only thing better than the activities will be the teaching! Each day as our kids’ journey off the map, they will encounter the gospel. As they study Daniel and a bunch of other stories, our kids will see that God doesn’t want them just be good citizens. They will leave knowing that they need to repent and embrace Christ as their God. I can’t wait see how God will use us via His Word to save the lost!

As you continue to get pumped for VBS and start registering your kids at fbceastman.com, I want to keep you up-to-date on all of the latest changes:

What’s New

We switched back to Lifeway. Although I still think, Answers in Genesis produces a great VBS curriculum, I believe Lifeway is now even better. For more on the benefits of using Journey off the Map see Above.
We will be starting 30 minutes later this year! VBS will begin at 6:30 PM.
We are replacing meals with snacks to maximize our teaching time.
Preschoolers will not go to the worship rally. To minimize chaos and to create a great welcoming space, all kids Age 4 and under will be dropped off and picked up in their CMC classrooms.
All preregistered kindergarteners -8th graders can be dropped off in the sanctuary. All unregistered students will register at the tables around the fellowship hall. All kids will be picked up from their CMC classrooms (Tangled Branch Tree Houses).
Parents must have their parent card (You’ll get your card when you drop off your child) to pick up a child. If you lose your parent card, go to the CMC welcome desk! I hope you and your family plan to journey off the map with us!
To serve in VBS, you must be at least 16 years of age and been a church member for 6 month. If you want an official invitation to serve, this is it! We want you own our VBS team! We will have a leadership meeting on Sunday June 14 at 4:30 PM! See you there!
We will end our Friday Night VBS Celebration with a meal! Immediately following the closing ceremony all kids and their parents are invited to eat dinner in the FBCE fellowship hall!

I truly believe VBS 2015 is going to be amazing!

Pray

Please join in praying for our VBS leaders and our students. Pray for God to give life to the spiritual dead. Pray for safety. And pray that no one and nothing will hinder the proclamation of the gospel! It’s time to get excited about VBS 2015! It’s time to see God work!

How about you? Are you excited about VBS? What’s your best VBS memory as either a kid or a teacher?

June 4, 2015June 3, 2015 Peter Witkowski Children's Ministry

5 Habits That Kill Kids’ Ministries

I think its fair to say that every kids’ ministry needs more staff. And I don’t mean the creepy kind with no teeth and a criminal background. We need kid’s workers who love Jesus and who love kids, (even the screaming toddlers). And, I believe that God will provide all the laborers we need. The ministry and the mission is his!

But with that being said, we can still do things that undermine our kids ministry. Below are five deadly habits that regularly keep people serving and some tips for overcoming them.

Poor Organization:

Nothing scares committed volunteers away faster than chaos. And we can’t blame people for avoiding a human zoo. No one would board a cruise ship whose final destination was the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. And no one is going to work with our kids if they think someone may die before the night is over.

Quick FIx:

Get organised. If we want people to work with our kids, we must empower them by creating schedules, using great curriculums, and enforcing discipline. We, the children’s leaders, must have a practical vision for our ministry that others can respond to. Now vision will not win everyone over on its own. But you can’t succeed without it.

Lack of Vision:

Many adults think kids’ ministry exists as a holding cell for whinny, noisy, stinky kids. Many don’t serve because they don’t think kids’ ministry is a ministry. They view the kids’ wing as a swanky, religious nursery that frees adults to worship without anyone asking to go to the bathroom.

Quick Fix:

Share our vision with our church through discussions, sermons, and training events. We need to help others see that kids’ ministries exist to strategically equip parents (and the entire church body) to declare the glory of God to the next generation! Sunday school, Wednesday night activities, and those wacky events happen because churches want to see everyone worshiping Christ together! Kids’ ministry is not just nursery, its intentional, hands-on mission and discipleship work! We need to get the word out!

A Selfish Mindset:

Those who’ve fallen into this category believe “Church is me time.” They don’t serve because God only called them to attend church. Because their life is crazy and/or hard, they think God has freed them from serving others, especially kids. Even if they have kids, this group knows that God called them to only attend Bible studies and concerts.

Quick Fix:

First, We need to invite people to serve. Second, we explain the danger of not actively serving in church. Admittedly those who make Sunday their “adult time” or their “time away from the kids,” will have an easier day. But their day will also be far less biblical. We are called to put the needs of others before our own. (I.E. the church is not about you or me). We read in Philippians 2:2-4:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

“Yes,” some will say, “but you have no idea what my kids are like or what I have to put up with on a regular basis.” A We don’t. And we need to be considerate of others struggles. But, we need to help all see that service is not based on feelings. We serve because the God of the universe put our needs before his own comfort. We want to be like him! Help others see that our earthly comfort is not more important than a child’s salvation and find a reasonable place for them to serve.

A Quitter’s Mentality:

These adults say things like, “I did my time and my kids are grown.” In short, they’ve tapped out and have done their time.

Quick Fix:

We need to encourage people to refresh and to follow God’s call on their life. Many people exit kids’ ministry for great reasons. We should support God’s work in their life!

But we should pursue those who leave the kids’ program to retire from ministry all together. We need to remind quitters that God doesn’t put a time limit or a quota on serving the next generation. God’s missional call to reach kids involves all of his church. Ands, kids need older adults to teach them. The energy of young singles and new marrieds cannot compare to the wisdom possessed by older believers. If we want to see our kids greatly influenced for Christ, we need to expose them to the Godliest men and women in our church. And not surprisingly, most kids actually want to hang with wiser men and women!

Lack of Communication:

There are people in our churches who are sitting out because they’ve never been asked to help. These adults never interacted our kids’ zone because they are single or empty nesters. They are open to serving. But they’ve never connected with a kids’ ministry worker or leader. They may have heard that their kids’ ministry needs help, but they don’t know where to begin.

Quick Fix

The solution is for somebody to directly ask them. As kid’s ministry people, we need to make an effort to interact with the whole body, inviting health believers from all walks of life to be part of our kids’ ministry.