We cannot do this…we cannot do that…we cannot go back, and sometimes it feels like we are not moving forward.  But God seems to move most when we are stuck, when we have no direction, and when the enemy is closing in on all sides.  Children’s ministry at Grace has, liked everything else, been challenged to offer a creative spin for its participants.

Last week, Grace Children’s Ministry and Jacobs Learning Ladder (JLL) teamed up to bring a “pumpkin patch” experience to the children in our respective areas. JLL could not safely take kids to their yearly pumpkin patch field trip. JLL has not stopped teaching and showing up and extending the love of Christ to the littlest lambs since the pandemic began  So the words came out of my mouth… “What if we brought the pumpkin patch to Grace and had a tailgate party?” And that’s just what we did.

We scattered 150 pumpkins on our lawn.  Members of the arts team staged a beautiful photo area complete with hay bales, plaid blankets and pumpkins…so many pumpkins!  Members of the Children’s Ministry team gathered volunteers to grill hotdogs, and a meal was served safely to every family who attended.  Socially distanced carnival games were run by JLL staff, and a teacher touchdown showdown happened in the middle of the parking lot!  The evening was perfect.  Four foot inflatable footballs being tossed back and forth between two goals held high by volunteer dads….teachers had a chance to laugh out loud and enjoy themselves.  Families felt a moment of “normal,” and God’s grace blessed us with a kiss of perfect fall weather and a joy that can only be explained by the power of God’s generosity and provision.

~From Jennifer Snook

 

 

Each year we pick a different color for our school T-shirt. This year we decided to switch things up and tie-dye our shirts. The children had so much fun seeing their finished product. The teachers had just as much fun, if not more tie-dying their T-shirts and even masks! We are really looking forward to wearing them on our field trip to the Zoo this spring.

Fall is here, and the children are enjoying exploring outside and looking for signs of the changing season. After exploring and collecting they created artwork with their findings.

At the beginning of each school year we talk about community helpers: who they are, what they do, and how they help our community. After learning about and discussing community helpers, the children are found acting out different community helper roles.

We are looking forward to our upcoming parent/teacher conferences and annual Book Fair. This year we set the fair up in the Teen Center, so plese stop by and help us raise money to support our classroom libraries with new books and classroom supplies. The fair runs October 5-13.

What is the Good Neighbor Experiment?  In the words of the creators:

“The Neighboring Movement is a nonprofit started in Wichita, Kansas by neighbors who desired to live out their Christian faith within the context of a neighborhood. Since 2015 we have been researching neighboring initiatives, experimenting in our own neighborhood called SoCe (south central), and teaching about neighboring across the country. The Good Neighbor Experiment (GNE) is the culmination of what we’ve learned put into 4 Labs (each with six sessions) for churches.”  This fall we begin with Lab 1.

Isn’t there usually a Bible Study with Catherine in the fall?

Yes, there is, and this is different. This is a Bible study, but more in the line of practical theology. This summer members of our community took the 14-Day challenge and committed to reading and listening to things related to race and racism.  When we met to discuss what we’d read and heard, one thread came up a lot, which is that we need to broaden our conversation circles.  While many of us may interact with people who look and think differently that we do, we don’t all have real conversations with those people.  The Christian Discipleship Team presents The Good Neighbor Experiment as a way for us to study scripture and also be active in getting to know our neighbors.

What is a lab?  What are we actually doing in this class?

Each week in class we look at scripture and how it applies to our lives and neighborhoods.  Instead of homework where you read scripture and commentaries, you’ll have interactive assignments, things like talking to your neighbors.  The goal is to see Christ in our neighborhoods and to be part of his transforming work.

When is the class, and how do I sign up?

The class schedule is below.  Call the church office 316-684-5215 to sign up.

Tuesday Mornings at 10 am (in person)                 Wednesday Evenings at 6:30 (online)

 

Class 1            Tuesday September 29                       Wednesday September 30

 

Class 2            Tuesday October 6                              Wednesday October 7

 

Class 3            Tuesday October 13                            Wednesday October 14

 

Class 4            Tuesday October 20                            Wednesday October 21

 

Class 5            Tuesday October 27                            Wednesday October 28

 

No Class          Week of November 1

 

Class 6            Tuesday November 10                        Wednesday November 11

 

 

 

 

 

The children at Jacob’s Learning Ladder have had lots of fun this summer. We’ve had water days, picnic lunches, and a bike wash. We’ve also experienced lots of other fun learning activities like reading outside, learning about the different levels of the ocean, pond life, transportation and fossils. We wrapped up our summer program with a drive-in movie, complete with cardboard box cars and a popcorn snack!

The lead teachers have been busy creating the curriculum and school calendar for our upcoming 2020-2021 school year. We are all very excited for the fun learning experiences we have planned!