Kidglow: What, Why, and WHY ME???
When I came to FBC Mexico, I couldn’t quite understand what God was doing. The church was a great fit, and I enjoyed the people and the staff. However, I was going to be a worship pastor. That’s what I wanted to be. Why was God calling me to be used as a worship and family pastor? I love kids. I love families. Often, when people ask if Sarah and I have children, I will jokingly tell them “Yes, we have 20 or 30.” It is amazing how much God has shown me about why He wanted me to work as a family pastor as well. I have come to love this ministry as much as any worship ministry I have ever had.
Coming out of this love for this ministry is Kidglow. With the children being the future of the church, we wanted to ensure that any program that we use is going to provide a solid foundation. We also wanted to be able to customize it to fit our church and community’s needs. So, we sat down and decided what we wanted the kids to be able to do.
- Worship: I started here because obviously it is very important to me. We really wanted the kids to engage in true, God-centered worship. We want the kids to enjoy worship and learn about Christ through singing songs. We will be using worship DVD’s specifically produced for children. These DVD’s will incorporate songs that we sing on Sunday mornings and that they can hear on the Christian music radio station.
- Curriculum: Many times we treat the Bible like a collection of separate individual stories. The curriculum we will be using will teach the stories, and then relate the stories back to the center of the Gospel, Jesus Christ. This way, the children will see the Bible not as an endless collection of stories, but one singular story of redemption. Here is a link to the curriculum we will be using:
http://www.gospelproject.com/kids/
- Missions: We feel also that it is important for the children to learn about, and get hands-on experience in, local and international missions. We will be giving the children missionaries to pray for, send care packages to, and learn about by speaking directly with them over Skype and other social tools. This connection with the missionaries really helps the kids to remember and learn a little more fully. We will also be allowing the children to be involved in local, parent-supervised missions projects.
- Memorization: We want the children to memorize as many verses as possible. This will help them later in their day-to-day walk, ministry opportunities, and when making important decisions.
- Fun: We would also like this children’s program to be something that your kids look forward to coming to every week. We would like them to enjoy singing songs, learning about missions, and looking at Bible stories. We fully expect them to leave each week wanting more and looking forward to the next week.
We pray that when children exit Kidglow, they will have the many Biblical skills necessary to continue to follow Christ through their middle school and high school years. We want them to know as many verses as they can, know key elements of the Gospel, and especially to be able to study the Bible on their own in a real, God-focused way. We hope that will be your prayer as well!
If you have any questions about this program please feel free to call the church or send me an email at chris@fbcmexico.com. Thanks!
-Chris