True Wisdom in Discipline.

Pastor Marv was speaking in chapel this morning from James 3.  He spoke about wisdom that comes from God, not the world, and it hit me.  We need wisdom in discipline all the time.  As parents, as volunteers, even as a spouse or friend.

The world may say that to have discipline in the classroom, you must be strict.  You must be just.  But true wisdom comes from God.  And in James 3:17, it says, "But the wisdom from above is first of all pure.  It is peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others.  It is full of mercy and good deeds.  It shows no favoritism and is always sincere."

When we discipline with wisdom from God, we're not thinking about ourselves!  So, here's what I'm taking from this:

1. We need to be PUREly thinking about the child being disciplined.  What they need.  What they are going through. 
2. We are ultimately striving for PEACE in the classroom.  Not submission.  Not order.  Not just obedience, but peace!  
3. We are to be gentle at all times.  Our tongues get us into trouble, constantly! If we let out what we're really feeling, sometimes we lose favor with that child, forever!  Be GENTLE when you speak, and in how you act.
4. We need to be WILLING TO YIELD.  Don't just to conclusions.  Don't assume you know everything that happened while your back was turned toward the chalk board.  Ask questions, and be willing to yield, even to the kids.  Know that you're not always right!
5. We are to be full of MERCY! Would you like to be treated with justice in every single thing you do?? NO!  God gives us mercy constantly!  Treat your kids with mercy and look for ways to bless them with GOOD DEEDS.  They will repay you with mercy and good deeds when it counts!  On that day when your kids kept you up all night, you missed your coffee fix because you had to rush out the door, you're not prepared with your lesson plan, and you have a full day ahead of you...they will give you grace and mercy and good deeds back.
6. Show NO FAVORITISM.  Favoritism breeds discontent.  Treat all the kids with love and grace, not just the quiet, perfectly behaved, little cutie-pie in her Sunday best.  
7. Always be SINCERE.  Kids can smell a lie, or flattery, or an insincere threat (!!) a mile away.  Be sincere in discipline, in love, and in kindness.

I would encourage you to ask God for wisdom!!! In the classroom, as parents, in our relationships, workplaces, every where!! God wants to give you his wisdom! Just ask!!  The most important thing to remember about this is, you can't come up with this stuff on your own.  True wisdom comes from God.  You can't always be peaceful, gentle, merciful, etc, on your own!  Go to God to change you from the inside out!

Volunteer Covenant Training

Hey Kids Staff!

I'm trying out a new approach to training!  If you have not sat through the Kids Training in 2012, please click the link below and have a listen!

Volunteer Covenant Training

Kids Ministry isn't baby sitting. It's not child care. It's not day care! It's unlike any other interaction with children that you may have had in the past. For one very specific reason. JESUS.

We teach about Jesus! We GET to teach about Jesus! PLEASE DON'T COME TO VOLUNTEER IN FREEDOM VALLEY KIDS MINISTRY WITHOUT TEACHING JESUS IN SOME WAY OR FORM! There's too much opportunity to miss!! Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and don't stop them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these!" (Matthew 19:14) If we allow children to come to CHURCH, and not meet with Jesus, in my view, we're stopping them. Which would be a direct violation of what Jesus taught. 

Yes, that goes for babies. Yes, that goes for toddlers. THEY CAN BE TAUGHT! Paul wrote to Timothy "from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures." (2 Timothy 3:15). 

Our babies and toddlers need people passionate about teaching them who Jesus is. Will you?








If you'd like more encouragement on this subject, check out this article: http://www.childrensministry.com/articles/tips-for-baby-spiritual-growth

Hi Kids Staff!
Just wanted to share this with you all...thank you so much for everything you do!!!

From Robin Deitch: "I am so impressed by the detail at which my grandaughters leave church and share the bible stories to us on the way home! I am so thankful for the childrens ministry at Freedom Valley. Having served for 8 years or more in childrens ministry I PRAISE YOU MUCH for what you are doing in bringing the word of God into the childrens hearts. [My granddaughters] have went through a lot in the past year. God and church have been the one stable thing in their lives."

Thanks for serving with me and helping kids see Jesus through you!!

Candace

Effective Evangelism

Hi Kids Staff!
I am starting a new CMUO.com (Children's Ministry University Online) class today, called "Evangelizing Children", and hope to be updating this blog more often with everything I'm learning!  I hope to bring you all alongside me, so that we can learn and grow together as a team!

Today was the very first day of class, and I'm already learning so much!  One nugget, from George Barna, really hit me though: "The most effective evangelists are the most obedient and committed Christians.".  Here's what I know to be true: you cannot fully convince anyone - much less a kid - of something that you are not fully convinced of yourself!  So, the most important thing to remember about teaching children is not really about teaching children at all!  It's about you.  Your personal life between you and Jesus.  It affects your teaching, it affect the kids, it affects everything!

So, here's the reminder for the week: Spend time with Jesus!  Get into the Word, find some quiet time with Him.  Isaiah 55:11 says, "It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it."  In other words, NOTHING bad could possibly come from reading the word! It always produces fruit!  What do you have to lose?

Preschool Teachers!

Along the same lines as my last post, there is another critical window of time in a child's life.  A time that we have the change to influence for good!  The preschool years are also VERY important!  According to Hohmann's book, Kids Making A Difference, crucial attitudes are developed in these years that are very hard to change once the child gets older.  "These attitudes include how a child feels about God, the church, and authority."

Our relationships with the kids make the difference!  You can try teach them facts about God and the Bible all day long, but if you don't KNOW that child, they are less likely to receive from you. We need to love those kids like crazy for the short amounts of time that they are with us!  We are their models of God, authority, and the church! That's a big responsibility that we shouldn't take lightly!

56ers especially, but for all teachers!

Hey 56ers teachers!

I am going through a "Kids In Ministry" course right now through Valley Forge, and I'm learning so much great stuff! One thing I am learning is how important it is to train kids to DO ministry, not just be ministered TO.  It's especially important with the age group that you are working with this very weekend!  The follow excerpts are from a book called Kids Making a Difference, by Pete Hohmann.

"The preteen years (ages 10-12) are our second critical window.... They are no longer little children, but not quite teenagers.  You probably noticed that the flannel graph stories and secret code word searches in Sunday School just don't seem to have the same impacts as they did with the younger children. In fact, many of the age group have grown bored with Christianity and are just going through the motions of memorizing material, only to quickly forget it the following week."

"Because of this boredom...many are lost at the age, even though their parents may faithfully bring them to church each Sunday....  Could it be that they are bored with Christianity because they have not been given opportunities to personally prove that the promises of God are true? Their ideas and beliefs remain untested, and therefore are not integrated into their own faith in a meaningful way."

"Children of all ages in the Millennial Generation want to make a difference, but it is CRITICAL that PRETEEN Millennials be given opportunities to ministry to others!"

In light of this information, I'd like you to hit hard a few things with the kids this weekend.  Whether it has ANYTHING to do with the lesson or not, emphasize the fact that giving back is important, and ministry to others is what Jesus called us to do, and they are not too young to do it! Let them know that we have a Jr. Helpers program that they can get involved in (I'll make sure to have applications ready for you this weekend), and we have a Kids Worship Band that they can get involved in!    Ask them how we could make Kids Connect better, and what their gifts and talents are that they could be using!  Write down their ideas (with names!) and make sure that information gets to me, and that you follow up with them the next time you see them as well!

Challenge them to get involved and to use their gifts and talents for God!  That's the only way we're going to keep their hearts and their faith through their teenage years! 

Thank you all!