Have some interesting and exciting news to share with you. A few months ago I contacted Jason Noble, the National Children's Ministry Director for the Assemblies of God about starting some type of club or curriculum that teaches both boys & girls for the smaller church. There are many small churches, like ours, that do not have the volunteers or kids to have the Missionettes or Royal Ranger clubs. In our case we do not have the volunteers so I came up with "Adventure Kids" and we use curriculum from both clubs. It is difficult to do but it has been working. My dream is to see both clubs up and running with many volunteers and kids attending. Interesting enough, the national leaders of the Missionettes and the Royal Rangers are working on creating something in mind of churches like ours.
Here is the exciting part...I have been contacted about discussing my ideas with the National Leaders of both Missionettes and RR! They are serious about wanting to do something for the smaller churches and they want "MY" opinion! How cool is that! I am really excited about it! Please pray that God will use my voice, the ideas that I believe are from Him to make a difference in other churches and kids lives! I will let you know how things unfold and if any of my ideas are used! This is SO COOL!
In His Service,
Melissa
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"How can I keep from Praising Your Name, How can I ever say enough, How amazing is Your Love!"
That is very cool - I was actually a children's pastor from one of those small churches a few years ago who gave the national office feedback as to why we didn't do Missionettes and Royal Rangers. So I'm glad they're finally doing something about it.
I accept the tag! I truely hope they listen this time! Small churches need something for our kids or we may loose the next generation of kids. What is sad is in small older churches (mean age over 65) the older folks just don't see the need for children's ministries and then they wonder why they can't attract young families! Personally, if we were not in ministry and dedicated to reaching not only adults but the kids too, if we were to move to a small town like here I would want to go to a church that ministered to my kids just as much as me. Many older folks forget how important it is to young families. I will post later as to how the interview goes...it is set for today at 1pm (central time).
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"How can I keep from Praising Your Name, How can I ever say enough, How amazing is Your Love!"
Hey everyone. Sorry I didn't get back to you on this. The interview over the phone went well. The National Office for A/G is really working on changing things around. It is going to take time but I believe what is going to take place will be big. We have been asked to be a pilot church once they get everything in order. They are trying to work on not creating a new club persay but working on make a guide for us to use both the Missionettes (MPact) and the Royal Rangers curriculum together. Sorta looking at the units and figuring out how they can be used to together so the kids still get a chance to earn those badges and honors. This way as a church grows in this ministry and is able to seperate and create both clubs the kids will be on tract and able to advance. It is going to be a challenge for them. I believe some of my ideas were either new or validated what they are thinking already. Olga Vigil who is Leadership Development Coordinatior for the Nationl Girls Ministries (A/G) really listened to what I had to say. She asked that we keep her and the other leaders in prayer as they work together to help us smaller churches! She did ask if there are any other small church children pastors that might be willing to discuss their ideas about this with her. If anyone knows of a small church who like us struggle to have the two groups or would like to but just don't have the volunteers to help let me know. I would love to talk to them and possibly get them in contact too with Olga so they have a broad base of info coming in. Thanks everyone! melissa
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"How can I keep from Praising Your Name, How can I ever say enough, How amazing is Your Love!"
They are serious about wanting to do something for the smaller churches and they want "MY" opinion! How cool is that! I am really excited about it! Please pray that God will use my voice, the ideas that I believe are from Him to make a difference in other churches and kids lives! I will let you know how things unfold and if any of my ideas are used! This is SO COOL!
