Hi ladies! Either everyone is doing well or no one is coming here to vent or ask help. BUT I need some help. Right now my dh and I are seeking God and waiting for Him to open doors for us for ministry else where. We are open to the Lord keeping us here and despite the aggrivation and heartache we have experienced we are willing to lay it down (which we have) and start fresh. I know what God wants to do here and He has given me ideas but I can't seem to get a single person to help and I can not do this alone. Our denomination has set programs for boys/girls. And we do not offer them. MY own kids would greatly benefit from these programs...let alone the kids that attend and the kids we could ultimately minister to. I need some ideas on how to do this and at what age to limit it too. I need someone else's imput. My DH is totally behind me and totally agrees with me. WE have the support verablly for the church but NOT PHYSICALLY! WE are a small church and the majority of the people are over 65. BUT we have some that are younger and still I can not get a single person to help me. I do not want my kids to miss out on these wonderful programs but I do not know how I can minister to my own kids as well as the church and neighborhood. I have been praying and seeking and feel like I need to ask for help outside of the area to get your input on this. HELP PLEASE!
Sorry I'm not much help - I'm dealing with the same "lack of workers" issue in my kids' ministry. Just wanted to drop a note to say you're not alone...
Just a thought - are the people resistant to volunteering or to the specific program that you want to use? You may want to think of it that way...there is lots of good kids' curriculum out there, and if there is something that would fit your church and your volunteers better, then maybe you could check that out!!!
Do you know of some great curriculum or other types of programs out there for combined groups of boys and girls? In our situation I could combine the girls ages and teach one lesson and let them do their prospective worksheets that go along with the lessons. It's the boys I have a problem with. I have no idea what to do with them or with them when I am working with the girls. It is NOT feasible for me to take different nights although I could do this if I needed to I guess. Just don't want more added to my plate than I can handle.
I don't know your denomination - but the Assemblies of God [Gospel Publishing House] puts out a pretty decent curriculum for co-ed groups of kids called "Highpoint."
They are all pretty much the same format - they deal with a specific issue [self-esteem, anger, good vs. evil, etc], and involve a "plane trip" to a different country. Each topic is 5 weeks long and is incredibly user-friendly.
They are a bit expensive, so I would recommend calling around and setting up some sort of "barter" system with other children's pastors in the area. I own two of them - Self Esteem [Egypt], and Good vs. Evil [Haiti].
If you have a combined group of kids, the best thing to do is aim for the boys - the girls will follow and get excited about it, but the boys will never follow a "girl-centered" curriculum or lesson.
If I think of any other good curriculums, I'll let you know!!
We are A/G. Have just seen these. They are expensive. Are they something that you can expand even further on and add a few more weeks to the lessons? Things you do on your own so to speak. Our church does not have the funds at all to purchase a bunch of these but I may be able to get them to go for maybe one or two if I can stretch them a bit more than 5 weeks. Thanks for your help. PS you know me look for a private message.
We are AG too and at the church we are it we are actually doing VBS on Wed. nights for the summer. We do this because Missionettes and Royal Rangers take a break during the summer and we did not want to miss the kids all summer.
On a more practical note, I myself did Royal Rangers for about 2 years when we were at a church trying to start it. It is very difficult in our experience to get men to volunteer for this. I think I would agree with puppetmaster that a combined boys and girls program is easier to run with less people.
You are welcome to borrow the two Highpoint curriculums that I own - I think the next time I use it, I will expand it and use bits and pieces of it here and there and add my own stuff [that's how I usually use any curriculum, anyway!].
They don't leave much room for worship or anything extra if you just do it "by the book." A lot of people stretch it out longer than 5 weeks.
If you have an older group, I highly recommend checking out youth ministry websites [youthspecialities.com is a good one] for games, illustration ideas, etc.
A great series of books that I have is called "Videos that Teach." It's a discussion guide based on popular movies that helps you teach kids based on movies they are already watching. They just came out with a new book called, "TV Shows that Teach," too - I just checked that one out of the library to take a look at it.
I'm a TV junkie myself - and I know that most of our kids are - so this is a great way to catch their attention and get them to think about what they're watching in a spiritual sense.
But yeah - PM me with your address if you are interested in borrowing either of my Highpoint curriculums - like I said, I have Self-Esteem (Egypt) and Good vs. Evil (Haiti).
Deanna - I am in absolute AWE of our Rangers program after being here 3 years - I cannot believe how many men we have who are 100% dedicated to reaching boys. I know this is not usual, and I consider myself to be blessed [by the CPs who came here before me, because I had absolutely nothing to do with recruiting them!!].
