Kia Ora Bay Kids Whanau,
As Term Two begins, we start the Biblical Literacy Curriculum focus of our Formation Practices. These Curriculum are from the TRU Resource, which we use throughout the year. This is an opportunity for all our children to get a sense of the bigger narrative of scripture and to track through a sequence of stories learning more about who God is and how He's at work in our lives.
In Bay Preschool this Curriculum is called, ‘God Made Me’, and over the first few weeks we cover Creation - God making the World, and then making Adam and Eve. We come back to this core message, that God made our world and He cares for those He created.
And in Team Bay Junior and Seniors the Curriculum is called ‘God’s People Respond to Him through Worship’ which will begin by covering stories about Peter, the Woman at Well, and Zaccheaus. These stories carry the thread of knowing that God’s plan is best, that He knows everything, and that He is the one who seeks and saves.
An important message through this, for all our children is that they get to be included in God’s story.
God is the main character in His story. The world, and every small storyline in it, is really about Him, His character, and His glory. Yet, God still looks at us and invites us all to play a part. He loves us so much that He invites us into His amazing plans, and to be part of His story.
This is an exciting invitation for our children and an important foundation for their faith, even though, as adults we know just how much we struggle with not being able to skip ahead to the chapters that we like, or that if we could fast-forward, we might not even like how these stories have progressed.
Being in the middle of the story, and not knowing how things will resolve, isn’t easy. We need His comfort and the ability to trust Him and His carefully orchestrated plans. We need to learn this truth when we are young - God is good, He loves you, and His plan is best.
And when we’re feeling really brave, we get to pass this part on to our children - our lives will be amazing, beautiful, redeemed and purposeful in Him. We’re also secretly grateful that we don’t write our own stories; God does that. As Proverbs 16: 9 says, ‘In your heart you plan your life. But the LORD decides where your steps will take you.’ (and I’m very grateful for this)
Here’s some big questions for your school-aged children, to get some good discussions going beyond Sundays:
Do you think it’s hard to follow Jesus? Why or why not?
What do you think it means to be part of God’s big plan?
Who can we be praying for that doesn’t yet follow Jesus?
And here’s a daily blessing to pray over your children as they begin to ponder these questions and the journey of being part of God’s plan: ‘(Child’s name), may you know that God invites you into His story, and may He show you what part you will play in His plans.’
Our preschoolers often like to view the world they live in by touching, smelling, or tasting everything they come in contact with. Sensory experiences help them learn about the world around them and remind them that God created the world and everything in it. Keep chatting with them about God making the world and choosing us to be the ones who care for God’s creation. In the midst of their ‘little scientist’ explorations bless them with this blessing: ‘(Child’s name), may you worship God, remembering that it was He who created the world and everything in it.’
REMEMBER VERSES
The first verse we’re learning to remember this term In Team Bay Junior and Seniors is this particularly dangerous prayer from Psalm 139:23–24 in the New International Reader's Version - one of my faves.
“God, see what is in my heart. Know what is there. Test me. Know what I’m thinking. See if there’s anything in my life you don’t like. Help me live in the way that is always right.”
This is a prayer of David straight to God and it focuses on a character trait of God that’s part of The Big God Story - He wants us to learn to trust Him and His good plan for our lives. We really enjoyed shouting it out together in Team Bay Junior this morning!
In Bay Preschool our first Remember Verse this term is from Psalm 19:1 again, in the NIRV because of its plain straightforward reading language.
“The heavens tell about the glory of God. The skies show that his hands created them.”
And here are the actions to get your preschooler's brain connecting with the words and you feeling a little silly.
“The heavens
2 arms stretch straight up high
tell about the glory of God.
2 arms slowly come around and down
The skies
2 arms waving up high
show that his hands created them.”
2 arms out hands opened up
I love that everyone gets the chance to look up at the sky and imagine God’s hands creating something truly magical up there. Even the skies, the heavens, can’t help but worship God. I hope that you have the opportunity to see an amazing sunrise together or some wildly crazy cloud formations and learn to wonder again at what the skies tell us about their Creator God.
ENCOURAGING DATA
And finally some encouraging data and another great reason to be thankful for all the wonderful Bay Kids volunteers who make our Sunday programmes possible for your children. We are all grateful to have people who genuinely love to connect with our children and who feel enthusiastic about supporting their spiritual growth.
Non-parent adult participation in kids ministry is important to children's spiritual growth.
Barna data (The Barna Group has become a go-to source for insights about faith, culture, leadership, vocation and generations) shows that when kids have a meaningful relationship with at least one adult at church, they can experience a host of benefits.
Here’s one example: ‘When we asked churchgoing parents of 5–14-year-old kids whether their child integrates biblical principles into their lives, we noticed a significant gap: Sixty-four percent of parents whose children have a meaningful adult relationship at church said this was “completely true.”
Among parents whose children did not have a relationship like that, only 24 percent said “completely true.”’
So a huge thank you to all of you who are already this ‘non-parent’ adult in another child’s life - whether it’s through friends, family, work or serving in Bay Kids. Thank you for how you invest in them and let them know they belong. Thank you for helping them to make sense of the Big God Story. And next Sunday, it would be lovely if you could remember to thank your Bay Kids volunteers in your child’s programme too.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR MAY
10 May - Team Bay Seniors Home Church, 7-9pm
19 May - Pentecost Sunday focus in all Bay Kids Programmes - celebrating the beginning of the Church
The Jesus Storybook Bible (Pages 325 - 333)
God’s Big Picture Bible Storybook (Pages 230 and 232)
The Day when God made Church (A child’s first book about Pentecost)
26 May - Our Bay Kids SPARKS Prayer Meeting, 4-5pm
And finally, in response to some questions about my opinions on the ‘best’ available Children’s Bibles, here’s an article from ‘Christianity Today’ The Quest for a Good Children’s Bible | Christianity Today that reviews eight different iterations through the lens of:
focusing on crucial stories of Creation, Jesus’ birth, and his death and resurrection,
how each book told the stories of biblical heroes like David and Jonah, and noted which stories the authors chose to include (or exclude),
how the stories were told, looking at the quality of the writing and illustration.
Have a read of the article, it’s got some good critiques and some great options. It’s all my favourite things to rant about, so I’m quite happy to continue the conversation with you too.
Arohanui
Charlotte