I had the chance this morning to be a part of our new Grace Adventure Club. During the sermon I headed out with some of our coaches and our 3rd-6th grade boys to play and then huddle. At the first service we played Bump, a basketball-type game. I won the first round! But I'm glad to concede that Zach was the champion of the world. At the second service we played kick ball. My team kicked-butt and won by 2!
During the huddle we started a journey through the Gospel of Mark. So today we talked a bit about good news and how the word, Gospel, means good news. We looked at how Jesus is good news (Mark 1:1). We went around the huddle and talked about what we are thankful for and prayed after the brief talk.
It's a pretty cool model. If I were that age I'd love it. In fact, at the second service we could barely get the boys in for communion--and it was blazing hot outside. (My son was late for church this morning and happened to be walking to the building when he saw me headed to the court to play. He asked what I was doing and so I grabbed him and made him one of the coaches. It was fun to have my own boy--although a 25 year old boy--out playing with us!)
It's very rewarding to see our men out hanging with the boys. It's also cool to have some of the guys taking the lead in planning the activity and the huddle talk.
We are now in the process of putting together a team of mentors for our 3rd-6th grade girls and hope to have their side of the Grace Adventure Club up and running by July. But I still managed to kick and inside the park homerun!
At that point we'll do a shift of sorts. We will be giving our nursery-2nd grade ministry the name: Grace Kids Club. Our ministry to 3rd-6th grade boys and girls will carry on the name Grace Adventure Club. Cool logos, T-shirts, and hats to come!
A couple of learnings for me personally--it's hot out right now! and I'm a bit old to be running bases in such heat!
Showing posts with label Grace Adventure Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace Adventure Club. Show all posts
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Rethinking Sunday School--Part 3
(It goes without saying again but since this is part 3, it would be really helpful to read parts 1 and 2! :))
As I began, along with Mike, one of our Grace Adventure Club (GAC) leaders, to think through what it might mean to move from a program/information model to a mentoring, coaching, discipling model in Sunday School, we also began to think through the difference in the ways that boys and girls learn and grow.
Generally speaking, the typical Sunday School program skews to the strengths of girls. It's usually highly verbal, highly concept oriented, lots of reading, and, more often than not, is lead by a woman. Boys verbal and reading and concept skills tend to develop later than those skills do in girls. Boys learn best via activity and image/visual. Think about it. Most of the coaching Jesus did took place outside, while on walks, using visuals to mentor his 12 men. He did a lot of demonstrating his message by bringing them on healing trips, by modeling prayer, etc.
What we want to do is put the adventure of following Jesus into the Adventure Club by moving from information/program to modeling, coaching, mentoring, forming, etc. We want our kids formed in Jesus, not just informed about him. That requires a very different model for Sunday School.
Richard Rohr, a Catholic Priest and a man devoted to discipling men, writes this: It is strange how we have forgotten how Jesus formed his disciples. We can read all of the words of Jesus in the Gospels in a matter of hours, but Jesus spent three long years discipling the men who followed him. What he gave them was not so much his words but his example and his energy, his time and his touch. "Where do you live?" said the first two disciples of Jesus. "Come and see," he replied, "so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day." (John 1:39)...They knew how energy was passed, and it was not primarily by sermons and books, but by relationships and presence." (From Wild Man to Wise Man, pp. 132-133).
Because boys, teenage boys, and young adult men are on Christianity's endangered species list (Christianity is the only major religion losing boys and men!) we decided to start with our boys in this new model. The concept is simple: Get a couple of men (coaches) to hang out with our boys for 15-20 minutes. Do some fun stuff with them (sports, projects, etc) and then huddle up for an object lesson, or a story having to do with Jesus, and then to pray together.
This has at least three promising impacts: 1) It begins to form in our boys the grace to follow Jesus--not just learn about him but to actively engage in following him. 2) It enables our boys to see men who follow Jesus. To let them draw some masculine spirituality from the men. Again, following Jesus is more caught than taught. We have fewer and fewer everyday guy models of followers of Jesus. 3) It gives men a chance to invest themselves in boys in ways that men are gifted. Most men don't teach Sunday School because the gifts required are usually skewed female. But most guys can play ball with boys. They can build something with them. They can create something with them. And, with some coaching, they can do a short object lesson or talk about a Christian sports hero or tell a story about Jesus (and there are many of us men who do have strong verbal skills).
Our strategy at this point is to get this coaching model ramped up for our 3rd-6th grade boys over the next couple of months. Then, we'll do the same for our 3rd-6th grade girls. The younger children, for the time being, will continue in our GAC program as it works for them at that age.
What will it take? To begin, some men to man-up for Jesus and offer to help mentor our boys. To quote the famous anonymous: Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.
In a few months, it will take some women to step up and invest themselves in our girls.
The combination of worshipping with the big people, being mentored/coached during the message, and then participating in communion with the big people, is a combination I believe that can form boys and girls into dynamic followers of Jesus.
And I'm putting this all in writing so that we can hold each other accountable and see, in the end, if this was a God-idea or indigestion.
As I began, along with Mike, one of our Grace Adventure Club (GAC) leaders, to think through what it might mean to move from a program/information model to a mentoring, coaching, discipling model in Sunday School, we also began to think through the difference in the ways that boys and girls learn and grow.
Generally speaking, the typical Sunday School program skews to the strengths of girls. It's usually highly verbal, highly concept oriented, lots of reading, and, more often than not, is lead by a woman. Boys verbal and reading and concept skills tend to develop later than those skills do in girls. Boys learn best via activity and image/visual. Think about it. Most of the coaching Jesus did took place outside, while on walks, using visuals to mentor his 12 men. He did a lot of demonstrating his message by bringing them on healing trips, by modeling prayer, etc.
What we want to do is put the adventure of following Jesus into the Adventure Club by moving from information/program to modeling, coaching, mentoring, forming, etc. We want our kids formed in Jesus, not just informed about him. That requires a very different model for Sunday School.
Richard Rohr, a Catholic Priest and a man devoted to discipling men, writes this: It is strange how we have forgotten how Jesus formed his disciples. We can read all of the words of Jesus in the Gospels in a matter of hours, but Jesus spent three long years discipling the men who followed him. What he gave them was not so much his words but his example and his energy, his time and his touch. "Where do you live?" said the first two disciples of Jesus. "Come and see," he replied, "so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day." (John 1:39)...They knew how energy was passed, and it was not primarily by sermons and books, but by relationships and presence." (From Wild Man to Wise Man, pp. 132-133).
Because boys, teenage boys, and young adult men are on Christianity's endangered species list (Christianity is the only major religion losing boys and men!) we decided to start with our boys in this new model. The concept is simple: Get a couple of men (coaches) to hang out with our boys for 15-20 minutes. Do some fun stuff with them (sports, projects, etc) and then huddle up for an object lesson, or a story having to do with Jesus, and then to pray together.
This has at least three promising impacts: 1) It begins to form in our boys the grace to follow Jesus--not just learn about him but to actively engage in following him. 2) It enables our boys to see men who follow Jesus. To let them draw some masculine spirituality from the men. Again, following Jesus is more caught than taught. We have fewer and fewer everyday guy models of followers of Jesus. 3) It gives men a chance to invest themselves in boys in ways that men are gifted. Most men don't teach Sunday School because the gifts required are usually skewed female. But most guys can play ball with boys. They can build something with them. They can create something with them. And, with some coaching, they can do a short object lesson or talk about a Christian sports hero or tell a story about Jesus (and there are many of us men who do have strong verbal skills).
Our strategy at this point is to get this coaching model ramped up for our 3rd-6th grade boys over the next couple of months. Then, we'll do the same for our 3rd-6th grade girls. The younger children, for the time being, will continue in our GAC program as it works for them at that age.
What will it take? To begin, some men to man-up for Jesus and offer to help mentor our boys. To quote the famous anonymous: Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.
In a few months, it will take some women to step up and invest themselves in our girls.
The combination of worshipping with the big people, being mentored/coached during the message, and then participating in communion with the big people, is a combination I believe that can form boys and girls into dynamic followers of Jesus.
And I'm putting this all in writing so that we can hold each other accountable and see, in the end, if this was a God-idea or indigestion.
Rethinking Sunday School--Part 2
(It should go without saying but since this is part 2 it will make more sense if you read part 1!)
Because there were so many other things on my plate, Sunday School at Grace was important, but was also relegated to the a back corner in my mind. In part that was because the vision for it wasn't coming clear. We had the right idea--Grace Adventure Club (joining the adventure of following Jesus) but the program model didn't seem to fit the title so to speak. Though done really well, it was still about program and about transferring information.
Then some things began to click. The first was a few weeks ago when I was passionately trying to recruit people to help out with the Grace Adventure Club (GAC). We've always struggled with getting teachers, particularly men. So during my impassioned appeal I talked of how important relationships are in the lives of kids. It's not really about the space but about the relationship with an adult.
Not long after that David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church, was in town and stayed at our house for a couple of days. We had some really intense, spirited, and helpful discussions about reaching men. We talked about how men learn. About how Jesus discipled his 12 men. It was a big kick in the pants for me. Early on in our history he challenged me to be more intentional about reaching this endangered species but I'd gotten distracted. Not only did he give me some great ideas for discipling men, but it triggered a deeper think about how we disciple our kids.
Around that time I met with our GAC leaders and Mike reminded me of how its about relationships, not the room or the program. After that meeting it all fell into place. What had been churning in the back of my brain finally came to the forefront.
Jesus didn't simply impart information. Jesus formed his followers. He did so through activity, through conversation, through hanging out with them, through modeling what a relationship with God looks like. David Murrow actually timed the parables of Jesus. The average story Jesus tells is about 38 seconds long. So in between those short stories Jesus did a lot of mentoring, coaching, discipling. It wasn't about a program. It wasn't even really about learning information. It was about a relationship with Jesus, who gave himself to his 12 men so they could do what Jesus did and give themselves to others.
Because there were so many other things on my plate, Sunday School at Grace was important, but was also relegated to the a back corner in my mind. In part that was because the vision for it wasn't coming clear. We had the right idea--Grace Adventure Club (joining the adventure of following Jesus) but the program model didn't seem to fit the title so to speak. Though done really well, it was still about program and about transferring information.
Then some things began to click. The first was a few weeks ago when I was passionately trying to recruit people to help out with the Grace Adventure Club (GAC). We've always struggled with getting teachers, particularly men. So during my impassioned appeal I talked of how important relationships are in the lives of kids. It's not really about the space but about the relationship with an adult.
Not long after that David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church, was in town and stayed at our house for a couple of days. We had some really intense, spirited, and helpful discussions about reaching men. We talked about how men learn. About how Jesus discipled his 12 men. It was a big kick in the pants for me. Early on in our history he challenged me to be more intentional about reaching this endangered species but I'd gotten distracted. Not only did he give me some great ideas for discipling men, but it triggered a deeper think about how we disciple our kids.
Around that time I met with our GAC leaders and Mike reminded me of how its about relationships, not the room or the program. After that meeting it all fell into place. What had been churning in the back of my brain finally came to the forefront.
Jesus didn't simply impart information. Jesus formed his followers. He did so through activity, through conversation, through hanging out with them, through modeling what a relationship with God looks like. David Murrow actually timed the parables of Jesus. The average story Jesus tells is about 38 seconds long. So in between those short stories Jesus did a lot of mentoring, coaching, discipling. It wasn't about a program. It wasn't even really about learning information. It was about a relationship with Jesus, who gave himself to his 12 men so they could do what Jesus did and give themselves to others.
Rethinking Sunday School--Part 1
One of the great things about starting a new church is that you can start a new church! You can do things a new way. You also have the chance, before things become too ingrained, to experiment, reflect, and experiment some more.
One of the challenging things about starting a new church is that there are so many areas where you have the chance to do something new and you can't get to them all at once. On top of that, you bring into the new certain ways of doing things from the past that may or may not be helpful and when you're over-stressed, it's easy to revert back to prior conditioning.
In starting Grace we have been trying to move from a program-driven model to a missional community model--one built around groups and groups doing mission. Over all, I'm pleased with where we are in this process and look forward to taking things to the next level as we begin to implement some intentional discipleship groups.
Sunday School, however, has been an interesting challenge. On the one hand, most parents want a great program for their kids. After all, this is what most of us who were raised in the church experienced--a one hour program. And this is what many of the great churches in the area are doing--huge, dynamic, highly energized programs from first class worship bands to video games to Sesame Street type productions. And these churches are doing them well! And let's face it, if the kids want to go to Sunday school on Sunday, then parents will attend any church that creates that kind of excitement for their kids.
So, on the one hand, in starting a new church you want to provide a good, quality Sunday School program to reach kids and their parents.
On the other hand, there's the problem of statistics. Statistics tell us again and again that children who attend Sunday School, no matter how great the program, but who never attend worship with adults, will more likely not attend worship as adults. Children who never attend Sunday School but do worship with their parents will more likely attend worship as adults.
In our setting we had the additional challenge of inadequate space. We have a closet for nursery and two locker rooms for Sunday School. While I'm convinced that in the end its relationships, not space, that transform the lives of our kids (I'll come back to that later), young parents aren't all that crazy about putting their precious little ones in a closet or locker room!
So, we made the decision from the beginning that our kids would worship with their parents. We want the kids to see themselves as a part of the larger family of faith and to get used to worshipping in "big people" church. We also decided that we would dismiss the kids during the message for an experience more geared to them.
That, of course, creates its own problems. Some parents want don't want their kids in worship and they have left to join churches that offer Sunday School during worship. I get that. The other challenge is that you get about 15-20 minutes with the kids vs. 60 minutes. What can you accomplish in that time? What do you do with that time? (Of course, what do you do for 60 minutes to hold the attention of kids!)
We've tried a few different really good ideas. To reflect those good ideas we changed the name from Sunday School to the Grace Adventure Club. The last thing kids want to do is go to school on Sunday! We wanted to focus on the adventure of following Jesus and tried to do so through stories, art, activities, and so on.
And while what we were doing was good, in a small corner of my brain I sensed something wasn't quite right. It had nothing to do with the quality of our Grace Adventure Club, the teachers or the program. Just a sense that we weren't really doing what we wanted to do. Part of the problem was not being sure of what we wanted to do.
It took 4 years, but over the last few weeks some things have happened that have started to tease out the dis-ease in my brain. Much of it had to do with continuing to do a program/informational model vs a truly discipling/formation model.
One of the challenging things about starting a new church is that there are so many areas where you have the chance to do something new and you can't get to them all at once. On top of that, you bring into the new certain ways of doing things from the past that may or may not be helpful and when you're over-stressed, it's easy to revert back to prior conditioning.
In starting Grace we have been trying to move from a program-driven model to a missional community model--one built around groups and groups doing mission. Over all, I'm pleased with where we are in this process and look forward to taking things to the next level as we begin to implement some intentional discipleship groups.
Sunday School, however, has been an interesting challenge. On the one hand, most parents want a great program for their kids. After all, this is what most of us who were raised in the church experienced--a one hour program. And this is what many of the great churches in the area are doing--huge, dynamic, highly energized programs from first class worship bands to video games to Sesame Street type productions. And these churches are doing them well! And let's face it, if the kids want to go to Sunday school on Sunday, then parents will attend any church that creates that kind of excitement for their kids.
So, on the one hand, in starting a new church you want to provide a good, quality Sunday School program to reach kids and their parents.
On the other hand, there's the problem of statistics. Statistics tell us again and again that children who attend Sunday School, no matter how great the program, but who never attend worship with adults, will more likely not attend worship as adults. Children who never attend Sunday School but do worship with their parents will more likely attend worship as adults.
In our setting we had the additional challenge of inadequate space. We have a closet for nursery and two locker rooms for Sunday School. While I'm convinced that in the end its relationships, not space, that transform the lives of our kids (I'll come back to that later), young parents aren't all that crazy about putting their precious little ones in a closet or locker room!
So, we made the decision from the beginning that our kids would worship with their parents. We want the kids to see themselves as a part of the larger family of faith and to get used to worshipping in "big people" church. We also decided that we would dismiss the kids during the message for an experience more geared to them.
That, of course, creates its own problems. Some parents want don't want their kids in worship and they have left to join churches that offer Sunday School during worship. I get that. The other challenge is that you get about 15-20 minutes with the kids vs. 60 minutes. What can you accomplish in that time? What do you do with that time? (Of course, what do you do for 60 minutes to hold the attention of kids!)
We've tried a few different really good ideas. To reflect those good ideas we changed the name from Sunday School to the Grace Adventure Club. The last thing kids want to do is go to school on Sunday! We wanted to focus on the adventure of following Jesus and tried to do so through stories, art, activities, and so on.
And while what we were doing was good, in a small corner of my brain I sensed something wasn't quite right. It had nothing to do with the quality of our Grace Adventure Club, the teachers or the program. Just a sense that we weren't really doing what we wanted to do. Part of the problem was not being sure of what we wanted to do.
It took 4 years, but over the last few weeks some things have happened that have started to tease out the dis-ease in my brain. Much of it had to do with continuing to do a program/informational model vs a truly discipling/formation model.
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