Be Strong

This past Sunday in Kids Church (1st-6th grades), we finished our "Beefesians" series. We have been going through the Book of Ephesians, learning that God wants us to Belong, Believe, Be Patient, Behave, and Be Strong.

This is a video series, brought to us by Kidmo. We try to use video lessons a few times throughout the year to keep things fresh and to give us time to plan creative elements for our live stuff.

This week, the kids learned that God wants us to Be Strong.  We learned that living in a sinful world requires us to rely on God's strength everyday.  We talked about putting on the armor of God (Truth, Right Choices, Peace, Faith, Salvation, The Bible, & Prayer).

In our small groups, we discussed the following questions:

• What types of things do you need to survive in a desert?  We talked about being prepared for the places we go and the trips we take.
• Why would we need to put on God's armor everyday?  We discussed scenarios where we could "put on" God's armor.  We tried to list different ways that we could use each piece of armor daily.
• How will you "suit up" with God's armor this week? We tried to come up with some simple hand motions to help us remember to Be Strong.

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 6:10 - "A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power."

New Class Starting in the Nursery

I am pleased to announce that the Horizons Church Nursery has recently added a class specifically aimed at 3-year-old children.

The reasons for adding this class are:

• To give the 3-year-olds weekly Bible lessons that are more age-appropriate than what we offer in the Preschool Class.

• To allow those 3-year-olds who are not yet potty trained to participate in a classroom.  Potty training has always been a requirement for moving to the Preschool Class.

• To help balance the class sizes between the Nursery and Preschool Class.

So, how does this affect your family?

If your child has not yet moved to the Preschool Class, your 3-year-old’s experience at church each week will be changing in a big way.  The new class will offer a lesson, activities, games, and worship.  We have an extremely talented staff of volunteers who are going to be teaching your kids about Jesus every week, and we expect that your kids are going to have a fantastic time.

If your child has transitioned to the Preschool Class, you have a choice.  You can keep your child in the Preschool or move your child to our new 3-year-olds class.  Our preference is to move kids to the new class because they will have the best chance to learn in a class that is designed for their age and learning styles.  However, every child and situation is different, and we understand that you know your child best, and therefore, you know what’s best for your child and family.  We support you and whatever choice you make.

Our new class will take place in the Explorers room of the Nursery.  We will be shifting the rooms around so that the Explorers room will be exclusively for 3-year-olds and some 2-year-olds who are ready for a classroom environment.  We understand that your child may be hesitant to move back to the Nursery.  To help them be willing to try it out, we will be having a very special party in the 3-year-old class on Easter Sunday (April 4).  This would be a great chance for your child to come see what our new class is all about.

I am always available to you and your family, so if you have any questions, please feel free to call (540-288-0018) or email me (jimb@horizonschurch.com).  Thanks so much for allowing me and my team to serve your family.

Behave

This past Sunday in Kids Church (1st-6th grades), we continued our "Beefesians" series. We are going through the Book of Ephesians, and learning that God wants us to Belong, Believe, Be Patient, Behave, and Be Strong.

This is a video series, brought to us by Kidmo. We try to use video lessons a few times throughout the year to keep things fresh and to give us time to plan creative elements for our live stuff.

This week, the kids learned that God wants us to Behave.  We learned that following Jesus should make us different and should affect our behavior.  We talked about how making bad choices after we've asked Jesus into our hearts is like shoveling dirt on something that God has already cleaned.

In our small groups, we discussed the following questions:

• When was the last time you really got in trouble?  We talked about times that we got in big trouble for making bad choices, even though we knew better.
• When you choose to follow Jesus, how does that affect your behavior?  We discussed different activities and how they can reflect good or bad behavior.  We also talked about how good activities can reflect bad behavior if we do them at the wrong time (ex., reading when you should be doing homework or listening to the teacher, playing sports when you haven't done your chores yet, etc).
• How will you remember to choose wisely this week? We tried to come up with some simple hand motions to help us remember to behave, and we talked about doing what is right, even if your friends have different standards or rules.

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 5:7 - "Don't participate in the things these people do."

Be Patient

This past Sunday in Kids Church (1st-6th grades), we continued our "Beefesians" series. We are going through the Book of Ephesians, and learning that God wants us to Belong, Believe, Be Patient, Behave, and Be Strong.

This is a video series, brought to us by Kidmo. We try to use video lessons a few times throughout the year to keep things fresh and to give us time to plan creative elements for our live stuff.

This week, the kids learned that God wants us to Be Patient . We learned that because God made us all different, sometimes people will bug us.  We talked about how we can show love by being patient with those who annoy us.

In our small groups, we discussed the following questions:

• What really bugs you?  We talked about the things that other people do that make us nuts.
• When other people bug us, why should we be patient with them?  We discussed why loving someone makes a difference in how we treat them.  We talked about ways we can respond to annoyances with love.
• How will you act differently this week?  We talked about what we could do to react differently to people who bother us this week.  We committed to pausing to pray for people that bother us before we react to them.

Our verse for this week is Ephesians 4:2 - "Be humble and gentle.  Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love."