Good Citizens

This past Sunday in Kids Church (1st-6th grade), we continued our Kids at Work series.  We continued our discussion of the jobs kids do, and how God wants to use them.

In this third week of our series, we learned that one of their jobs is to be a good citizen of their community and world.  The kids learned that they can change the world by changing themselves.  We explained that God wants us to live an unselfish life and that it is our job to share the love of Jesus with everyone we encounter.

We talked about the people that Jesus spent his time with and how we can affect the lives of the people we spend our time with.

In our small groups, we discussed the following questions:

• What have you done to make a difference in the world?  We talked about ways that the kids have touched the world around them.  Most kids have participated in some form of charitable giving, food drives, or service projects.  The kids shared the experiences that they and their families have had.

• What if everyone tried to make a difference?  We talked about loving others more than we love ourselves.  We imagined what would happen to the problems and suffering of the world if everyone cared more for others' needs than their own.

• How can you make a difference this week?  We explained to the kids that they are never too young to make a difference.  We discussed ways that they could share Christ's love with others this week and encouraged them to pray for others this week and to ask God to show them how they can make a difference.

Our verse for this week is John 13:35 - "If you love each other, everyone will know you are my disciples."

Kids at Work

We're starting a new series in the Kids Church (1st-6th grade), but before I tell you about it, I want tell you about Easter.

I hope that your kids had a chance to experience Easter at Horizons this past Sunday.  In both services, we had shared the awesome message of Jesus with the kids.  We showed a couple clips from the cartoon version of Christ's crucifixion, and even in animated form, it was clearly powerful to the kids.  It was so awesome to be able to share the emotional roller-coaster of Jesus' death and resurrection.  Many kids raised their hands to ask Jesus into their hearts, and I feel pretty confident that it was very meaningful for everyone.

We also served communion in the Kids Church services, and it was a great teaching opportunity for the group.  Even though most of the kids are familiar with the practice, it's not always explained in the adult service in a way that they understand.  We had a great time of discussing what it meant and answering the kids questions.

I could go on and on about the Easter service, but I'll just summarize by saying that in the 15 years I have been preaching to kids, it was one of the most special and meaningful services I have ever been a part of.  It is just awesome when you can see Jesus working in the hearts and minds of kids!

So, on to what's next.  Starting this Sunday, our Kids Church series will be Kids at Work.

As a parent, I find myself telling my kids often that certain things are their jobs.  Homework, chores, practices, and other things are all part of the work that kids do each day.  What we are going to teach the kids is that they have many roles or jobs that they do each day, and God wants to use them to change the world through the work that they do.

We are going to talk about kids' jobs as Role Models, Students, Friends, Citizens/Neighbors, and Family Members.  We want the kids to learn that jobs they have are important and special, and that they can show Jesus to the world in everything that they do.

I am looking forward to the coming weeks, and I thank you for giving us the opportunity to minister to your kids and family.

Pastor Jim

Picture Day

Over the past few weeks, the Kids Church (1st-6th grade) has been doing a message series called Picture Day.

The main idea is that when God created everything, he had a picture in his mind of what everything would be like.  So far, the kids have learned that sin messed up that picture and that we only have a small idea of what that picture even looks like.

This week, we are going to learn that what Jesus did on the cross restores the picture that God has for our lives.  We are going to talk about what Jesus did, why he did it, and how we can apply it to our lives.

For this Sunday, April 4, we will be doing Kids Church a little different.  While the 9am service will be pretty normal, the 11am service will be a very new experience.  The kids will be in the Kids Church for the entire 11am service.  We will have a live band leading worship, and we'll be teaching about and providing communion.

To accommodate this change, we have expanded our walls, so we'll have lots of space for extra games and fun.

It is going to be a very exciting service and we look forward to this special opportunity to share the awesome story of God's love with the kids of Horizons.