Every week, we have four ministry days with the kids. Youth group meets three nights a week after school (7:30-9 p.m.) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Then, every Sunday morning, we have ministry with all ages!
This keeps us pretty busy, and during the kids' summer break (after Christmas - early March), we can pack more into the schedule.
Youth Group
This is our biggest focus right now. It's kids in 6th grade and up. This group is really about support. We celebrate together, whether it's someone doing well at a school presentation or their birthday. Having three meetings a week gives us plenty of time with the kids.
Once a week we have English lessons. We sneak in other little English things, like card games or video games that are only in English. It's a great way to get in vocabulary words without it feeling like it's studying.
During the week, we have the kids help cook dinner. It's been really fun for the boys to learn to cook since their moms or sisters usually do it. The boys really love cooking now! At least in youth group 😂
We play games (our current obsession in the group is the game Exploding Kittens), watch shows, and play volleyball. Basically, we have a lot of fun.
Sunday Mornings
Every Sunday, we have group with all ages. We break into two groups: preschoolers and older kids. During these two hours, we usually watch a Superbook, a series in which two kids go back in time and witness Biblical events and then have a different activity.
This time is a lot of fun. Sometimes, we hold competitions—we've been doing Wii Sonic and Mario Olympics the past couple of weeks. Other times, we will do dance battles, volleyball matches, etc. The team that visited us at the beginning of the month brought down medals. The picture below is of the kids who won events.
We will do trivia questions once a month about the Superbooks or lessons we've been learning. The kids LOVE Superbooks, even our older kids. They take trivia day very seriously. We also have super fun goodie bags of candy for the winning team.
All in all, each week of ministry is embraced as a new opportunity for supporting, encouraging, and having fun with the kids. Our primary desire is that our ministry can be a safe haven for them to build a community of like-minded peers 💛
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