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Vermont
Conference, UCC
Christian Education (CE)
E-LINK
March, 2010
Vol. 2, No. 2
For Pastors -
Christian Educators - Teachers - Superintendents -
Youth
Leaders - Parents -
All Who Care About Our Kids and Our
Youth and Our Adults
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Greetings!
If worship is the heartbeat of a congregation, then
Christian Education is the church's soul - and together
worship and education cause hands and feet and voices to reach
out and help build God's Kingdom here on
earth.
So this newsletter is about SOUL
WORK. It includes ideas, resources, articles, stories,
information, inspiration and opportunities. We invite
your suggestions, your ideas, your stories, resources you've
found helpful.
~~~~~
 Dear
Partners In Education: Are the children in
your congregation welcome at the Communion Table? How
was that decision made? Was it a difficult
decision? What kind of preparation does your church
provide for kids and families?
Someone from a church that
doesn't welcome children
Please send your ideas
and suggestions c/o lucasp@vtcucc.org and we'll share
them next month. Answers to last month's concern are
found below.
Pam
Rev.
Pam LucasAssociate
Conference Minister
~~~~~ |
Last
month's question/concern and
answers:
Dear
Partners In Education: HELP!!! Every year,
Church School seems to begin with excitement and
enthusiasm. But now that it's after Christmas and it's
Ski and Hockey season, church school attendance seems to lose
its get up and go! Attendance becomes sporadic. I never
know how many children will show up. There's no
continuity. PLEASE???? What creative things have you tried so
that life, energy, learning and fun keeps at least some kids
coming to Church School during this "down" time.
One very discouraged Church School
Superintendent
~~~~~
Dear
One very discouraged Church School Superintendent:
A great way to get the older members of the congregation
connected to the
younger ones, is to use "Faith Talks". This is a
conversation group activity that we do here at First
Congregation Church of Essex Junction on Communion Sundays and
can be used any time. The kids sit in age groups with
adult 'spiritual friends' and get to know each other by
answering questions like - "If Jesus came to your house for
supper, what would you have?" Kids and adults can pass
if they choose not to answer - there is no pressure, just fun
in getting to know each other. We have a good group here
at First that look forward to Faith Talk Sundays, kids and
adults. No preparation needed. You can find Faith
Talks at www.youthandfamilyinstitute.org. Enjoy
the kids you have coming and let them feel and see the love of
God in those around them.
Laurie from First Congregational
Church of Essex Junction
~~~~~
Dear
Very Discouraged:
I work with the Youth in my church and your plea
is similar to my own as I try to compete with winter sports
and jobs and teens struggling with peer pressure and making
different choices than they might have at the beginning of the
school year.
So to pique interest and maintain relationships, we go "out to
breakfast" once a month and meet at a cafe or restaurant for
the Sunday School hour. (If there is a money-challenge,
I make arrangements ahead of time to cover the breakfast
tab. )
We offered more service outings which the kids really seem to
like and can take place at a time other that Sunday
morning. We try to schedule a 30-Hour Famine for World
Vision, "Bowl-for-Kids'-Sake" for the Big Brother/Big Sister
organization, serve at the Capital City Rescue Mission in
Albany, NY (Homeless shelter-85 dinners served daily) and make
dinner/serve at the Rutland Dismas House. When we've met
at the church for Youth Group, they've loved cooking together
the most. So, in March we'll offer a Church/Community
wide Spaghetti Supper/Silent Dessert Auction/Talent
Show. It was a hoot last year and we're really looking
forward to it again this year.
I've made up a game "Holy Jeopardy" which the kids LOVE (me
too!)
Tammy
from First Congregational Church of Manchester
~~~~~
Dear
One:
One idea is to team up with your pastor and think about
offering Saturday Sabbath Services at - say - 5pm - beginning
in January and continuing into March when some of these
scheduling challenges die down. It's an opportunity to
plan creative, contemporary family worship with upbeat music
and a lot of sharing around the sacred stories of faith.
Invite families to come as they are - off the mountain,
hanging out at home or coming from work. Relationship
remains so that all are still in the habit of "coming to
church" when the season is over. (overhead from the Waitsfield
United Church of Christ newsletter)
Another idea is to "join em". One pastor and her husband
attend some of the games and competitions, write notes to
congratulate kids on achievements, keep the congregation in
the loop about where the families are - so that there's no
"shame" in coming back to worship when the season is
over. Relationship remains! (overheard in a Shaw's Supermarket
aisle) | |
Children and Death
(From an article in Connections from the
CE Staff of the Massachusetts Conference, United Church
of Christ)
The Lenten and Easter stories will
prompt teachers to ask, "How can I talk about death with
children?" Many adults choose to avoid this subject,
because it is difficult. However, death is a very key
aspect of the Biblical story and to not talk about it,
will deny our children of this aspect of learning. In
addition to hearing about the death of Jesus, the
children will then be able to begin to discover some of
the joy and hope that comes from the story of the
resurrection. The complete story will help children full
appreciate the events.
Crucifixion was such a
cruel execution that it was reserved for the worst
offenders, runaway slaves, revolutionaries, murderers
and thieves. Naked, the person was fully exposed and
vulnerable, with hands and feet fastened to the cross.
Crucifixion is an ugly picture, but it is what Jesus
Christ endured. As adults, we should be aware of the
suffering, the humiliation and the abandonment that
Jesus felt. How we convey this to children will depend
upon their age.
For very young children, often it
is enough to read the stories of Holy Week from a
children's bible. In showing the pictures, children will
begin to see how Jesus was placed upon a cross. You can
talk about how painful this must have been. Explain that
this was a cruel type of punishment.
Older
children will have more questions. Don't feel that you
need to know all of the answers. Listen carefully to
their questions, try to help them discover ways to
answer these questions. If you don't feel comfortable
answering a question, it is better to say, let's think
about this and see what we can learn throughout the
week. Then you have some time to do research, talk with
your pastor and others. Don't forget to respond to the
question the following week, and to also ask the child
what they might have discovered.
Helpful
resources for teaching about death can be found at www.hospicenet.org. The website for
Hospice, this website offers information for parents and
teachers to understand how children at various ages and
stages think about death, and how we can begin to talk
with them about death and dying.
The Vermont
Conference Resource Center has samples of helpful
books. See the article below for more
information. |
Vermont Conference Resource
Center
Children
& Death Resources
The
Resource Center has a variety of materials to assist
Christian educators and parents in discussing death with
children.
These include:
Water Bugs and Dragonflies:
Explaining Death to Young Children by Doris
Stickney (2004) - How can we answer the many
questions young children have about death? When Stickney
and her minister husband were looking for a meaningful
way to explain the death of a five-year-old friend to
neighborhood children, she adapted the graceful fable
about the water bug that changed into a
dragonfly. Also
available from Pilgrim Press, along with a companion
coloring book.
Bridge to Terabithia by
Katherine Paterson. Book (1977) and DVD
(2007) - an excellent novel for boys and girls ages nine
to twelve because it deals with real life situations and
problems that many children in that age group find
difficult to cope with. Throughout the story
Paterson weaves various conflicts that the characters
must address and overcome. This is culminated by
the death of one of the main characters and the reader
is presented the problem and at the same time gets the
opportunity to see even how something as devastating as
death can be overcome.
Part of Me Died Too: Stories
of Creative Survival Among Bereaved Children and
Teenagers by Virginia Lynn Fry (1995) - A
hospice artist and counselor uses examples from her work
with children, ages 18 months and up, to teach about the
healing process. Through 11 true accounts, readers see
how young people face the deaths of pets, parents,
grandparents, siblings, and friends caused by long-term
illness as well as by accident, murder, and
suicide. Ages 10-up.
For a complete list of
resources, click here.
To
borrow resources, email: resource.center@vtcucc.org or call
802-728-4999.
Sybil McShane, Communications
& Resource Coordinator
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Web-Based Bible Study
 From
Luther Seminary
If you want to grow in your faith, add depth to
your Bible study or truly discover the people, places
and events in the Bible? This resource is for you. You
may have studied the Bible for years. Or you may be a
new reader. Either way you'll find information that will
deepen your understanding of the Bible.
This resource is:
- Designed to help you to understand
more about the Bible and how it relates to your faith
and life.
- Written by Luther Seminary faculty.
- Contains information and context for
your group study or personal
devotions.
Go to: http://www.enterthebible.org to create
your free account.
For more Bible study
suggestions, click here for the UCC Bible Studies web
page.
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A
Chair for Everyone?
A Simple
Simuation Activity
As our churches plan
for the One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) offering this
Lenten Season, as many of our churches are putting
together varieties of KITS for Church World Service, as
many of us pray and give what we can for relief and
recovery in Haiti and now Chile, we might ask how we can
help our children understand the uneven distribution of
the world's resources.
This simple
simulation activity has been adapted from a version on
the Church World Service website.
Set
up one chair for ten persons as well as two extra chairs
in two rows, back to back facing in two directions, and
some kind of music as you would for musical
chairs. Invite each person to sit in a chair. They
represent the population of the earth, and the chairs
the world's resources. Play the music and then stop.
Everyone should find a chair--with two empty seats, more
than enough! Explain once again, the world has enough
resources for everyone.
Remove two chairs and ask
for two volunteers to sit on the floor. These empty
chairs represent wasted resources. The two on the floor
represent the world's poorest, one fifth of the total
population.
Now ask six to share three and a half
chairs. These people represent the world's middle class,
with enough to get by.
Ask two people to spread
out over six and a half chairs. They represent the
richest part of the human family. They have more than
enough because they earn 65% of the world's
income.
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Children and
Stewardship
Ideas
In many of our
churches, children and youth are not in worship during
the time of the offering, so it is imperative that we
incorporate an offering time into our
classes.
Some curricula offer suggestions for
rituals that invite the children to worship, center
themselves and present their offering.
Some
churches actually provide offering envelopes for
children and encourage them to join the pledging
process. This teaches at a very early age the importance
of giving to the church. Also when children are included
in the pledge campaign, it says they are valued as part
of the congregation. In addition to pledging money, we
should help children learn that they can also pledge
their talents and time. Some will do this by joining
choirs, youth groups or a mission trip - even if it's to
the park to pick up litter or help serve a meal at a
homeless shelter. Others may choose to serve as
acolytes, liturgists, ushers or offer special music or
help with the church fair or suppers.
One easy
way to allow children of all ages to begin to value
their gifts to the church, is to encourage them to
redeem bottles and cans and then present the money as
their gift to the church. This shows them that even the
youngest child can contribute without asking parents to
be the source of the money. Also, the redemption of
bottles and cans can teach about recycling and
conserving resources.
We can also help our
children understand that our offering is brought to God
as a thanksgiving for all that God has given us.
To stop for a moment and help children name all the
things we want to say "thank you, God" - and then to
physically come forward to place their offerings on the
altar helps to make this kind of giving different from
giving money to a check-out clerk or paying a
bill.
(As a
matter of fact, perhaps that would work in a "grown-up"
liturgy as well!)
And we can
help our children understand that these offerings help
the work of God to be done through their local Church
and the United Church of Christ. Each week
share about some way your congregation is reaching out
to make a difference in the world. Show pictures,
ask someone to visit and tell a story about a particular
mission, use a story from the UCC
2010 Calendar of Prayer.
Our Church's Wider
Mission (OCWM) is the work we do beyond our local church
and is also the name we give to the financial support
given by UCC members and congregations through a portion
of the local church budget that makes this broader
mission possible. YES! The local congregation is central
to the ability of the United Church of Christ to do
mission within the United States and
internationally. And as a congregation works in
its own community, it is a representative of the entire
denomination and embodies the UCC in that place. And
when a congregation determines its giving to Our
Church's Wider Mission, there is a direct impact on
levels of funding for the Vermont Conference and the
national setting of the UCC.
This newsletter is
supported in part by your church's contributions to
OCWM, Our Church's Wider Mission. To learn more about
OCWM, visit
www.ucc.org/ocwm/
and
www.vtcucc.org.
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Christian
Education Events
For Clergy . .
.
 Spring 2010 Seminars - Enroll now in one of Andover Newton's
on-line seminars to grow in your faithfulness and
effectiveness as a leader. You can do it from your own home,
on your own time. 2010 Seminars include:
~
Teaching Teachers to Teach with Mayra Castaneda - April
26 - May 21, Registration Deadline: April 26
~ The Hidden
Lives of Congregations with Israel Galindo - April 26 -
May 21, Registration Deadline: April 16
~ Becoming the
Disciple-Forming Community with Jeffrey Jones - May 31
- June 25, Registration Deadline:: May 21
~ Managing Change
and Conflict in Congregations with David Brubaker
- April 12 - May 7, Registration Deadline: April
2
For
more information and to register go to the LEARN website at www.ants.edu/learn or contact Jeff Jones,
Director of Distance Learning at jjones@ants.edu.
~~~~~
For
Christian Educators . . .
 NEAUCE
(New England Association of United Church Educators) 39th
Annual Conference on Christian Education - In the Potter's Hand: Shaping the
Generations with Ivy
Beckwith
When: May 4-6,
2010 Where: Craigville
Conference Center, Cape Cod, MA
Registration Deadline:
March 15, 2010
Click
here for more information and/or registration
form.
 Godly Play Commuter Core
Training
When: Saturday, March
13 - Session I, Sacred
Stories
Saturday, April 10, Session II,
Parables
Saturday, May 8, Session III, Liturgical Action
Where: All Saints'
Episcopal Church, 17 Clark St., Belmont, MA
Contact: Rev. Cheryl V.
Minor, 617-484-2228 x12, Revcminor@aol.com
Click
here for more information.
Click
here for registration
form.
~~~~~
For Youth . .
.
When: June 24-27,
2010
Where: Boston University,
Boston, MA
New England
Regional Youth Event 2010 registration has begun.
Hopefully you received a copy of the brochure at your
church. If not, fear not, you can find all of the
information you need to register at the link below or pick up
more at the Conference Office. Following the link you
will also find out about workshops, mission work, and worship
schedules for the event - http://www.macucc.org/youth/NewEnglandRegionalYouthEvent.htm.
As a conference
we are renting a BUS to NERYE. This is a great way for
our youth to meet each other before we even get to the
event. It will cost about $50 per person. This
will be cheaper, safer, and more environmentally responsible
than taking a bunch of cars and trying to find and pay for
parking in Boston. Our bus is through Lamoille Valley
Transit and will make stops in Burlington, Barre, Randolph,
and White River Junction, and possibly elsewhere along I-89 if
needed. This bus will take us to Boston University on
Thursday, June 24th and return us on Sunday, June 27th.
The bus is limited to 50 seats so don't delay.
To
reserve your seat on the bus and make payment or if you have
questions please contact Rev. Ryan Gackenheimer at
802-878-5745 or rgackenheimer@fccej.org.
Have
questions? Need more information? Contact Rev.
Ryan Gackenheimer at rgackenheimer@fccej.org or
802-878-5745. You can keep up to date on all the latest
happenings by joining the Facebook group: New
England Regional Youth Event 2010-Vermont. Check out
the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBw4g_VNqKU.
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. . .
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