Starting the Year with Family Ministry

For families of school-age children/students, the start of school is similar to celebrating the New Year. Heading back to school means developing new routines for your family. While you’re developing your family’s routine for the next 10 months, we’d like to help you develop some routines that will help your family have the best experience possible in our family ministry at Watermarke Church.

1. Consistency: Whether you are the parent of a one-year-old or a sophomore in high school, consistency will make a HUGE difference in your child’s church experience. Our family ministry is built on the principle that life change happens in the context of relationships--relationships between leader and child/student, as well as relationships between peers. When a child/student consistently attends their environment, they have a greater opportunity to develop relationships with their leaders. For Waumba Land and UpStreet-aged children, it is also important to attend the same hour each week so that your child will spend time with the same leader. We believe that one thing every child/student needs is another voice in their lives saying the same things that the parents are saying. Consistent attendance helps small group leaders develop that kind of relationship with their small group

2. Activities: For UpStreet, Xtreme, and Inside Out, we have designed activities that give students additional time to spend with their small group leaders outside of Sunday morning. Nothing develops relationships faster than having fun together. In UpStreet we have KidVenture twice a year. Our next KidVenture will be at Woodstock AMF lanes on August 23rd from 10:00 to 11:30 am. You can purchase tickets beginning this week in UpStreet. For Xtreme and Inside Out, Vertical Reality offers students the chance to spend a weekend with their small group leader and be spiritually challenged. Inside Out will attend Vertical Reality October 3rd to 5th, and Xtreme will attend October 10th to 12th. Registration details will be available shortly.

3. Resources: We firmly believe that what happens at home is more important than what happens on Sundays because parents have exponentially more time with their children/students than we have. That’s why we want to resource you so that you can lead your children/students spiritually. In Waumba Land, we send home “Small Talk” cards each week with the memory verse, the bottom line, and a learning activity so that you can continue the learning begun on Sunday morning throughout the week. In UpStreet, the “Refrigerator Door” cards provide parents with the monthly virtue, monthly memory verse, weekly bottom line, and conversation starters. Because we want children to begin to set aside special time to spend with God each day, we also send home “God Time” cards. As motivation to help children begin this habit early, we give each child who returns to UpStreet with a completed “God Time” card an airhead. In middle/high school, it becomes more difficult to send flyers home to parents, so we will use this blog to let parents of students know what we are discussing in Xtreme and Inside Out. Please come back here regularly for updates.

As a family ministry staff, we are excited about what is in store for us this school year. This year, we want to “Live out Loud!”--to show Christ’s love in our actions to one another, to the children/students in our care, to your families, and to the community. We truly hope that these tips will help your families experience an amazing year in the family ministry of Watermarke Church. ~ The Family Ministry Staff