Huddle Up!
A few good reasons to meet with leadership monthly
by Debbie Streicher
Volunteers and staff need to have meetings on their calendar from the beginning of the year. Then it is up to the leadership to make meetings a priority and not “just another meeting”.
Of course, most people will say they don’t want to go to another meeting. But the truth is they need one for their own good and for the good of the team. And this is where, as a leader, one must draw the line between a want and a need.
A need is doing what is necessary. Conversely, when our boys were little, I can remember them not wanting to go to bed. The fact is, however, they needed to get sleep: for their own health and for the good of our family relationships. In the same manner, people will say they don’t want another meeting. The truth is they need one for their own good and for the good of the team.
Faith Inkubators calls these valuable monthly meetings Huddles. Read on to find out why it is we believe these meetings are so important…
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When Youth Camp Meets Youth and Family Ministry
News from Head to the Heart Confirmation
by Monty Lysne
I’ve been knee-deep in Jr. High ministry for over twenty years, but learned the most about ministry at youth camp. Life and faith seemed so easy there. Good friends and a Biblical message came alive with service, fellowship, and music, and provided me with a marvelous blueprint for just how effective adolescent ministry could be.
After camp, I spent six years at a large suburban church in the Twin Cities, trying my best to recreate the camp “feel/fun/faith” mix effectively in a junior high confirmation ministry setting. This is where our Head to the Heart system and curriculum were born. A dozen years ago, I was called by Rich Melheim to serve on the ground floor of Faith Inkubators. My special call: cultivating and refining what I had learned at camp and practiced in the congregation, and tailor-making it into effective systems for churches across the globe.
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Encouraging Parents To Get Involved With Their Children
With Arts and Hands and Voices
by Debbie Streicher
The word education comes from the Latin word educo meaning to draw out. Faith Inkubators Bible Song curricula is designed to draw out thoughts and an understanding of scripture from children, youth, and adults through art, signing a verse from the Bible with hands, and using voices to sing scripture verbatim to praise God. This is a different way of thinking.
Some anticipate small group time to mean the time when an already prepared craft is brought out and everyone makes the same craft to take home or display on the wall. As a Sunday school teacher when I first volunteered, I felt I needed to know all the Bible verses and prepare a lesson before I got to church. I felt ill-equipped but knew I wanted to help somehow. Many times I was looking at the lesson and preparing it on the way in the car!
If there is time and energy to find volunteers who will spend the time to prepare a lesson and gather supplies for a craft each week, that’s one thing. On staff in a congregation, I never found it easy to do. If you’re seeking to bring more volunteers on board, get parents involved and encourage them to learn with their children, that’s another. Read on…
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Connect Even after the Confirmation Year is Complete
Head to the Heart Guide Tips
by Monty Lysne
We at Faith Inkubators are big proponents of the “consistency” model in small groups. Simply put, we’ve discovered over the years that small groups with the same small group Guide make more progress and bond more completely than groups who have Guides rotating in and out. If your program has taken this to heart and you are a Guide who will be staying with your group into next year, consider throwing your kids a curve and meet with them during the summer.
I firmly believe that any relational ministry that takes place outside the confines of the church year is extremely valuable. Ten minutes of contact outside of church is worth an hour of confirmation class. An hour is got to be worth a week. Add this equation to dog days of summer, and you’ll have a great opportunity to make an impact with kids who are probably ready for something new.
Get together for ice cream. Have a picnic. Go to a ballgame. Have a water fight. Bake some cookies. Volunteer at a shelter. Have a BBQ for the church staff. Help at a nursing home. Go to a movie and have a discussion afterwards. Whatever. Just find an excuse to gather everyone together, even if it’s just once during the summer.
If your schedule is tight, take some time to simply give each one of your kids a call. You don’t have to say anything profound, just tell them that you’re thinking about them and are excited to get back together in September. If calls won’t work, shoot them an email, or write a letter or postcard to each of your kids. What would it have meant to you if someone would have done that for you when you were in Jr. High?
Any time that you can take during the confirmation “off season” will really enhance the bonding you’ll have next fall. If you are a Guide who will be starting a new group in September, summer is the time to lay some groundwork and meet your kids and families.
The point of all of this is to challenge you to let your group know that they are still important and aren’t any less a small group just because school is out. The return on this investment will be a good one.
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Important Notice Regarding This FINKmonthly Newsletter:
New Digest E-mail Newsletter Starting in Three Months
http://www.faithink.com/freebies/newsletter.asp
In three months we will be moving to a new monthly e-mail newsletter format. We will stop publishing this FINKmonthly newsletter when the new one starts.
You can sign up for the new newsletter by clicking here.
The new newsletter will be a digest of news from all Faith Inkubators sources including the Faith Inkubators website, Monty Lysne’s blog, Debbie Streicher’s blog, audio interviews, podcasts and more.
You will still receive the same content as this newsletter. Only the look and feel of the newsletter will change. Tips, how-to articles, commentaries, audio interviews and more will continue to be sent to your in-box at least once-a-month.
To sign up for the new newsletter digest, please click here.
Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in the Faith Inkubators ministry.
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