The other day when one of our small group leaders asked a group of second grade boys if anyone had made them a promise before, their response was a number of stories where people in their lives had made promises that they ended up breaking. In a world of broken promises and unfaithfulness it is sometimes hard to believe that God is faithful to His promises. He always does what He says He will do. This past Sunday we talked about how God always keeps His promises perfectly. Before we even begin talking about all the different promises God has made, we want your kids to hear and believe that God will keep each promise we talk about in the weeks to come. He will fulfill His promises in His perfect timing. Our God is generous and faithful, but He is also wise. He knows what is best and does everything in the right way and in the right time. God’s children respond to His faithfulness by patient waiting and persevering in hope. May we demonstrate that as we lead our children.

To help you as you teach and minister to your kids this week, check out the Family Resources  provided to help talk to your kids about this sweet truth and how it affects your daily life.

I was having a cup of coffee with a dad months ago when we started talking about his son’s school.  It came out that his son has a daily section of homework where he has to read a book of his choosing for an allotted amount of time. This dad has begun encouraging his son to read the Bible during that time. This is a brilliant idea. Over the next two blog posts I am going to list out some academic advantages and then some spiritual advantages.

Here are a few educational advantages of leveraging required reading in this way:

• Reading the Bible can line up with their reading level or even stretch their reading ability. There are a hundred different types of English Bibles. If your child is young or a poor reader, let him read something like The Jesus Storybook Bible. And if your child is a great reader, or if you are trying to raise your child’s reading level, you could have your child read the NIV or even the ESV. They will come across commonly used words in English that they will never find in Hank the Cowdog, Sideways Stories from Wayside School or James and the Giant Peach.
• It will expose your child to different genres of literature. The Bible is filled with different types of literature and literary devices. It contains historical narratives, allegories, poems, wisdom literature, and what amounts to ancient accounting. Your child will come across symbolism, parables, synecdoche, allegory, irony, paradox and a host of others.
• It will make your child more socially literate. American culture is still filled with Christian references and images. Literature, television, news articles, music and even sports commentary are filled with references to the cross, Balaam’s Donkey, the Fall, the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, the golden calf and a hundred other biblical references.
• It will give your child a helpful foundation when he begins reading advanced works of literature in middle school and high school. Not only are references to the Bible rampant in modern vernacular, but western literature is full of references to the Scriptures. Works ranging from Beowulf to the writings of Shakespeare that were heavenly influenced by Christian history and the Bible. When the majority of the great works of western literature were written, the Bible was the literature that was primarily accessible. Therefore western literature alludes to the Bible constantly.

This father decided to leverage the environment he and his family are in. He made Scripture a priority in his home and encouraged his son to read the Scriptures. I encourage you to do the same. It can help their education. And in the next post we’ll talk about how it can help their souls.

The new fall semester has started. Everyone is in their new small group and looking good. In Kids’ Village we just started our new curriculum. For the next few months we will be discussing the promises of God. Specifically we will look at the promises He has made to His children. Yesterday we defined a promise as when someone says something that is or will be absolutely true. And we talked about how God’s promises are like gifts. They are not earned or deserved. This is foundational as we begin talking about the different promises of God. His promises cannot be earned, and they are not deserved. They are not like the allowance you get after taking out the trash or the good grades you earn for studying well. They are like gifts you get on your birthday or Christmas. They are given not because of what you have done, but because the Giver is good and generous.

To help you as you teach and minister to your kids this week, check out the Family Resources provided to help talk to your kids about this sweet truth and how it affects your daily life.

This Sunday marks the beginning of a new year of ministry in Kids’ Village. With children promoting to the next grade and the school year about to take way, we are beginning a new curriculum as well. Throughout the fall semester we will be studying the promises of God. 

Knowing and trusting God’s promises, which 2 Peter describes as very great and precious, is foundational to our ability to walk and persevere in faith. Below you will see an overview of what your children will be learning in Kids’ Village during the next few months. Look for and take advantage of opportunities to remind your children of these promises, hold fast to them, and trust a God who is faithful to all He has promised. 

Aug. 22: Introduction to promises. God’s promises are like gifts; they are not earned or deserved
Aug. 29: God always keeps His promises perfectly
Sept. 5: God promises salvation to all who trust in Jesus
Sept. 12: God promises to always do good to His children
Sept. 19: God promises to provide all that His children need
Sept. 26: God promises that His children are never alone
Oct. 3: God promises to give wisdom to those who ask for it
Oct. 10: God promises to hear and respond to the prayers of His children
Oct. 17: God promises to make His children look more like Jesus
Oct. 24: God promises to discipline His children because He loves them
Oct. 31: God promises that His children will suffer, and He will sustain them
Nov. 7: God promises to protect the faith of His children
Nov. 14: God promises to give His children the Holy Spirit
Nov. 21: God promises eternal life to those who love and trust Jesus
Nov. 28: God promised to save His children from sin by sending the Messiah
Dec. 5: God kept His promise of a Messiah by sending Jesus (Birth of Jesus)
Dec. 12: God promises that the least will be greatest (Shepherds and Angels)
Dec. 19: God promises that all nations will worship Jesus (Magi)
Dec. 26: God promises that Jesus will return

Gospel lenses give you the ability to see and point to the gospel in all things. Jesus had them and pointed to the gospel in random things like seeds and plants. Yesterday in Kids’ Village, we talked about the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) and saw that God’s children hear, understand and share the message of God.  Check here to read a summary of the parable.

To help you as you teach and minister to your kids this week, check out the Family Resources provided to help talk to your kids about this sweet truth and how it affects your daily life. Also, look through the “Family Summer Activity Booklet” for ideas of how to engage your kids with the gospel this summer.

Greetings Parents!

The Kids Village staff was kind enough to let me opine for a brief minute about the Middle School Ministry. So, let me briefly introduce myself then share a few thoughts about what your soon to be sixth grader will be experiencing in our ministry.

I hail from Wichita Falls, TX and moved down to the Metroplex in 2003 to attend seminary at Southwestern in Fort Worth. I quickly met Blake Chilton and began working for him at a church in Plano. After two years serving in that Middle School Ministry, Blake invited me to join him at The Village Church serving as his intern in the Student Ministry. And 5 years later, here I am working with the middle school kiddos, loving every second of it. Lord willing I’ll be here for another 30 years.

Enough about me, lets talk Middle School. Promotion weekend is just around the corner and many of you are preparing your kids for the adventure that is Middle School. I can’t tell you how excited I am about our next group of Villagites as each year the classes get bigger and bigger.

We’re expecting over a hundred of them to experience Crash for the first time Aug. 22 at 9 a.m. Crash is our Middle School Bible study with worship, teaching, and games designed with sixth, seventh and eighth graders in mind. Take a few minutes to explore our section of the website. You’ll find answers to many of your questions there along with our middle school blog and parent resources.

Along those lines may I recommend a few books that if you read only one or two about this life stage, these are well worth your time.

Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp.
This book will change your perspective of the teenage years and give you hope and optimism as your child enters this life stage.

Teenage Guys by Steve Gerali and Teenage Girls by Ginny Olson
These two books cover all the developmental changes that teenagers will experience as they mature into adulthood. Written by believers, they address spiritual developmental issues as well.

Thank you for your time, and I can’t wait to meet your middle schooler!

Matt

Matt McCauley
Middle School Pastor
The Village Church

“Peace out my homies” are lyrics to one of our Kids’ Village songs that we sing frequently, and this Sunday we will say it to our exiting fifth graders. On Aug. 15 we will gather all of our former fifth graders for their last Kids’ Village fifth grade service. Last Sunday they got to meet and  talk with Matt McCauley, the Middle School Pastor, and this week we want to spend some time blessing the kids who are about to leave our ministry. They will come to Kids’ Village like they have every Sunday and head to their small group room, but after worship we want to pull them away and exhort them before they head to Middle School.

As we have been thinking about what to say to them on Sunday a few things come to find. We hope that your fifth grader is leaving Kids’ Village with a greater understanding of what God is like. We want them to leave knowing that He is good, almighty, wise, loving, attentive, holy, just, merciful and the list goes on. We want them leaving knowing what God promises His children- that He will never leave, that He will hear and respond to the prayers of His children, that He will help His children in hard times, etc. And we pray that in all these attributes and promises of God that they would be young men and woman who trust in God. We hope that they would be the man who Jeremiah writes about.

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” –Jeremiah 17:7-8

This Sunday we will spend time encouraging them in the LORD, praying over them, and talking with them about things they are excited or fearful about as they transition to middle school. We also will be giving  ESV Bibles to them as a gift. This is the bible they will use in CRASH and in adult worship. Know that we love your almost sixth graders and are covering them in prayer as they leave us and head to the Student Ministry.

Aug. 22 is Promotion weekend which allows all students to move up a grade in their respective ministries. The way this most greatly affects the Children’s Ministry is that our fifth graders transition out of Kids’ Village while we simultaneously welcome in a whole new group of brand new first graders! We will have an upcoming blog written specifically for the transition from fifth to sixth grade, but this post’s primary focus is to help parents of kindergarteners begin preparing their children for the transition into Kids’ Village by telling them about the new ministry they are about to join. We pray this information is helpful to you and will make the transition a smooth one for you and your family.

The transition into Kids’ Village can be difficult for some incoming first graders. The room is different, and the people are different. It’s a lot bigger and a lot louder, and they become the youngest and smallest kids in the room. We are confident that they will love their time with us in the Children’s Ministry, and we will do everything we can to make this transition as smooth as possible. Here are some things you can do in the coming weeks to help prepare them:

•  As you get ready to go back to school, tell them that just like they will have a new classroom and a new teacher at school, they get to go into a new room at church too! When you go through the campus on Sundays, make sure to point out where Kids’ Village happens, and tell them that soon they will be going there instead of K Camp.
•  Tell them what they can expect when they come to Kids’ Village. Prepare them for the fact that it will be a little bigger and a little louder….and a lot of fun! To help with the transition, children attending K Camp will visit Kids’ Village for a portion of service on Aug. 1, 8 and 15.  Make sure to ask them what it was like.
• Help build anticipation and excitement by counting down the days until promotion weekend.
• Ask your child if there’s anything they are nervous about in moving up to Kids’ Village. Pray with them about these things. Remind them that God is in charge of everything and that they can trust Him.
• Make plans to attend the First Grade Family Orientation. This event will be held in the Kids’ Village Main Room at all three campuses on Sunday, Aug. 29 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. This is a great opportunity for incoming first graders and their families to be introduced to Kids’ Village, meet our staff as well as the first grade small group leaders, and get a feel for the Children’s Ministry. Kid Keepers will be available for all children other than first graders for those who register by Aug. 20.

We are so excited to meet your child as they join  us in Kids’ Village and are praying for their hearts as they make this transition. If there is anything you need from us, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are here to love and serve your family as best as we can. We are looking forward to doing ministry alongside your family for the next five years!

I am 23 years old and have only been married for a little over two months. I do not have any kids, but the desire for them one day is shared between my husband and I. As I was preparing for marriage, the possibility of having kids became an even greater reality, and with that I began to think. I’ve read some parenting books, heard many sermons over the subject, and sat down with older couples who offered great wisdom on the matter, and I am grateful for all the insight concerning parenting. All this is great and helpful, but as I have been praying for God to prepare my heart to be a good and godly mother, He has led me to consider my need of Jesus.

There are many things I hope my kids see in me. By God’s grace I want them to see that I respect and love their dad, that I am faithful to my word, that I am patient with them and others, that I am slow to anger, etc. More than this though, I want my kids to see my need for Jesus. I want Him and His grace to be exalted when they see me respect their dad. I want Him and His grace to be exalted when I am faithful to my word. I want Him and His grace to be exalted when I am faithful and joyfully obedient to God. And I want Him and His grace to be exalted when I fail to do these things.

So today matters as I prepare to one day, Lord willing, be a mother. I want to walk in my weakness by being quick to confess my sin and ask God for forgiveness and help to follow Jesus. I want to daily know my need for Him by continually praying for His wisdom and help. I want to delight in my dependency by giving over the daily worries and stresses of life and resting in the truth that He is in charge of everything, He is good, and that He cares for me. I am at the mercy of God for these things to be true in my life, but my God is willing and able. So may I be known as a woman, wife, friend and mother who needs Jesus, and may Christ be exalted in my weakness. May you strive for the same thing.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD who made heaven and earth.” -Psalm 121:1

“Seek the LORD and His strength, seek his presence continually.” -1 Chronicles 16:11

“Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” -1 Peter 5:6-7 

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” -2 Corinthians 4:7

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient in you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” -2 Corinthians 13:9

It’s 4 p.m. and you are at the grocery store getting stuff for dinner. All the kids are with you, and you hear your youngest one say, “Mom, when we get home can I have a snack.” You tell him, “No. We will be eating dinner in a couple of hours.” As you turn the corner for the next aisle, he asks again but this time he clarifies his request and asks for cookies. Again you tell him tell him to wait for dinner. You get home and are trying to carry the groceries in and he pulls at your shirt and says, “Mama, please can I have some cookies!” Your answer remains the same. Within the next hour he asks you three more times, and finally dinner is ready. Everyone enjoys dinner and at the end, you go grab the cookies to place one on your son’s plate. He was persistent in his asking. You were wise and loving in your response. At the end of the day there is a sweet parallel that can be made.

Yesterday in Kids’ Village, we talked about the parable of the Persistent Widow found in Luke 18:1-8. Check here < thevillagechurch.net/children/resources> to read a summary of the parable. Jesus tells this parable to His disciples and followers so that they would always pray and never give up. Talk with your kids about what it means to persistently pray. We have a Father who is attentive to His children’s prayers. He hears and responds to their prayers, and His response is always wise and loving. He gives what’s best when it is best so we are diligent to ask.

To help you as you teach and minister to your kids this week, check out the Family Resources provided to help talk to your kids about this sweet truth and how it affects your daily life. Also, look through the “Family Summer Activity Booklet” for ideas of how to engage your kids with the gospel this summer.