Dear Parents and Grandparents of Children and
Teenagers at Church of Our Savior,
Wow, that’s a mouth full!A number of us met to jump start the idea of
a new ministry group at Church.Our
proposed name is Jacob’s Family Fellowship.Our Savior has groups for all sorts of
different people and activities—and it’s time to create a group for parents and
grandparents.This group will give us a
place within the larger Church to call home and to invite other parents and
grandparents to join in as we work together on behalf of our children and our
families.A key ingredient to this new
group is taking the lead for ourselves to identify needs and opportunities.
Church of Our Savior is already doing or proposing to
do the following:Acolytes, Children’s
Church, Camp Wingmann, new Christmas Eve service, Confirmation in May, Happy
Birthday Jesus! Party on St Nicholas Day, Holy Week Journey, Nursery, Sunday
Readers/Greeters/&Ushers, VBS and Leaders Camp, and the new Youth
Center.At the Vestry retreat over the
weekend, they were enthusiastic about the growth and potential for family
ministry here at Our Savior.
Here are a few highlights of what’s percolating:
oWe have four children
expressing interest in joining the acolyte team!The Acolyte Festival hosted by the Diocese is
scheduled for Saturday May 8.Ask
Charles Doyle for more details.
oVacation Bible School is
in the works for July 19-23.Middle
School and High School students will be invited to a new Leadership Camp the
week before.Hyacinth Clunie will have
more details as we get closer to the time.
oYouth are invited to a
Lenten Group on Sunday mornings, 9:30-10:15am, in the Education Building.The group will be digging into the Scriptures
looking ahead to Easter.Contact Linda
Fox for more details.
oPlans are underway for
the Holy Week Journey for Kids.This is
our first time doing it here at Our Savior—details will be out shortly.
oThe Diocese has
announced dates for the Middle School weekend (Emerge) April 23-25; and for the
High School weekend (BCAD) March 12-13.I’ll put details up on our church website.
So how do we keep Jacob’s Family Fellowship going and
growing?First, I have attached both a
list of family emails as we have them in the Office, and street addresses.Take a look at who lives near you.Feel free to send an email to simply say
“hi”—or to brainstorm an idea, for example, how might we jump start the nursery
on Sunday mornings? Second, I will be scheduling two follow up conversations—one
for the parents/grandparents of children up through 5th grade; and
another for parents/grandparents of children 6th grade and older.Third, please feel free to talk with
Hyacinth, Linda,Charles, or me about
what you would like to do or see done.
I am excited—and trusting our Lord Jesus that He will
lead us faithfully.
Please check back regularly for updates and further information here on the website. Thank you.
In His hands,
Loren+
Safeguarding
Safeguarding God's Children is the name of our policy and program to build a safe Church for our kids: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Click here to learn more.
An Overview
Here's an obvious observation: all children have parents! If we want to bless your child, we must also seek to bless you as the parent, grandparent, godparent, or uncle and aunt! In our parish, we have children who live with their parents, with their grandparents, with one parent, and with adoptive or foster parents. But all our children live with adults. Therefore, we are building up our efforts for both children and adults.
On Sundays, the Nursery is available for the littlest ones. Children's Church is available for children 3 years to 5th grade. Children, 3rd grade up through High School, are invited to serve as acolytes. Fr. Fox is known to occasionally hold a baby during his sermon--and looks to include any children and teenagers in his sermons, when they are present in the "Big Church".
During the Summer, we host our annual VBS (Vacation Bible School, aka Venture in Biblical Surprises!) at the end of July. This year we are preparing SonRock Kids Camp (VBS) for July 20-24, and are adding a special Barbeque Celebration on Friday evening. Half of our children are from the Palm Bay-Melbourne area, the other half come from around the country!
Throughout the year, there are several camps and retreats sponsored by the Diocese for children and youth. For more information, check out the Youth Page and Camp Wingmann. Fr. Fox will be the chaplain for St. Barnabas week at Camp Wingmann.
Kids might enjoy BigIdeaFun or the Wonderzone--safe computer sites just for kids. I just learned about this site: WindowKids with games about the world for kids.
For parents and caregivers, we make an intentional effort to introduce parents to each other. We know that parents helping parents is one of the best resources. On Wednesday evenings, we make childcare available during most of our teaching courses so that you as parents can nurture your own faith and walk with the Lord.
