We Are Building a Special-Ops Team: Wednesday Nights 2023-2024
In the military, what do special-operations forces do? They use unique skills in challenging environments in partnership with more conventional teams to help secure success for the mission.
We are looking to build a special-operations team for Wednesday nights during the 2023-2024 school-year. Our goal is to find 18 adults who:
Buy into our mission: “to partner with parents in their God-given mission of raising and launching children who love God and love others.”
Fight to be consistently present. In sports, they say, “The best ability is avail-ability.” Many people are unable to serve on a weekly basis and that is no problem; it’s just reality. However, for this special-ops team, we want people who will strive to lead every time KidsOnMission meets (usually three times per month).
Love our kids. We live in a culture where many are looking to get, get, get. We want this team to swim against the current and give, give, give. We want every team member to see kids as young people who are created in the image of God. We want our team to desire to have fun with kids and enjoy time with them.
Love our church. This team helps the church in multiple ways. They free up parents to be in life-groups. They invest in kids. They set an example for our weekly life-group helpers and for the kids too. If our life-groups are like the Army and our Sunday volunteers are like the Navy, this group is like the SEALS. They support the rest of the military in a specialized way.
Kids are tough. Sin is real. Our lives are busy. Those are obstacles. We need a team to navigate those obstacles for the benefit of the kids, parents, church, and world. Instead of a large team that serves every other week, we are looking to build a small, core team for next school year (mid-August 2023–mid-May 2024).
What Will the Team Do?
Through Bible teaching, activities, and games, we will present kids with a gospel rooted in the real world, impacting real life, in a church-community where they belong. We will show our wonderful life-group helpers how they can be most successful when they serve each week. And we will support parents/guardians as they strive to grow into the parents that God has called them to be.
Why the Change?
We want the vast majority of our adults to be in life groups. Those groups are a part of our church’s discipleship system, so this special-ops team needs to be small. This allows the maximum number of adults to freely engage in life groups.
We want our kids to really get to know the regular team members. Discipleship is relational by definition. Having a small, consistent team will create the most opportunity to build relationships with the kids.
We want every life-group helper to see a radical picture of loving kids. Many of our helpers are parents, grandparents, or future parents. They need an example of undistracted, consistent investment in kids for the Kingdom.
We want our whole church to encounter a culture of discipleship that seems costly/extreme/unusual in our me-first world.
We want to raise the understanding of kids’ events above mere childcare to an obviously valuable event, so this needs to be an excellent team. When we work together regularly, we will grow into our roles and the kids will benefit.
We are on a rescue mission. We have been commissioned and authorized to make disciples. We have been given explosive power in the form of the gospel. We have been given a large number of kids to lead. Who will step up to lead them? Could it be you? If this might be you, email Kelly.Hayes@Sandhurst.net to let Kelly know.
Parent Partnership: Wednesday (3/29/23) and Sunday (4/2/23)
Everything a parent/volunteer team-member needs to know about this week is below. You’ll find the Scripture passages, the specific pages in our children’s Bible, the teaching video, and some questions to use at home. We use The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible and RightNowMedia for teaching and Planning Center Services for scheduling.
On Wednesday, we will have KidsOnMission and kids choir. Dinner is $3 for individual kids with a $7 max for families. Kids choir is at 5:15pm (for 5k-5th grade) and KidsOnMission officially starts at 6pm.
We will be working through Jesus’ trial and death (MATTHEW 27–28, MARK 15:20-47).
On Sunday, there are exciting things happening as well! At 9am, our kids get into the Word in Sunday School. Our kids are under the Word during the Gathering:
Preschoolers will continue moving through the The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible. We are looking at Story 14: A Cow Popped Out.
Elementary students will dig into Philippians 2:5-30. Here is the teaching video and lesson.
Family Prayer Prompt: Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for leaving glory to come to our broken world. Thank you for saving your people. Deepen our thankfulness. Stir our affections. Drive our worship. You are worthy!