God is Drawing them to Him

Kids on Sunday

Last Sunday, I led the kid’s Sunday Meeting for the early elementary group at Circle of Hope South Broad. It is an honor for me to be with the kids on Sunday evenings, to give what God has given me to give, and to help them participate in the life of Christ. Our Children’s Plan says:

We want to create an environment where children grow into a relationship with Jesus and are nurtured in their faith. Their life as part of their natural family and their experience of life in the family of God help them to grow into faith. We hope for a rich environment of God’s loving presence through the practices of community, worship, sharing God’s story, prayer, and service.

Here is what one kid’s Sunday Meeting looked like. As the children came into the space, they started drawing and playing with playdough. Even during this time, there were some conflicts between the kids and we had to work out how to love each other. We practiced sharing how we were feeling and listening to each other. Next we continued to build relationships and community by sharing the highs and lows of our week. I want our kids to be heard and known. We moved into a time of worship and sang a song to our beautiful and great God, using our bodies and voices. We know that worship is vital to our faith and we want our kids to know it, too.

Paul and Barnabas and sharing God’s love

This quarter we have been talking about the early church, and our focus that Sunday was on Paul and Barnabas traveling by boat and going from town to town telling people that God sent Jesus to show his love. After the story, we had a time of reflection led by questions. One of the questions was: Why did Paul and Barnabas tell people about Jesus? The answer from one of the kids was beautiful. “Because they really loved God and wanted to follow him. They were amazed by Jesus and what he had done and wanted to share that with others.” This led into a discussion about how we continue to share God’s love with others today. We talked about the Love Feast and how people had been drawn to God’s love through our community and now want to follow God with us. We also talked about people we know who have gone to different countries to share God’s love with others. We had a time of prayer and ended with a snack.

My prayer is that each child that is part of our Sunday Meetings will experience God’s presence and love. They will know that they are loved and that God is drawing them to him, and they will learn to love each other well. My hope is that they will grow up to follow God and participate in the community of faith.

-Kim Crognale, writing

Kim is leader of the Children’s Team at 1125 S. Broad St.