RESOURCE HIGHLIGHT – Grow Kids

Grow Kids is a new resource designed to help you as you help to ‘grow kids’ in knowing Jesus and responding to his love through worship and service.

Designed as a teaching curriculum, Grow Kids offers opportunities to tailor sessions to suit your audience. Menu items will help to provide your group with the best experience. And while the resource contains helpful suggestions, you can make changes to meet the needs of the children in your care. Menu items can be used in any order. They can be used or adapted to provide a session that helps to grow kids.

SUNDAY SCHOOL OPTIONS

Grow Kids can be used as a Sunday school curriculum. Marjorie Ridenour, from St Paul's Lutheran Church Hahndorf, in South Australia, says it is ‘perfect’ for her congregation, which has a ‘handful of children ranging from 1 to 9 in age’.

‘We were often struggling to find an appropriate activity for our lesson’, she says. ‘Grow Kids takes care of this, so any of us can deliver our lesson easily. I tried out the Advent sample lesson, and our children loved the activity. Further, our little ones went from Sunday school into church and the lesson was restated throughout the worship service. It worked beautifully.’

DEVOTIONS, MESSY CHURCH AND MORE

If you are looking for a school classroom devotion, with Grow Kids you can use the ‘Story of the Week’, the prayer and the blessing. There are background notes about the Bible story to help understand its context and the delivery of the stories ranges from a simple re-telling to a creative drama.

Children also can be introduced to basic faith teachings with a catechism focus in Grow Kids. Each session has a ‘Catechism Spotlight’ in which a portion of Christian teaching that relates to the story and the week’s focus is discussed.

Grow Kids also offers all the necessary elements to use for Messy Church.

SERVING CONGREGATIONS AND CHILDREN

Meghan Pfeiffer, from Mount Barker Lutheran Church in South Australia, says her congregation was ‘looking for a resource that could work alongside our leaders – something they could just dip into for ideas or follow more closely if they were having a busy week or came across a particularly challenging set of readings’.

‘We like that we can access Grow Kids digitally and it is helpful that it follows the church seasons and lectionary readings’, she says. ‘We are genuinely thankful for what has been prepared and we feel confident that it will serve our congregation and its children well in the future.’