Last spring, Pastor Mark laid out a grand vision for the future of kids’ ministry at Mars Hill. On January 8, Mars Hill Kids will roll out the first edition of our brand-new kids’ curriculum: Doctrine for Kids. In this post, Kids’ Ministry and Curriculum Director Chrissie Wright gives a preview for parents of what to expect with the new series. Last week, over 100 Mars Hill Kids leaders from our local churches gathered to prepare for the January 8 launch of our 2012 curriculum: Doctrine for Kids. Leaders united around the vision that in Mars Hill Kids, every kid, parent, and volunteer will proclaim and apply the whole gospel every week. But we know that Mars Hill Kids starts and ends at home, so we thought we’d give you a preview of what you can look forward to starting January 8:

New Rhythms

The new curriculum will include a shift to some new Sunday rhythms for kids ages four and up.

• Starting with Focus: When you check your child in to his or her classroom, rather than entering to free play, the kids will start with a focus activity that gears up their brains for what they’re about to learn.
• Singing and Learning: After warming up with the focus activity, kids will participate in large group worship (supported by some rocking new music videos from The Rizers) and a lesson taught live by a volunteer teacher. Each lesson will elaborate on a one-sentence "Big Idea" that summarizes the doctrine of the week.
• Kids Community Group: Kids will spend the bulk of their time in a Community Group, a small group of 5 to 10 kids led by a Mars Hill member. Just like with adult Community Groups, by meeting weekly, kids and volunteers will build deeper relationships as they discuss the gospel and live in response to the grace they have received from God. Every week, Community Groups will include discussion, an application activity, Scripture exploration, and prayer.
• Play: Kids will conclude with some time to play. Playtime is a high-dividend opportunity for volunteers to apply the gospel to real life situations. As challenges emerge, volunteers will help narrate kids’ need for Jesus the Rescuer, and connect that need to the story of Jesus as Hero.

New Resources:

In addition to providing resources for volunteers, every family will receive a copy of the Doctrine for Kids Family Guide. Each week, kids ages four and up will be learning the same part of the same doctrine at varying levels of complexity, so you can look forward to having unified study as a family. The Family Guide will include:

• Exact language your child’s teacher used to teach the doctrine during the Sunday lesson
• Discussion questions from Community Group as well as additional questions for your family
• Recommendations of Scripture passages that the doctrine is rooted in for you to explore together
• Ideas of ways you can be praying as a family and recording your prayers to celebrate your witness to God’s work

As he reflected on the upcoming curriculum launch, one volunteer said, "I love that Doctrine for Kids incorporates ideas for keeping the kids engaged, highlights gospel links, and provides clear objectives. It's well laid out, organized, and rich. Overall, I believe it will be an excellent tool for Kids servants on Sundays and families throughout the week in lifting up and applying Jesus' work on the cross to kids."

Why?

Why do all this? Why teach the Trinity to five-year-olds? Why put all of this out there? Because we believe that if we have Jesus’ heart for children, then we want to raise, love, and instruct our children in the Lord so that they grow up to love and serve Jesus. We pray that our children would then in turn all have children, who all have children, who all have children, who love and serve Jesus. We want to leave a legacy of gospel faith that goes on until Jesus comes back. Join us this January. Stay tuned next week as we’ll have a second post from Chrissie explaining what it means to serve at Mars Hill Kids. If you are interested in serving as a Mars Hill Kids leader, please contact your local church about opportunities.