Thanks everybody for your input and thoughts towards these things. I'm excited to work towards a solution. So here's my attempt in doing so.
In an effort to corral our children a little more effectively, I thought maybe I would suggest a few roles. I'm not exactly sure how it should take shape, so please consider this an 'open forum' type of suggestion.
There are obviously many needs, and true to the flavor of the emerging movement, I would like to spread these opportunities wide. So I'm hoping that we can commission these (or something like them) so that the tasks involved would be pretty minimal and infrequent. We'll see, tell me what you think:
Organizer - someone to take hold of the schedule for the group. This person should be organized by nature (hence the very clever title), and make use of our contact list, email, maybe even get something on our blog that we could all check.
Sitter - someone(s) for the little little ones. Let's say under 3. This position rotates every group meeting.
Teacher - this could also be rotating, for the kids over 3 but under 12. This person would be in partnership with the 'Writer', and would deliver to these kids a mini-lesson.
Writer - helps write/create lessons for the Teacher. This could also be rotating and would require creativity above all else. Would help the Teacher make use of the current setting, the Schroeder's home, and object lessons/parables etc. I'm not the person for this position, so what I write further on this would be in vain.
The thought here is that people would miss the 'adult' conversation as infrequently as possible. I would think at this point it would be safe to say that it is mandatory to help at some capacity if you're bringing children, and open to anybody else as well.
It's funny how similar this looks to a typical Sunday school setup. And maybe that's a good thing, who knows.
So let's discuss this online and tomorrow if you can come. Suggest alternative or additional roles, and maybe help me rename them.
BTW - chapter 6 is inspiring. You can jump right into it if you were behind, and I would highly suggest doing so. Good stuff.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
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4 comments:
Jacob, First, I want to say I am SO excited that we will be covering chapter 6 this week for several reasons:
- I think we started going there a bit last meeting and that discussion was exciting.
- It was an awesome chapter (as all of them seem to be now).
- Being a slow reader, I was only able to get thru chapter 6 and so, I wouldn't be prepared to talk about chapter 7.
- There is so much in each of these chapters, I don't think we do it justice trying to cover 2 chapters in one discussion.
Regarding the Kiddos, I think that is a great start, and I think the roles fit. Joy and I have attempted to be more proactive about our youger daughters education. Especially after Chloe explaining to sister what she'd learned in Sunday school at our previous unnamed church how Adam and Eve where on a boat and Jesus told them to throw their nets off the other side so they could catch some fish. If you haven't heard the story before, you will have to ask Joy to tell it to you (she is a much better story teller than I am).
We struggle with just giving them the same education vs not giving them any education at all. Just like most of the things we struggle with, there's a feeling there has to be a better way. I especially loved the blog from Cathy E. that Jamie posted. That helped me alot.
Sounds good to me.
Jacob, this is a great idea, and I would certainly like to be part of the childcare and teaching rotation. Zac and I have been MIA lately, but I've been keeping up with the blog, and I'm looking forward to consistently returning to the Emerging meetings starting later this month!
Jacob,I like your template for the kid thing. Let's get some sign-ups out there and start filling the gaps. I believe all of us, in all stages and ages can take part in this and give it a family feel. I do believe Christian education is important and must be creative to keep minds interested. What I believe is more important, is what is modeled for the children (and others) the other 334 hours between our gatherings. How do we behave in traffic, how do we speak to our extended family, are we willing to lay our own agenda aside and serve others, how to we resolve conflict? These actions all speak much louder than words. May God give us all grace to live with no regrets...
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