Successful Celebration

The "Celebration of Learning" was a huge success on Sunday. I felt the energy and enthusuiasm from all who were in attendance including children, youth, and adults. It was awesome to share the responsibilty of leading worship. Thank you to all who participated and who helped in various ways. I am looking forward to October 26.

Thank you and God Bless

Celebration of Learning

Join us this Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 11:45 for our first ever "Celebration of Learning."

We will gather into our decorated sanctuary, hear the Word of God, respond by offering our gifts, and be sent out into the world blessed by God.

The Bible says "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7). Come and see what God is going to say to us. We will be singing together, hearing testimonies from children and youth, and participating in an interactive message geared toward people of all ages.

Whoever said church can't be fun. We beg to differ. Come as you are, and join us for this fun filled celebration.

General Worship - Word, Order etc.

Ideas lifted up included:

Inspirational readings, children reading Scripture, use of children's Bibles, Bible verse to memorize, testimonies, testimonies with starter sentence, fill in the blank, spread out participations (transition testimonies), word scramble using people who hold one letter to spell out a word, interactive sermon using crossword puzzle (projected)

Worship should:

include the Word, be interactive, celebrate, music, reflective, prayerful, offer connection, give oportunities to give, time to give testimony, should consider language barriers, accessible, contain repetitive elements, be considerate to disciples and seekers.

Blessing

Part of the "Celebration of Learning" will involve asking God to bless our studies. The following are some words/phrases that were offered in our meeting around the etopic of blessing.

annointing, laying on of hands, blessing of learning materials, prayer buddies - each student would receive a name of another to pray for this year, tree of knowledge with branches that students could attach goals to, contracts,

Celebration

We had an outstanding brainstorming session on Thursday night regarding the "Celebration of Learning" service on the 28th.

I will just list a few of the words that came to mind when we thought about what it means to celebrate? (Feel free to comment on any thoughts that come to mind or to add to the list)

Instruments, decorations, banners, decorating the altar, door prizes, goodie bags, food, constumes, games, play, singing, repetitive familiar songs (party songs), hats, heels.

Opportunity to share

We will be hosting two meetings to give you an opportunity to share ideas and suggestions for our September 28, 2008 "Celebration of Learning" Worship service. The service will be at 11:45 and we will be looking for creative suggestions and recruiting participants for this worship.

The first meeting will be on Thursday September 11 at 7:15.
The second opportunity will be on Sunday, September 21 at 11:30 (free pizza).
The third opportunity is to share ideas on this blog.


Thanks and your continued prayers are appreciated.