NewSpring Church Children's Ministry Blog

Sunday at KidSpring… (March 7, 2010)

2010-03-07T05:00:00Z

Today was the final week of The Great Sky Bridge Showdown where preschoolers have pretended to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings, and elementary schoolers have learned how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God Will Keep His Promises

Today we looked back at what we’ve learned about Moses and God’s people, the Israelites, in Exodus 2-19. We saw how God always kept His promises to them. When God heard the Israelites asking for Him to save them from mean Pharaoh and the Egyptians, God promised to hear them and help them, and He did! God also promised to be with the Israelites wherever they went, and He kept this promise when he was with them as they escaped the Egyptians at the Red Sea. And God promised to love the Israelites. He loved them by giving them food and water in the desert. God always kept His promises to the Israelites and we can know that God Will Keep His Promises to us.

God promises to hear us when we pray, just like He heard the Israelites. God promises to be with us wherever we go, just like He was with the Israelites wherever they went. And God promises to love us, just like He loved the Israelites and did so many things for them.

This week make a promise to your child. When you fulfill that promise, tell your child that God keeps His promises just like you kept your promise. Teach your child about God’s promises by reading the Bible with him or her daily.

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: You Are The Church!

Today we talked about how a church is not a church because of the building we meet in. A church is a church because of the people—the people are the church. We learned this from Jesus in Matthew 16:13-18 when He asks His disciples who they think He is. Simon said that Jesus was “The Christ, the Son of the living God.” Simon believed in his heart that Jesus was God’s Son and the most important person ever. Jesus knew that Simon’s faith was as solid as a rock, so Jesus decided to change Simon’s name to Peter which means rock. Jesus then said that He will build His church on this rock. By this Jesus meant that the Church would be built on people whose faith was solid like Peter’s—people who believed that Jesus is God’s Son who came to save us from our sin. From then on, every person who believed in Jesus would be a part of the Church.

As a family, look at what the people who made up the first church did in Acts 2:42-47. Talk about what each member of your family can do to be the church.

Sunday at KidSpring… (February 28, 2010)

2010-02-28T05:00:08Z

Today was the seventh week of The Great Sky Bridge Showdown where preschoolers are pretending to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings, and elementary schoolers are learning how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God Wants Me To Help My Friends

Today we saw how God Wants Me To Help My Friends just as Moses’ friends helped him in Exodus 17:8-13. In this Bible story, God’s people, the Israelites, were at war. Moses, Aaron & Hur went to watch the battle on a hill. They discovered that when Moses held his arms in the air, the Israelites would be winning the battle. And as soon as Moses would put his arms down, the Israelites would begin losing! Moses tried very hard to hold his arms up by himself, but he would get too tired. He needed the help of his friends, Aaron and Hur. His friends helped him by holding up his arms until the battle was over and the Israelites won!

Just like Aaron and Hur were helpful friends to Moses, God wants us to be helpful friends too! How can you and your child help your friends this week? Today your child may have drawn a picture of a friend he or she would like to help. Come up with a plan to help this friend or any other friend this week.

Practice the Remember Verse this week. If your child knows it by next week, he or she will win a prize! Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

“This is why we work hard (pretend to hammer). We trust (cover eyes with both hands) in God, (point up) who loves (cross arms over chest) all people (arms open wide) - 1 Timothy (hold up one finger) 4:10 (hold up 4 fingers)

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: Keep On Serving God!

There are many choices we make each day, from what to eat for breakfast to whether or not to pay attention in school. Another decision we have to make each day is to serve God. Serving God means doing what He tells us to do. Sometimes it’s hard to serve God by doing what He tells us to do, but today we Need to Know to Keep On Serving God, because it is the best thing we can do.

Three of the people we’ve read about in the Bible during this series show us what it means to keep on serving God.

Noah kept on serving God even when people were making fun of him for building the ark in Genesis 6-8.

In Nehemiah 1-6 Nehemiah kept on serving God and did not give up doing the good thing God asked him to do even when people threatened to hurt him.

And in 2 Kings 4:8-17 the woman in Shunem kept on serving God by sharing with Elisha even though it took hard work and money to fix him meals and build a room for him at her house.

Serving God is not always going to be easy, and you may have to give some things up to serve Him, but God promises that serving Him will be worth all the effort!

Each morning this week, pray with your child, asking God to give him or her the strength to keep on serving Him. Each night, ask your child how he or she served God that day, and encourage him or her to keep on serving God.

And don’t forget to finish memorizing our Memory Verse. If your child has it memorized by next week, he or she will win a prize! Here it is:

“Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock. Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock” - Matthew 7:24-25

Motions for younger elementary kids:
“Anyone who hears (cup hand around ear) and obeys (swing arms in marching motion) these teachings of mine, (hold Bible) is like a wise person (point to head) who built a house (hammer) on solid rock (pound fists on top of each other). Rain poured down, (wiggle fingers from up high to down low) rivers flooded, (palms up; lift hands from down low) and winds beat against that house. (sway side to side) But it did not fall, (stand/sit up straight and firm) because it was built on solid rock (pound fists on top of each other).” - Matthew 7:24-25 (hold up seven fingers)

Sunday at KidSpring… (February 21, 2010)

2010-02-21T04:59:49Z

Today was the sixth week of The Great Sky Bridge Showdown where preschoolers are pretending to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings, and elementary schoolers are learning how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God Provides For My Needs

We all have things that we truly need, and today we Need to Know that God Provides For My Needs. We learned this as we saw how God provided for His people, the Israelites, as they traveled through the desert in Exodus 16. When the Israelites needed food and water, God provided for their needs—He sent food from the sky and water from a rock! We know that God provides for our needs because we have food to eat and water to drink when we need it!

Sometimes we struggle with knowing the difference between what we need and what we want. Some things we need include food, water, clothing, shoes and people who love us. We do not ever have to worry about having these things because God provides for our needs. Sometimes God does bless us with things we want, but we should always be happy with what we have, because God makes sure that we have what we need.

As you feed, bathe and clothe your child throughout the week, ask him or her who provides us with these things we need (food, clean water, clothes, etc.). Remind your child that God provides for your needs!

Keep practicing our Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: Share With Others!

Every day we have things that we need, and we need others to share with us. Every day we also have something that we can share with others in need. Today we learned to Share With Others as we read about the woman in Shunem who shared her food and her home with Elisah in 2 Kings 4:8-17. When she shared with Elisha she did not expect anything in return. She shared because she loved God, and because of this good attitude, God blessed her beyond her wildest dreams by giving her a child!

Ask your kids how it makes them feel when others share with them. Remind them that they can make others feel that same way by sharing. Remind your child that EVERYTHING we have is something God has shared with us, and that because God has shared everything with us, we should be happy to share EVERYTHING we have with others.

One thing you can share with others is God’s word. It’s always good to memorize God’s word in case you want to share it with somebody and you do not have a Bible nearby. Practice and share our Memory Verse with someone this week:

Kids Singing on Stage (March 7th)

2010-02-16T01:49:48Z

We are excited to tell you about an incredible opportunity coming up for your child! On Sunday, March 7th, K-5th graders will have an opportunity to lead worship on stage during the adult service your family attends! They will be singing “Take it All” (Hillsong) and “Rise and Sing” (Steve Fee). Both songs are available for download on iTunes if you would like to purchase them for your child to practice.

In order to make this Sunday worship experience a big success, we need your help with the following:

Please talk with your child prior to this date to determine if he or she wishes to participate. (Any children who do not wish to participate will remain in their environments for normal Sunday programming.)

Arrive to the service you normally attend at least 20 minutes prior to service start. This will ensure that your child can participate.

Before checking your child into KidSpring, please make sure that your child goes to the bathroom.

Check your child in as usual at one of our START stations.

Following the performance, we will take the children to their normal classrooms where they will remain until you pick them up as usual at the end of service.

Don’t forget to invite your family and friends!

Sunday at KidSpring… (February 14, 2010)

2010-02-14T05:00:36Z

Today was the fifth week of The Great Sky Bridge Showdown where preschoolers are pretending to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings, and elementary schoolers are learning how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God Gives Me Rules to Follow

Today we put our construction crew rule-following skills to the test as we learned about the time God gave Moses & his people the Ten Commandments in Exodus 19:1 - 20:17 and 34:32. We should follow these same rules just as Moses and the Israelites did. Today we focused on these seven commandments:

Worship only God.
Worship God and rest on the Sabbath.
Love and obey your parents.
Do not hurt other people.
Do not steal.
Tell the truth.
Be happy with what you have.

We should always follow the rules God gives us in the Bible. When we follow God’s rules, things will be better for us and for everybody else!

This week, bake cookies with your child using a recipe or instructions. As you are enjoying your finished cookies, discuss all the ingredients and steps you had to follow to make your yummy creations. Talk about what would have happened if you had left out an ingredient or skipped a step in the instructions. Discuss how God gives us rules to follow just like you had to follow the recipe and instructions for baking your cookies. Pray with your child each morning, asking God to help you both follow His rules.

Don’t forget to practice our Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: Keep God Your Priority

Many things are important to us, but today we talked about how God should be the most important thing in our life—our priority. In the Bible story of the Rich Man (Luke12:13-31) we saw how our things can become more important to us than God. If our things are most important, God cannot be most important. In this story Jesus also tells us why we should not worry about having more and more things. Just like the birds do not have to store up food and the flowers do not have to fuss with their appearance, we do not have to worry about what we do not have because we are more important to God than birds and flowers. He will take care of us and do His best for us! These stories Jesus told in Luke remind us to Keep God Your Priority!

Here are some ways we said we can all keep God our priority by having a “God First” attitude:

Praying for ourselves and for others every day when we wake up.

Reading the Bible every day before we do other things.

Coming to church each week, even if it means skipping something else.

Try to implement these things into you and your child’s everyday routine. Thinking about God is not something we should only do at church. One day our toys and clothes will get old, our friends might move away and we may decide to play a different sport. God is the only thing that will last forever, so He should be our priority, the thing we think about and care about most.

Another way you can keep God your priority is by memorizing His word. Practice memorizing our Memory Verse for this series!

Sunday at KidSpring… (February 7, 2010)

2010-02-07T05:00:35Z

Today was the fourth week of The Great Sky Bridge Showdown where preschoolers are pretending to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings, and elementary schoolers are learning how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God is Powerful

With God’s help to obey, Moses went to rescue God’s people, the Israelites, from mean Pharaoh and the Egyptians. When Pharaoh would not obey and let the Israelites go, God showed him how powerful He is by sending a plague of frogs (Exodus 8:1-15)! God also showed His power to the Israelites by parting the Red Sea, saving them from the chasing Egyptians (Exodus 14:5-31). In these two stories we learned what we Need to Know today: God Is Powerful.

We also talked about how God is powerful enough to help us any time—when we are scared or mad or happy or sad—God wants to show us His power every day!

Next time you are washing dishes in the sink, have your child help you. Make washing fun by taking turns trying to part the water with your hands and other kitchen utensils. Once the dishes are clean, talk to your children about how only God has the power to part the water in the Red Sea. In that moment thank God for being so powerful!

Don’t forget to practice our Remember Verse!. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: Praise God Instead of Yourself!

So often we all do things to receive the praise of others. But God teaches us through the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 what we Need to Know today: Praise God Instead of Yourself. In this Bible story the whole world had one language, and the people were starting to feel very proud of themselves. The Babylonians wanted to build a tower that would make them famous. God knew that if this tower made them famous, they would think they were so good they did not need God anymore! To show the people they could not be great without God, He made them all speak different languages so they could not work together to build the tower.

We are all great at doing certain things, but since God is the reason we are able to do great things, we should praise Him instead of ourselves!

Have fun playing a joke on your kids to teach them how we should praise God instead of ourselves. Get your kids to help you cook dinner and clean up for your spouse or another close family member or friend. Be sure to fill the person you are cooking for in on your joke ahead of time. After cooking and cleaning, try to take all the credit for the meal and cleaning. Boast and exaggerate about having done it all yourself until the kids begin to clamor for some of the credit. Acknowledge the truth that you could not have done it without their help. Use this to explain how we do the same thing to God. We try to take credit for the work He has allowed us to do.

Today we learned the second half of our Memory Verse for this series. Practice putting the whole thing together so your child can win a prize in a few weeks. Here it is:

Sunday at KidSpring… (January 31, 2010)

2010-01-31T05:00:05Z

Today was the third week of The Great Sky Bridge Showdown where preschoolers are pretending to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings, and elementary schoolers are learning how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God Helps Me Obey Him

We continued learning about Moses today in Exodus 3-4 where God asked him to obey by rescuing the Israelites from mean Pharaoh & the Egyptians. The crazy thing was that God asked Moses to obey through a bush that was on fire! Moses did not think he could obey God, but God promised to help him. One way God helped Moses was by giving him a staff that turned into a snake—this staff would show mean Pharaoh how powerful God is. God asked Moses to obey Him, and then He helped Moses obey Him!

Just like God helped Moses obey, God helps us obey. That’s what we Need to Know today: God Helps Me Obey Him. When we obey our parents and all the people in charge, we are really obeying God. Sometimes we may not feel like obeying our parents, people in charge or God, but God wants to help us obey Him. We can pray and ask God to help us obey Him & He will!

Play this fun game to help your child understand how God helps him or her obey. Choose an object from around your house and place it in the room you and your child are in. Blindfold your child and spin him or her around three times. Then guide your child to the object using phrases like “Walk forward,” “Slow down” or “Put your right hand out.” Continue until your child has found the object. Explain how you helped him or her obey and find the object by giving directions. God does the same thing to help us obey!

As a family you can also continue practicing our Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: Never Give Up Doing Good!

Today we learned to Never Give Up Doing Good by following Nehemiah’s example in Nehemiah 1-6. While Nehemiah was working for the king, he heard that the wall in his hometown, Jerusalem, was crumbling. He wanted to do a good thing by helping rebuild it. While people made fun of Nehemiah and even threatened to hurt him, Nehemiah never gave up doing the good God told him to do.

Sometimes it is hard to keep doing good things. We may want to do something else, or people may make fun of us, but we cannot give up doing good! God wants us to do good things, and He will reward us when we Never Give Up Doing Good! Thankfully, we have a way to know what good things God wants us to do. God tells us these things in the Bible. One way we can remember the good things God wants us to do is by memorizing Bible verses. Here is the first part of the verses we are memorizing throughout this series:

“Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock…” - Matthew 7:24-25

This week at home, help your kids understand to Never Give Up Doing Good by working as a family to do good things in your community. Serve at a non-profit organization, clean up trash in your neighborhood or help a relative or friend in need. Afterward, talk about the fun and not-so-fun parts of your time serving, and remind each other to Never Give Up Doing Good!

Sunday at KidSpring… (January 17, 2010)

2010-01-17T05:00:40Z

Today was the second week of The Great Sky Bridge Showdown where preschoolers are pretending to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings, and elementary schoolers are learning how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God Hears Me When I’m Sad

This week’s Bible story picks up in Exodus 1 & 2:23-25 when Moses becomes the leader of God’s people, the Israelites. In this story we see how God heard the Israelites crying for help and sent Moses to rescue them from mean Pharaoh.

God heard the Israelites when they were sad, and God hears us when we are sad. That’s what we Need to Know today: God Hears Me When I’m Sad. Anytime we are sad we can pray to God, and He will hear us. God loves us and wants us to talk to Him all the time!

Next time you and your child are in front of a mirror, take turns making faces that reflect different moods (happy, sad, mad, angry, surprised, scared). Talk about how we can talk to God when we feel all of these ways, and He will hear us. Afterward, pray with your child, thanking God for hearing us when we are sad.

Keep practicing our Remember Verse, too! Here’s the verse & the motions we do with it:

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: Obey God Above All Else!

There are many people we should obey every day, but today we Need to Know to Obey God Above All Else! Nobody knew this better than Noah. We learned his story from Genesis 6-8. During Noah’s time people were doing terrible things. Noah was the only good person God could find, so He gave Noah instructions to build a boat for his family and two of every animal. This boat would save them from the flood God was going to send. Building that boat was hard work, and Noah was made fun of for building it, but he chose to obey God above all else. He knew this was the best thing to do.

God wants us to obey people like our parents, teachers, coaches and police officers, but the most important person to obey is God himself. He is in charge of everybody and everything, and He knows what is best. Our Memory Verse, Matthew 7:24-25 (CEV), tells us how to obey God above all else—by listening to Jesus and doing what He says to do. Keep practicing this first part of our verse, and we’ll learn the second part in a few weeks.

“Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock…” - Matthew 7:24-25

Does your child ever have trouble figuring out who to obey in certain situations? Help your child make a list of all the people he or she needs to obey. Rank them in order of who to obey first. Remember to put God’s name at the top of the list since we need to obey Him above all else. Place the list in a place where your child can reference it when needing to decide who to obey.

10th Anniversary Information for Parents

2010-01-11T19:01:43Z

We are so excited to announce that on January 24th, NewSpring will be celebrating 10 amazing years in ministry. On this day, all children will be welcome into the service that is sure to be a celebration they will never forget!

There will be two viewing rooms available on that day. One will be for families whose special needs children are not comfortable sitting in the service. The other will be for nursing moms and their infants.

Don’t forget to arrive early, and we’ll see you there!

Sunday at KidSpring…(January 10, 2010)

2010-01-10T05:00:09Z

This week we began a new series called The Great Sky Bridge Showdown. During this series preschoolers are pretending to be a part of a construction crew building a great bridge that connects two tall buildings while elementary schoolers are learning how to become wise builders who follow Jesus’ blueprints for their lives.

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

Need to Know: God Has A Plan For Me!

This week’s Bible story can be found in Exodus 2:1-10. In this story we learned that bad Pharaoh wanted to hurt all the baby boys in Egypt, but God had a plan for a baby named Moses. Moses’ mom realized she could not hide him from bad Pharaoh so she placed him in a basket and put him in the river. Moses ended up safely in the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter, who raised him as her own son.

Just like God had a plan for Moses, we learned that God Has A Plan For Me. We can find out God’s plan for us by listening to God. We can listen to God with our eyes when we read the Bible and watch shows about Him. And we can listen to God with our ears by listening to and obeying our parents & by listening to other people who love Jesus.

This week, help your child begin remembering our new Remember Verse for this series—1 Timothy 4:10 (NCV). Remembering God’s word together will grow your relationship with your child and with the Lord. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

“This is why we work hard (pretend to hammer). We trust (cover eyes with both hands) in God, (point up) who loves (cross arms over chest) all people (arms open wide).” - 1 Timothy (hold up one finger) 4:10 (hold up 4 fingers)

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)

Need to Know: Follow God’s Plan!

Today we heard about God’s plan for building the Temple in 1 Chronicles 28:1-9 & 2 Chronicles 2-4. God had given King David the plan for building the Temple as a place for the Israelites to worship God. David planned on building the Temple himself, but God had a different plan. God wanted David’s son, Solomon, to build it. David trusted God and gave Solomon God’s plan for building the Temple. By following God’s plan, Solomon was able to construct the great Temple, and the Israelites had a place to worship God.

Just like Solomon followed God’s plan for the temple, we also need to Follow God’s Plan! We talked about five ways we can find out about God’s plan for us & follow it:

Coming to Church
Reading the Bible Every Day
Praying
Asking Your Parents About God
Talking to Your Small Group Leader & Others Who Love Jesus

Knowing & following God’s plan will make us wise builders. Memorizing scripture is another way we can know & follow God’s plan. This week we began memorizing Matthew 7:24-25 (CEV). Help your child practice the first part we started memorizing today:

“Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock…” - Matthew 7:24-25

Motions for younger elementary kids:
“Anyone who hears (cup hand around ear) and obeys (swing arms in marching motion) these teachings of mine, (hold Bible) is like a wise person (point to head) who built a house (hammer) on solid rock (pound fists on top of each other)...” - Matthew 7:24-25 (hold up seven fingers)

Sunday at KidSpring… (January 3, 2010)

2010-01-03T05:00:48Z

This was our sixth and final week as the live studio audiences of The Reindeer Radio Show and The North Pole News.

Today’s Headline: We Can Follow Jesus!

Last week we learned how God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world, and this week we saw how God shared this good news with a few shepherds and wise men.

First, God sent an angel to tell some shepherds that He had sent baby Jesus who had been born in Bethlehem. The shepherds were so excited that they ran to see baby Jesus, and they found him just like the angel had said. The shepherds believed that God had sent Jesus to save us from our sin and fix our friendship with God, and because Jesus could do something so great, they decided to follow Him forever.

A little while later some very wise men saw a big, bright star in the sky. The wise men followed the star which led them to Jesus’ house! The wise men decided to follow Jesus, too, since only He can fix our friendship with God.

Preschoolers in SpringTown & Treehouse heard about the many different ways we follow Jesus. Make these a part of your family’s routine as you all grow in your relationship with our Savior!

Praying

Going to Church

Reading the Bible

Telling People About Jesus

Loving Others

Giving Money to Your Church

Obeying

Taking Care of Older People

Elementary school-aged kids in ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave also learned about these ways we follow Jesus, but first they learned how to start following Jesus!
To start following Jesus, we just need to pray and tell Him three things:
First, we tell God that we have done wrong things (sinned).

Second, we tell God that we believe in our heart that Jesus died for us and that God brought Him back to life.

Third, we tell Jesus that we want Him to be our best friend and leader so that we can follow Him forever.

No Services Sunday, December 27, 2009

2009-12-25T22:35:17Z

After a great week of Christmas services, NewSpring will not have services on Sunday, December 27, 2009.

See you on Sunday, January 3, 2010 for our last week of The Reindeer Radio Show and North Pole News!

Christmas at KidSpring… (December 23-24, 2009)

2009-12-23T05:00:47Z

It’s Christmas and our fifth week of pretending to be the live studio audience of the Reindeer Radio Show where we sing along with some cool Christmas tunes and learn lots of good news from God’s word.

And it’s Christmas at the North Pole News where elementary school kids hear hilarious headlines and the news they Need to Know from God’s word.

Today’s Headline (Need to Know): God Sent His Son to be the Savior of the World!

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)
Many of us receive gifts at Christmastime, and today we learned about the best gift ever—the gift God sent us on the very first Christmas—Jesus!

Our Remember Verse tells us why Jesus was born. If your child has the verse memorized on January 3, 2010, he or she will win a prize!
“God (arms open to the sky) sent his Son (hold a baby) to be the Savior (arms stretched out wide) of the world (make a circle with arms above head).” 1 John 4:14 (hold up four fingers)

God sent baby Jesus to save us all from doing wrong things and to fix our friendship with God—that makes Him the best Christmas present ever!

This week at home, help your child place the ornament he or she made at church on your Christmas tree. Ask your child to tell you what Christmas trees remind us of:
The top of the Christmas tree points up to remind us that GOD sent Jesus to us.

The gifts under the tree remind us that God sent us the BEST Christmas gift ever—Jesus!

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)
What gifts have you or your child received in years past that are worn out, broken or now boring? We can all probably name a few. Today kids learned about a gift we’ve been given that never wears out, breaks or becomes boring.

In the beginning of time Adam and Eve were best friends with God, but when they disobeyed God and sinned, it hurt everyone’s friendship with God. The prophet Micah told us about how God was going to send someone special to fix our friendship with him. And one night in the tiny town of Bethlehem, the promise God made through Micah came true. A baby was born named Jesus—this was the person God said he would send to save us from our sin and fix our friendship with Him.

The cool thing was that Jesus didn’t come as a king riding on a horse or as a rich man dressed in fancy clothes. He didn’t even come as a grown up! God thought of the best way to have his friends back. He chose to come as a baby, because no one would be afraid of a baby! He came as a baby so that we could be friends with Him and not be afraid. God planned all along to come in a way we could understand.

Today’s headline, God Sent His Son to be the Savior of the World, is also a part of the Bible verse we’re memorizing. Help your child practice memorizing it at home this week so that he or she can win a prize on January 3, 2010!
“God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We saw his Son and are now telling others about Him.” - 1 John 4:14

Motions for younger elementary kids: “God (arms open to the sky) sent his Son (hold a baby) to be the Savior (arms stretched out wide) of the world (make a circle with arms above head). We saw (take a picture) his Son (pat a baby’s back) and are now telling others (cup hands around mouth) about Him (arms open to sky).” 1 John 4:14 (hold up four fingers, then a one and a four at the same time)

REMINDER: After the last service at your campus on December 24, 2009, the next NewSpring services will be held on January 3, 2010. There will be no services on December 27, 2009.

Sunday at KidSpring… (December 20, 2009)

2009-12-20T20:13:48Z

This was our fourth week pretending to be the live studio audience of the Reindeer Radio Show where we sing along with some cool Christmas tunes and learn lots of good news from God’s word.

And it was also our fourth week as the live studio audience of the North Pole News where the headlines are hilarious and the news is just what we Need to Know.

Today’s Headline (Need to Know): God Has a Plan for Me!

Traveling over the holidays can be fun, but it can also be inconvenient and frustrating. This week we learned how Mary and Joseph had to take a trip just before the first Christmas—an inconvenient and frustrating trip they were not planning to take (Luke 2:1-5, 7c).

As they were preparing for Jesus to be born, Mary and Joseph received the unexpected news that they were going to have to travel to their hometown of Bethlehem, to be counted by the king. After traveling for three long days on foot and by donkey they arrived in Bethlehem to find that all the hotels were full—the only place for them to stay was in a barn full of animals and hay!

See Mary and Joseph did not plan on traveling to Bethlehem, and they did not plan on sleeping in a barn, but amazingly, this was all a part of God’s awesome plan. Kids in ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave learned that seven hundred years earlier, the prophet, Micah, had told us how God had planned to use the unimportant town of Bethlehem as the place for our Savior to be born (Micah 5:2 NIrV). Because God wanted Jesus to be born here, He planned long ago to send Mary and Joseph there around the time Jesus was to be born.

Even though the journey was long and their bed was not in a hotel, everything that happened was a part of God’s plan for Mary, Joseph and Jesus. In the same way, God has a plan for you! God has many great plans for us, but his greatest plan for us is that we would be best friends with Jesus. God sent Jesus at Christmastime to be our best friend.

Preschoolers learned that when Jesus is our best friend He saves us from doing wrong things and fixes our friendship with God.

And kids in ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave learned that when we are best friends with Jesus our friendship with God is fixed and we can live in heaven with him one day. Sending Jesus was God’s great plan to fix our friendship with him!

Here are a few things you can do this week to remind your child that God has a plan for him or her:
As your child is curious about the presents under the Christmas tree, ask him or her the following questions:
Who is this gift for?

Does this person know we are giving them this gift? (Hopefully not!)

Just like they don’t know that they are getting this gift, we may not always know what God has planned for us.

But do you think this person will think this present is great? (Yes!)

In the same way we can trust that God’s plans for us are going to be great!

As you are preparing holiday meals, have your child help you follow the recipes and taste the outcome. Tell your child that following the recipe, or plan, makes what you are cooking turn out great, and if we follow God’s plan and have Jesus as our best friend, God will make sure our life turns out great!

Check out www.NewSpring.cc for the Christmas service times at your campus this week, and invite friends, family and strangers to come worship with you! This week’s Christmas services will be the only church services held this week as NewSpring will not have services on December 27, 2009.

Preschool parents, keep working with your child to memorize this series’ Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:
“God (arms open to the sky) sent his Son (hold a baby) to be the Savior (arms stretched out wide) of the world (make a circle with arms above head).” 1 John 4:14 (hold up four fingers)

Elementary school parents encourage your child to memorize the following verse Here is the first part of the verse we have been learning:
“God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We saw his Son and are now telling others about Him.” - 1 John 4:14

Motions for younger elementary kids: “God (arms open to the sky) sent his Son (hold a baby) to be the Savior (arms stretched out wide) of the world (make a circle with arms above head). We saw (take a picture) his Son (pat a baby’s back) and are now telling others (cup hands around mouth) about Him (arms open to sky).” 1 John 4:14 (hold up four fingers, then a one and a four at the same time)

Sunday at KidSpring… (December 13, 2009)

2009-12-13T05:00:46Z

SpringTown & Treehouse (Preschool)

This was our third week pretending to be the live studio audience of the Reindeer Radio Show where we sing along with some cool Christmas tunes and learn lots of good news from God’s word.

Today’s Headline (Need to Know): God Can Do Anything!

All kids love to get things in the mail. The mail is always full of messages. But in the days of the Bible there were no newspapers or mail men to bring people messages. Sometimes God would use angels to send messages to people. Today we learned about an angel’s message to a young girl named Mary in Luke 1:26-38.

God sent an angel named Gabriel to bring good news to Mary. Gabriel told Mary about God’s wonderful plan for her life! He told her that she was going to have a baby boy! Mary’s baby boy would be God’s son and his name would be Jesus. Jesus would be God’s gift to the whole world to save us from doing wrong things and fix our friendship with God. Mary thought it would be impossible for her to have a baby, but Gabriel told her that God Can Do Anything!

One of the best things you can do for your child is to read the Bible to him or her each day. As you read about the amazing things God has done and promises to do, ask your child if they are able to do those things, and remind them that God Can Do Anything!

Keep working with your child to memorize this series’ Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

“God (arms open to the sky) sent his Son (hold a baby) to be the Savior (arms stretched out wide) of the world (make a circle with arms above head).” 1 John 4:14 (hold up four fingers)

ImagiNation, Jump Street & Shockwave (Elementary School)
This was our third week as the live studio audience of the North Pole News where the headlines are hilarious and the news is just what we Need to Know.

Today’s Headline (Need to Know): Nothing is Impossible for God!

Do you know if it will snow on Christmas in 700 years? Only God knows what is going to happen in the future, and He often used people in the Bible called prophets and angels to fill us in on His plans.

God sent messages to us through a prophet named Isaiah. In Isaiah 7:14 we learned that God was going to give us a sign about how He would send Jesus to save us: A girl who has never been married or had a baby will become pregnant.

Seven hundred years later in Luke 1:26-38, another one of God’s messengers, an angel named Gabriel, showed up at Mary’s home just before her wedding. Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have a son—God’s son! Her son’s name would be Jesus, and God would make him king forever! Mary didn’t know how she was going to have a baby since she was not married and had never had a baby, but Gabriel told her that Nothing is Impossible for God!

Encourage your child to read the Bible each day. This is where he or she will see that Nothing is Impossible for God.

To help your child remember that Nothing is Impossible for God help him or her memorize this series’ Memory Verse. Here is the first part of the verse we have been learning:

“God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” - 1 John 4:14

Motions for younger elementary kids: “God (arms open to the sky) sent his Son (hold a baby) to be the Savior (arms stretched out wide) of the world (make a circle with arms above head).” 1 John 4:14 (hold up four fingers, then a one and a four at the same time)