In one of my favorite passages from the gospels parents are bringing their little children to be blessed by Jesus. You see it was customary in those days for parents to bring their children to the Rabbi at the temple to be blessed. So in these passages the parents weren't doing anything out of the ordinary. But Jesus' closest circle of friends, his disciples, tried to shoo the little ones away. They were afraid the little children would be a bother to the great Master. After all… Jesus was tending to important matters. But Jesus thought otherwise. He said, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them and blessed them." (Mark 10:14-16)

Our goal is not just to fill each child with information, but to challenge the whole child, to bring about a transformation of the heart and mind that is centered on Jesus Christ. We hope the information here will give you a taste of the wonderful opportunities for children here at KidzTown. Feel free to give me a call….or better yet, come on by for a visit. And bring your kids….they matter to us.

Blessings,

Valerie Harvard
Pastor to Children and their Families

Sundays at KidzTown

NURSERY - Infants & Toddlers
8:45am, 9:45am & 11:00am in the KidzTown Wing
The nursery is your child’s first experience with God’s family and we want it to be a positive one. Our goal is to reflect the love of God to your child while in the nursery. Our dedicated staff and volunteers provide loving childcare for children infants to age 3 during all worship services and other special events.

SUNDAY SCHOOL - 9:45am - 10:45am

Preschoolers through 3rd Grade
9:45am in the KidzTown Wing
What do you get when you combine fun and learning about God's love with the faithful guidance of caring teachers? You have a wonderful Sunday school program for children. Using the Workshop Rotation Model, children experience the stories of God's word incorporating the various ways we each learn. Over a 6-week period, children "rotate" weekly through our exciting new theme-focused learning rooms. One week it might be cooking in the KidzTown Café, or storytelling in the KidzTown Library, or learning the lesson in the computer lab at the KidzTown Connection, or by watching a video in the KidzTown Cinema or through art or science in the KidzTown Clubhouse. Our preschoolers are learning the same lesson of our elementary age children through a similar version of the Workshop Rotation Model.

Club 45
9:45am – Room 211
New to the KidzTown neighborhood is Club 45, a new alternative tweens program for our 4th and 5th graders. Club 45 is designed to help bridge the gap between children’s ministry and youth ministry by offering a specifically designed ministry to meet the distinctive needs of preteens. As they begin to desire independence and begin to form their own opinions and thoughts on life issues, we want Embry Hills to be a place where they feel safe, and where they feel like they belong. Crossroads is the Sunday morning component of Club 45 where kids will meet for discussion based lessons. During this time our 4th and 5th graders will be challenged to move toward thinking more abstractly in a non-threatening manner.

Children in Worship at Embry Hills UMC

We welcome children in worship. We believe worshipping as a family is an important part of each person’s faith development. Children learn what it means to worship God by observing the examples of adults. We are pleased to offer the following suggestions and learning opportunities for supporting the children and families who worship with us. If you have questions about any of this information, a member of our clergy staff will be glad to assist you.

Helping Children Prepare for Worship
• Explain worship and share stories from the Bible and from personal experience.
• Make Sunday worship a regular part of the time you spend with children.
• Anticipate events in the church, such as changes in the seasons, colors in the sanctuary, observance of the sacraments, and other special services. Be prepared to help explain these changes to children.
• Encourage children to take a drink and to use the bathroom before church to minimize the need to exit during the service.
• Establish non-verbal signals that can be used with your child during worship.
• Prepare children to participate in the sacrament of holy communion. Invite children to walk with you so that they might see and hear this ritual.

Helping Children Participate in Worship

• Help children greet other members of the congregation and include children as introductions are made.
• Pick up a bulletin for each child.
• Share the Bible and the hymnbook with children. Help them find the readings in the Bible. Encourage them to mark the hymns that are going to be used. Assist them in following the readings or singing by using the bulletin to underline verses or stanzas.
• Assist children to rise when the congregation stands since this stretches muscles and encourages participation.
• Provide a coin for the offering to teach about sharing and stewardship. Children may bring their offering to the Time on the Steps or put their money in the offering plate and help pass the plate to the next person.
• Model worship participation by
taking an active part in the service as greeters and ushers. Watch for seasonal opportunities to participate.

Helping Children Process Their Worship Experience
Answer any questions children may have after the worship service. Give children your full attention and listen carefully to their comments and queries. Encourage older children to write their questions on the bulletin so they can be discussed at home.

“Time on the Steps”
11:00am in the Sanctuary
During the 11:00 a.m. worship service, children are invited to hear the Children’s Sermon on the steps with the pastors. The message comes from the children through the sharing of “The Box,” a kind of Sunday show- and-tell. Each Sunday a child is chosen to take the box home and return the following Sunday with a specially selected object–nothing living, dead, slimy, corroded, or weaponous—which is discussed in a way relevant to the sermon and to our daily lives.

Extended Session for Preschoolers
11:00am following the “Time of the Steps”
We know that a morning of Sunday School and the regular worship service may be a bit much for our little ones. Immediately following Time on the Steps, children ages 3 to 5 years old are invited to our Extended Session in room 305 for a special playtime.

Children’s Worship
11:00am following “Time on the Steps”
Children in 1st through 3rd grade are invited to join us for Children’s Worship on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. (If there are exceptions for special holidays or events, we will try to provide advance notice.) Children begin worship with their parents at 11:00 a.m., then following Time on the Steps the children are led by adult volunteers to the Chapel to learn more about worship and its various elements.

The children will be learning who God is and how to worship God. In addition, the children will have the opportunity to acolyte, read the scripture lesson, and lead in prayer. On Children’s Worship Sundays, the “Weekly Source” bulletin insert will explain what the children will be learning. The following week, as they attend the regular worship service with you, the children will be asked to watch for the particular element of worship they learned about.

Other Opportunities for Participation in Worship

• Bible presentation to 3rd graders in the fall
• Learning to Use My Bible class in the weeks following Bible presentation.
• Serving as acolytes, beginning in 5th grade.
• Children’s choirs

Wednesday Nights at KIDZTOWN

WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP – Kindergarten through 3rd grade
6:30-7:30pm – September through May – Room 209
Children in kindergarten through 3rd grade will come into a workshop environment where they can guide their own spiritual growth. Our kids will learn about the Bible and the United Methodist Church. They will serve the church, share God’s love far and near, and find their own creative ways to connect with their faith and their church. They will do it all through their own choices of hands-on activities including games, puzzles, artwork and more. We’re calling it Wednesday Workshop because it will be a workshop for our children – not a set of teacher directed lessons, but a space for children to explore and build on their own and with other kids.

Club 45 - W.H.A.L.E.S. for 4th and 5th graders
Wednesdays, 6:30 – 7:30pm - Room 211
Wonderful, Heavenly, And Loving Excited Students. A time to strengthen social, physical and leadership skills as we spend time playing together and working together on service projects after a hard day of school.

Other Opportunities for Children at Kidztown

Learning to Use My Bible
Each year Embry Hills presents Bibles to our 3rd graders and because we don’t want these Bibles to be dust collectors on a bookshelf, we offer a fun and exciting time where children actually learn to use their Bible.

Rainbows: Guiding Kids Through Life’s Storms
Offered in the fall and winter of each year for Kindergarten through 5th graders by reservation.

Rainbows is an international, not-for-profit organization that provides a healthy path toward healing to those grieving a loss or life-altering crisis. For more than 20 years, the power of its programming has helped children cope with the emotional pain of divorce, separation, death, and other loss. Rainbows at Embry Hills is free of charge and runs concurrently with our adult divorce recovery program.

For more information and to register your child, please call the Rev. Valerie Harvard at 770-938-0661.

A Night in Bethlehem - 2nd Saturday night in December.
Come to the village of Bethlehem and experience the sights, smells and sounds of what it may have been like 2000 years ago...when a baby was born. Enter the gates of Bethlehem, register with the census taker then begin your journey visiting the many different shops and sights of the village. Make a candle, dye some fabric, explore the marketplace, and other exciting shops. Visit the live animals, see the Holy family, stop for refreshments by the fire pit and listen as Mary’s cousin Elizabeth tells the nativity story. Free for the entire family. Make plans to join us for A Night in Bethlehem!

Vacation Bible School (VBS)
Each summer Embry Hills offers a fun week of for children in Pre-Kindergarten through 3rd grade. Younger children may attend if their parents volunteer to help with VBS. Registration begins in the spring of each year.

VBXtreme – Our alternative program for Club 45er’s that runs during the same time of VBS. This program uses the same Bible lessons from our regular VBS program, but is held in a separate room from the younger children. During the week, our 4th and 5th graders will also be involved with weekly service projects and providing leadership in our regular VBS program.

Additional Summer and Seasonal Programs

• Monday Movies for Kids – summer
• Wackey Wednesdays – summer
• Friday Family Movie Night - summer
• Ash Wednesday Service for Children - spring
• Easter Egg Hunt – spring
• Halloween Party – fall