Resurrection Church



5934075-276225Gather Garden Grow“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10bChildren’s Ministry Outdoor Worship653415022860GatherWe will present a Bible verse for families to memorize during the week, using Seeds Family Worship scripture songs.We will gather at our garden to read, sing, and reflect on the verse.We will quiet ourselves to listen and talk with God.Garden“And he said,?‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.?He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.’” Mark 4:26-27545782575565Families can choose from three areas to worship God through the work of their hands. One of them is gardening. Each child will have their own shovel, gloves and watering can to plant, weed, water, and harvest crops. Leaders will give guidance on what the garden needs.?545782527305GrowThe Field545782574930“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44Another area is searching for “treasure” in our large soccer field. 5457825252730Each family will be assigned a color. Painted rocks with your family’s color will be scattered in an area of the field for the children to find. These rocks will have the words from that week’s scripture on it. Each family will have a treasure box to put their rocks in.Families can work together to put the rocks in order to spell out the week’s Bible verse.The Pavement“Then Jesus asked them,?‘Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine.’” Mark 4:21?Another area is shining our light through art in the parking lot area. We will have taped off areas for each family. Sidewalk chalk, crayons, colored pencils, large journal notepads, blank paper, glue sticks, scissors, clipboards, and crafts will be provided. Re-Gather (Show and Tell)Families will re-gather next to the garden for a type of Show and Tell time where kids may tell what they did in the garden, show their “treasures,” or share their art.Frequently Asked QuestionsSafetyPer CDC and NCDHHS recommendations to continue forms of “social distancing” while the pandemic continues, how will “social distancing” be maintained?We will provide children’s ministry outdoors since the CDC and NCDHHS believe COVID-19 spreads more easily indoors than outdoors.All children will remain with a parent at all times. While Resurrection Church’s Children’s Leaders are providing a format that will aid in social distancing, it will be the parent’s responsibility to help their child maintain 6 feet of space between people not in their family unit.We seek a creative way to remind children the importance to keeping social distance so that both parents and children are not overly burdened. In following our garden them, each family will receive a 3ft cardboard tractor cut out along with a colored bandana attached to a stick. This colored bandana will be the color assigned to the family. We will encourage children to “stay on your tractor.” This will be a kind way to tell them not to get too close to someone. Having to carry the tractor and the stick when moving from one location to another should aid in keeping kids with their parents. The hope is that this will give children the focus and responsibility of moving their tractor and stick rather than a sense of freedom to run off to another place or another person.We are using the largeness of our property to aid in keeping kids spread out. 2-3 families can be in one area (garden, field, pavement) at the same time if spread out. For the pavement, we will tape off areas for each family to have a visual boundary for children.For our gathered times at the garden, we will use the large stumps from our fire pit and space them 6 feet apart between families.How will supplies be handled?Most supplies will be provided by the church. If you need to bring or purchase something, we will let you know.Each child and/or family will receive their own garden kit for gardening, treasure box for scripture rocks, and art supplies on the first Sunday we gather. Families will need to take those supplies home (or keep the in the car) and bring them back each week. The scripture rocks will be painted with your family’s color and will be spaced away from other rocks, though spread out to make it feel like a treasure hunt. Parents will need to ask their children not to touch other colored rocks if they see any.Any other items that are kept at the church will be sanitized before and after each gathering.What happens if a child finds it difficult to maintain social distancing?Having worked with young children for 20 years as well as having studied child development, early childhood education, and psychology, I know that social distancing of children is not ideal. However, it is not impossible. In child development, the children who seek and need socialization with peers the most are our older elementary kids. Most preschool age children participate in what is called “side-by-side play” where children may want to do similar activities near each other but not necessarily with each other. I believe our outdoor format provides this type of play on a grand scale. In addition, our hope and prayer is that this is temporary. We understand that the children may not always follow the social distancing. So we are stepping out with some risk and faith, experimenting with our format. If children can respond well to gentle reminders and we see that things are going well, then we will see our new format as working. If children do not respond to reminders or if parents are not helping children in social distancing, we will have to ask those families to stop participating. What other safety precautions will there be?Per CDC guidance, masks are not recommended outdoors unless 6 ft of social distancing cannot be maintained. We will only require masks of children’s volunteers who are leading activities and may need to break 6ft of distance. However, if parents prefer that they and/or their children wear a mask, they are welcome to. Hand Sanitizer will be available. We will ask parents, children, and volunteers to use hand sanitizer when we gather and after our “re-gather” time.Children and adults may not participate in children’s ministry nor get out of their car if (from NCDHHS guidance document for childcare settings):Person is showing any of the symptoms of COVID-19 2. Person thinks they could have COVID-19 3. Person has tested positive for COVID-19 4. Person is awaiting the results of testing for COVID-19Also from NCDHHS guidance document for childcare settings:People who are sick with COVID-19 or believe they might have COVID-19 should stay home and separate themselves from other people in the home as much as possible. They should be excluded from the child care facility until they can answer YES to all the following questions: ? Has it been at least 10 days since you first had symptoms? ? Have you been without fever for three days (72 hours) without any medicine for fever? ? Are your other symptoms improved?What bathrooms will be available? How will they be sanitized?The portable bathroom is available at the park. Use is at your own risk. Bring your own cleaning products if you want to sanitize them. Please use hand sanitizer before and after using this facility.Entrance into the building will only be allowed for bathroom use. Any minor must be accompanied by a parent when using indoor facilities and only one family unit may use the indoor bathrooms at a time. Standard hand washing hygiene is requested after use before leaving the bathroom of all who entered. Standard hygiene is to wet hands with warm water, get soap, wash outside of the water for 20 seconds, rinse, turn faucet off with a paper towel (there is a hand washing sign posted in each bathroom). Please bring your own cleaning supplies if you wish to sanitize surfaces while using bathrooms.Bathrooms are sanitized according to CDC guidelines before and after worship.Ministry DetailsWhen will outdoor children’s ministry begin and how often will it meet? How many weeks will worship and children’s ministry meet outdoors?After we have had one Sunday with outdoor worship on May 24, we will introduce outdoor Children’s Ministry the following Sunday, May 31. We will initially meet every other Sunday to help ease into these new formats; however, parents do desire weekly ministry for their children. If outdoor ministry is going well and we have the volunteers we need, we will move to weekly ministry as soon as possible. The Board has decided to follow month-by-month plans while in this pandemic, so each month, we will take surveys and re-evaluate.What ages will be included in Gather, Garden, Grow?We welcome all ages (toddler through 5th grade) as long as parents and children can maintain social distancing. More information about 4th and 5th graders is below.Who will be leading Gather, Garden, Grow?Currently Brandi Lovejoy and Sue Todd have agreed to lead. Brandi will oversee the content and providing of supplies, but prefers to lead one Sunday a month. The goal will be to have a rotation of at least 4 volunteers leading each Sunday.We will ask anyone age 65 or older and anyone with underlying health issues to not serve for their own safety. This will reduce our pool of volunteers.What is required of a Volunteer?Volunteers will need to complete a background check if it has never been completed or has been more than 2 years since the last background check per the Diocese of Christ our Hope’s requirements.Volunteers will help set up and clean up the Gather, Garden, Grow space (see below for details).Volunteers will lead the gather and re-gather times. This will require familiarity of the week’s Bible verse (Brandi will have a schedule of verses for each week), asking reflective questions about the verse, playing the song (with battery operated cd player), leading a quiet time of listening and praying with God, and leading a “show and tell” time during “re-gather.” Volunteers may (but are not required to) provide a craft or a coloring sheet related to that week’s verse. Volunteers must place any extra craft supplies in each family’s taped off area before outdoor ministry begins. If volunteers need any copies printed, they may send to Elijah to print at the church before service.What is involved in set up and clean up?Set up: Arriving by 8:30 am.Taping off the family areas on the pavement and placing any needed supplies in the area.Getting supply bag from Brandi that will have that week’s rocks, cd and cd player for the Bible verse, a Bible, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, and first aid kit.Hiding rocks in the field.Checking on water buckets.Making sure stumps are placed at the garden and family stumps are 6 feet apart.Checking with Elijah or Brandi on what the garden needs for the daySet up easels and chalkboards (we will have three chalkboards that have the Bible verses for the garden, the field, and the pavement from the vision document on them and displayed in each area).Clean up:Take tape off pavement.Clean up any trash.Clorox wipe any supplies that remain at the church like the supply bag items.Collect any rocks that weren’t collected (Families who didn’t come or didn’t participate in that activity).Take down easels and chalkboards.What are the specifics of the garden, field, and pavement areas?If I am able to find kids gardening supplies at reasonable prices, children will have their own gloves and watering can at a minimum (hopefully, a shovel and pail will be provided too). I have not been able to find reasonable prices for these, so parents may need to provide them. Each family will have 5 gallon water buckets with lids out near the garden that kids can dip their watering can into. Families will use only their family’s supplies to work in the garden. Each week, the children’s volunteer will go over what needs to be done in the garden. On Pentecost Sunday, we hope to plant large sunflower seeds on the edge of the garden. If they grow, it will be exciting for the kids to see these huge flowers grow over the summer. When crops are harvested, families will be able to take crops home to eat and enjoy the fruit of their labor. The goal is that this deep connection through creation as well as observing the development of life from seed to fruit will draw families into deeper realities of God and His word.Each week we will have smooth stones painted in your family’s color with that week’s Bible verse written on several stones. Families will have one treasure box to place their found “treasures” (rocks) in. Families can then put the stones in order to read the Bible verse. Kids who can read will benefit most from putting the rocks together. All kids will enjoy finding their rocks, similar to an egg hunt. We will tape off areas of the pavement with painters tape to help set a boundary for each family. It will be a large space where kids can draw with sidewalk chalk. We will try to use areas that have some shade or have been shaded during the morning. If the pavement gets too hot, we may need to eliminate sidewalk chalk. You may also bring a blanket for your family if that will help. Right now we are leaning toward using clipboards as surfaces for artwork just so we don’t have to transport tables in and out each week. Kids will receive blank paper, glue, scissors, crayons, colored pencils, blank paper, sidewalk chalk and large drawing journal. Parents will need to bring these back and forth each Sunday, perhaps keeping them in your car. Additional coloring sheets or crafts may be added and will be placed in your family’s area before outdoor worship begins. The only area where we would ask families to participate every time is our Gather and Re-Gather times if possible. Families may self-select for our Garden and Grow areas. If a family chooses to garden the whole time or run in the field searching for rocks the whole time or doing artwork the whole time that is fine. The only requirements are that families must stay together unless both parents are present and families must maintain 6 feet of space between other families in an area. I would also encourage families to pick up their rocks before leaving church even if your child was not interested in that activity just to practice the Bible verse and utilize the treasure box.How will Bible memorization work?We will be using Seeds Family Worship Seeds of Praise, Vol. 3 as the resource for our Bible verse each week. You can find the cd and digital download here. Seeds Family Worship takes bible verses and sets them to music. It’s a great way to memorize scripture. We will memorize the verses in the order on the cd. Since all these songs can be accessed for free on music streaming sites like Spotify, we will not purchase the cds for families, but we strongly encourage you to listen to these songs at home.Each week, we will read the Bible verse from the Bible, listen to it on a cd player, listen to it again to sing along, and then reflect on the verse. The Bible verse will also be on the rocks the kids find in the field as another way to work with the verse.The next week, we will give kids or families a chance to share the memorized Bible verse. This will be optional so as not to put any children (or adults) on the spot.What should kids wear for Gather, Garden, Grow?Kids may get dirty and will be outside in hot weather for 30-40 minutes, so dress accordingly. We do have all the normal Sandhill issues of ants and some sand spurs on our property, so tennis shoes are recommended.A hat and sunscreen are recommended as well.IF you feel your child will need water while we are outside, please have a labeled water bottle for them that is kept either with the parent or in your family’s taped off area on the pavement. Children should drink from the water bottle and immediately hand it back to the parent or place in their taped off area rather than carrying it around with them. First Steps (4th and 5th Graders)When will 4th and 5th Graders Meet?This is currently under discussion.Advantages to meet 1st and 3rd Sundays:More kids may participate.No technology issues to deal with.Face-to-face meeting is often preferred over zoom meetings.Parents only need to remember one meeting time (church) each week.Easier to distribute supplies and communicate.Advantages to continue Thursday Zoom meetings:A mid-week activity the kids can look forward to.No weather considerations (including heat which may be distracting for a focused Bible study).No concerns about social distancing.4th and 5th graders could participate in Gather, Garden, Grow with a parent on 2nd and 4th Sundays. (We still want to encourage 4th and 5th graders to participate in whole worship services and we don’t want parents to miss every Sunday).If First Steps is on 1st and 3rd Sundays, do parents need to attend?Currently, we believe this age group can maintain social distancing in a focused, Bible study format (with reminders), so parents would not need to attend. However, if 4th and 5th graders would need a parent if they participated in Gather, Garden, Grow for consistency with all families and because of the movement and activities involved. Sundays when Children’s Ministry does not meetWhat is recommended for families when children’s ministry does not meet?In many ways, it is our families with young children who have had to make and will continue to make the most sacrifices in regards to Sunday worship during the pandemic. My heart aches for those families and the challenges of trying to join worship with your church family. Gather, Garden, Grow is a ministry that will hopefully help, but there are times that we will not offer this ministry. So, we will continue to have printouts for children. Someone has suggested crafts or some sort of prayer table kit. Those are things I will consider. I can at a minimum point you in the right direction to provide those items for your kids. It is very stressful to meet in a car, is it okay if we stay home and participate through live stream?Absolutely, you can participate through livestream. We understand. Here are some things that has helped our family in the car:We do still wear our “nice” clothes on Sundays to give the feeling that we are going to attend church which communicates to our kids that the same expectations in church are expected in the car.While we are driving, we discuss expectations and what we will be doing.Everybody stays in their seat the whole time (I keep babies buckled in car seats). No one is allowed to come up front with mommy (chaos usually ensues).Older kids are expected to participate in the parts of service they are familiar with.Everyone sings.Have plenty of activities, toys, and snacks to keep little ones occupied.An hour and a half is a long time in the car, will you be adjusting for this?Yes, we will be shortening the service to help families with young kids and to limit time in the heat.What is the plan when it rains?Service will be moved indoors with no children’s ministry and following group size guidelines with live streaming. A decision will be made by 7 am and posted on slack.Survey Results5 families responded.100% feel comfortable with their children participating in outdoor children’s ministry.Precautions:2 families checked taped off areas for families.3 families checked hand sanitizer.0 families checked no singing, masks for adult leaders, and masks for all adults.1 family checked masks for all adults and children who are able to wear them.2 families checked activities that only allow interaction between their family.1 Family prefers meeting twice a month. 4 families prefer meeting weekly.Difficulty for kids to remain socially distant (1=very difficult, 5=not difficult at all):1=12=13=24=35=23 families said yes to helping on Sundays and 2 families said maybe.2 families prefer to move First Steps to Sundays, 1 family prefers to keep it on Thursdays.When families would feel comfortable with children’s ministry being indoors in classrooms:1 family is comfortable now.3 families will be comfortable when public schools open.1 family will be comfortable when their therapeutics available.Additional ways we can serve families:2 families would like a resources page.3 families would like deeper Bible study or teaching for the kids.2 families would like a Bible study or prayer group for parents.1 family would like a phone call from a children’s leader for checking in and prayer.4 families would like a way for kids to “see” other church members. ................
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