Hello Chapel Hill Families!
This week we will kick off our brand new children’s curriculum, Celebrate Wonder. Celebrate Wonder is a Sunday school curriculum that engages children’s natural sense of curiosity to help them understand God’s love. It creates a safe environment for kids to ask big questions — helping them explore the Bible in ways that feed their imagination and encourages creativity. Through carefully-selected Bible stories, songs, videos, and hands-on activities, Celebrate Wonder gives children the tools to explore their faith while incorporating it into their daily lives.
Thank you to the 43 families that signed up for our September Sunday School Kits. If you didn’t get signed up, but would like to participate, I have attached digital copies of the material for you to print at home. I do have a couple of extra kits if you would be interested in the printed materials with the Family Activity Book.
This month, our Faith Word is “Creativity”.
All the Bible stories will align with the Faith Word each month. Here is the Faith Word Poster for the month of September:
Our Memory Verse Poster for September:
This month we will be exploring Genesis and learning about our creative God. Beauty is everywhere in God’s creation. Beauty is in the people we meet. It is in the world we see and the sounds we hear. As a family, look for and explore God’s beauty in all of its forms. I will be collecting pictures of God’s beauty for our September Wonder Wall collage, If you have a chance to snap a picture of something beautiful God created, send it my way so I can include it! aroth@chapelhillwichita.org
This Sunday, our Bible story comes from the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. Genesis contains two accounts of Creation, one in the first chapter and one in the second chapter. Today’s telling is found in the first account and begins with creating light and dark evening and morning. God made both, the light and the darkness and each are necessary parts of God’s creation.
Light and darkness serve as markers for time. In Genesis 1, the Creation account is divided into days. The repeated phrase, “There was evening and there was morning” divides the story into seven days. The creation events are reported over six days plus a final day of rest.
The Genesis stories also give us the guidance about the beginning of life. This story sets the stage for all of creation. To create, is God’s act of bringing the world and all of life into being. God knew that the world needed both light and dark to prepare a place fo all that was to come. The Bible story mentions the light will be bigger and the darkness smaller. The wold is created from a formless void and great darkness. But, light is a symbol of life. Each day the light pushes away darkness and gives way to a new creation. God gives each a place in space and time and calls it good.
We too can bring light into the world. Through our creativity we are an expression of light. God’s light lives within each one of us and reminds us that together we can create God’s world. Children are incredibly creative and bring so much light into the world. We let their light shine when we encourage their creativity and see it as very good.
Everyone has the ability to be creative, but as adults we can sometimes forget to embrace our creativity. Over the course of the next few weeks, I encourage you to start a creative project. Paint, draw, write, build, or do something else that inspires your creativity. As you work remember God sees all creation as good.
Attached is the lesson plan for Sunday, September 6th. There are simplified activities that require minimal supplies that you can usually find at home.
Click here to join our Chapel Hill Kids Facebook Group
Don’t forget that I am making YouTube videos each week and posting them on our Chapel Hill Kids Facebook Group each Sunday at 8:00AM. These last about 13-16 minutes each with times to pause for activities. I have also attached the template for the “Wonder Cube”. Cut this out and fold together, then use it to ask your kids questions after watching the Sunday school video of the week.
Allison Roth – Director of Children’s Ministries
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