Hello Chapel Hill Families!

Thank you to everyone who came to our Palm Sunday service. The kids did a great job singing, and it was a fun morning of fellowship. I loved that I got to see so many families on my last day, and introduce Ms. Bekah to the congregation. She will be taking over these newsletters after Easter, and you are in good hands! Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to make me feel special this week. It was a wonderful day.

Don’t forget, there will be NO SUNDAY SCHOOL on EASTER SUNDAY. We will resume on April 16th.

If you are interested in helping to make VBS happen this year for our kids, please join us for a planning meeting on Sunday, April 16th after the 9:30 service in the choir room. I have broken up tasks into 5 groups: Snacks, Station Supplies, Volunteer Management, Music/Assembly Team, and Decorations. Hopefully after this meeting, we will have a better idea of whether VBS is possible this summer. Child registration is paused until this meeting happens.

In April, our Faith word is RESURRECTION which means “Hope in God’s promise  for new life in Jesus”. Our Memory Verse is Luke 24:6a “He isn’t here, but has been raised”. Bible Lessons include:

• April 9th – EASTER SUNDAY, NO SUNDAY SCHOOL. FAMILY FRIENDLY SERVICES AT 8:00, 9:30, AND 11:00
• April 16th – “Emmaus” (Luke 24:13-35)
• April 23rd – “Thomas” (John 20:19-31)
• April 30th – “Ascension” (Luke 24:50-53)

KDIC & PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT

Kids Day in Christ and Chapel Hill Preschool opened their enrollment to current families and Chapel Hill members on February 1st. If you have young children interested in attending these programs, please click the links below to get them signed up. These programs fill fast, and are now open to the public to fill the last few spots.

Summer KDIC

KDIC 2023-2024

Preschool 2023-2024

Lunch Bunch 2023-2024 (Extended Preschool Day)

VBS 2023

Save the Date for VBS at Chapel Hill! Volunteer Registration is now OPEN! Child attendance will be limited to 250 children. To ensure your child gets a spot, join our team to receive a link for EARLY child registration. We will open child registration after our April 16th meeting, and will close once we fill all our spots.  We filled all 250 spots before Memorial Day last year, so do not delay!

Information for our new families:

• Our volunteers are supposed to arrive by 9:00, but life happens and sometimes they are running late. Please try to drop off kids between 9:15 and 9:30 AM to avoid waiting on them to arrive.
• Please walk your children back to their classrooms at drop off. We want our volunteers to see who goes with which kid to help speed up our pick up time.
• Don’t forget your pick-up ticket. You will show this to get back to the children’s wing and again to their teacher to pick them up.
• Remember that kids are now promoted to their next grade level so check that their name tags show they are in the right group. Please let Ryan know if it is incorrect.

We sponsor cousins, Neema & Kikwete, who live in the Angel House Orphanage in Tanzania, Africa. We have pledged to give $90/month in order to provide food, clothing and schooling to these children at Angel House. Each Sunday, kids have the opportunity to bring money to put into our offering for Neema and Kikwete. Would you help us meet our goal by sending your child with $1.00 each week? Our former Director of Children’s Ministries, Raegan Brane, has visited Angel House in the past. You can find out more information about the Grassroots Organization and Angel House by clicking HERE.

REMINDER:

If you have a 3rd, 4th or 5th grader that has a Deep Blue Bible, please help them remember to bring it with them to Sunday school each week! We don’t have many extras of that particular version at the church and they will be looking up and reading scripture every time they come to church from now on.

Don’t forget to check our Chapel Hill Kids Facebook Group regularly for the most up to date information. If you haven’t checked your child’s information on the birthday post, please make sure you do so as soon as possible. I have marked it as an announcement so you can easily find it. If you have moved in the last year, please contact the office so that we have your correct address on file so they can receive some birthday mail. The office number is (316) 684-1117.

Blessings to you and your children,

Allison

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.

Each month, our weekly stories will align with a Faith Word. The Faith Word for the month of April is “RESURRECTION”.

The Christian church has chosen to gather on Sunday mornings to remind all of that early Sunday morning many years ago when it was discovered that the tomb was empty. Today, every Sunday morning is a “little Easter” celebration. We come together to praise God and give thanks for the good news of the empty tomb.

Although their accounts differ in detail, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all give an account of the empty tomb. In Luke’s account, it is the women who discover that the tomb is empty. The women weren’t looking for an empty tomb. They were going to the tomb with spices they had prepared to take care of Jesus’ body. When they arrived, the stone was rolled away. Not knowing what to make of this, they looked inside, but Jesus’ body wasn’t there. Jesus had been resurrected.

Luke tells us that right then two angels suddenly appeared, frightening the women, and asking them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” According to Luke, the disciples heard the news of the empty tomb from these women. The disciples thought the women were talking nonsense and didn’t believe them.

None of the Gospels, however, describe the Resurrection itself. Jesus’ resurrection remains part of the mystery of our faith. Ours is a resurrection faith, one that does not rely on evidence of how the Resurrection occurred. We know Jesus is alive because of the witness of those who experienced the presence of the risen Jesus and by our own experiences of Jesus’ presence with us. Easter and Resurrection can be both celebratory and confusing, much like the mystery of our faith. It is hard to believe. Yet, we get the chance to find joy on this day and every day because we know Jesus’ love remains always.

The Easter message is unbelievable, but we know through the Scriptures and teachings of Christ that there is hope and faith in the Resurrection. This week, take a walk in nature and look for signs of new life. Say a prayer of thanks for the visible reminders of the Resurrection.