Hello Chapel Hill Families!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. This Sunday, Pastor Lisa will be leading Godly Play and worship time for us, and I will be leading our music and announcements. Our last Sunday in April was so fun. You can definitely tell the kids are ready for summer!

In May, our Faith word is MINISTRY which means “To answer God’s call and serve the world”. Our Memory Verse is Acts 20:24b “This is nothing other than the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus: to testify  about the good news of God’s grace”. Bible Lessons include:

• May 7 – “Peter” (Matthew 16:13-20)
• May 14 – “Peter and Tabitha” (Acts 9:36-43)
• May 21 – “Peter in Prison” (Acts 12:1-17)
• May 28 – “Pentecost” (Acts 2:1-41)

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. Child registration is now open and will close once we fill all our spots.  We filled all 250 spots before Memorial Day last year, so do not delay!

Promotion Sunday

Promotion Sunday is fast approaching! For those of you that have rising kindergarteners or 6th graders, May 21st your child will transition to their next phase of ministry at Chapel Hill. Our pre-kindergarteners moving onto kindergarten will get to join us downstairs for their first Sunday School in the children’s wing. Additionally, our rising 6th graders will get to meet our Chapel Hill youth ministry staff, introduce themselves to the other middle schoolers, and will move to the Middle School Youth Room LL-04. If you have a current pre-k student that will be staying behind in pre-k for another year, please email me and let me know!

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.

Additionally, I have a few items that were lost in the children’s wing over the last couple of weeks. If your child lost a jacket on Palm Sunday, or a personal item from previous weeks, email me at bmiller@chwichita.org so that I can see if I have what you’re looking for!

Blessings,

Rebekah

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 May is “MINISTRY”.

The story begins with Peter identifying who Jesus is. Peter knows Jesus as the Messiah by his faith in God. This is a clear distinction in the Gospel of Matthew. The name Peter means rock. Matthew is the only Gospel writer to use the term church, and in this story, Jesus believes Peter has strength to bare the foundation of his church. Peter will carry out Jesus’ teaching after the Resurrection. This leads him into ministry. Peter declares his faith in Jesus and will lead the people to faith. Over the course of the Christian faith, many pastors and leaders have been encouraged by these verses to do ministry and to serve the world. By acknowledging who Jesus is we are commissioned to continue to carry out Jesus’ ministry. This story is a good way to begin the unit about ministry because it tells us that ministry is a collective mission. The Gospel writer uses the word church, which is not made up of one individual. A church is a connected body and by our faith in God we all make up the foundation of the church. Peter is called, and so are you, to serve the world.

Write a personal statement of faith. If you need direction, ask a church staff member about your denomination’s faith statements or doctrines. Consider what you believe and how you live out your beliefs. What shapes your faith? Who helps or has helped shape your faith? What do you admire about them? What have you learned from others that can be a part of your statement of faith?