Hello Chapel Hill Families!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. My apologies for canceling Sunday School last weekend. Sometimes things just don’t go the way we want them to, but no worries, we’re back on for this weekend! I will be doing Godly Play this weekend, and we’ll be saying goodbye to our fifth graders, and welcoming our new kindergartners, which is such an exciting and bittersweet time for our kiddos.

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 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! Additionally, we have VBS work nights every Wednesday to help put together decorations leading up to our big week in June! It takes a village to put together VBS, so if you can’t help with the week of VBS I encourage you to come hang out and help with us for a bit on Wednesdays. It’s a great time of fellowship and community and I would love to get to know more of you!

Promotion Sunday

This Sunday is Promotion Sunday! For those of you that have rising kindergarteners or 6th graders, this Sunday 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 new Director of Youth Ministry, Tucker Trevett, introduce themselves to the other middle schoolers, and will move to the Middle School Youth Room LL-04.

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”.

Peter was in prison because of King Herod’s persecution of the Christians. The outlook for Peter was bleak. Then, God sent an angel to rescue Peter from prison. Peter was shocked that he was freed. He thought it was a dream, but when the angel vanished, he realized the power of God. After his realization, he went to Mary’s house. Rhoda, the female servant who answered the door when Peter arrived, was so surprised to see him, she closed the door and left Peter standing outside! She then had a difficult time convincing the others Peter was indeed there. The excitement in the story centers around Peter, but there is more to this story than Peter and Peter’s ministry. The people in the home were all praying for Peter. Ministry can be more than just one person being called by God. Ministry can be a collective force when people of faith come together. Although teaching children that God answers our prayers can be tough, we can also teach children that the power of communal prayers can be healing and life changing. Sometimes prayer might not change the situation, like it did in this story, but it can help a community come together to work towards serving our neighbors and spreading the love of God.

Spend time thinking about and praying for individuals who may be in prison, or who may be feelings isolated or cut off from their community. Write notes of encouragement to anyone you think is need of a message of God’s love.