"Lord of all Creation, I pray that as we step into the New Year that you grant us wisdom and guidance as we seek to build the Children’s Music ministry not as we would want it to be but as You would want it to be. Help the Pneuma staff and me to find that way and to follow it with all of our hearts. In Your Son’s Name we pray. Amen."
When we finished 2008 with the musical, Angels Aware, we were all elated; the kids had enjoyed a fantastic success and we were all (justifiably) proud of them. And we (the Pneuma staff and I) imagined that the New Year would bring only bigger and better things for these great kids. And the New Year began. A time when many consider and reconsider priorities. More than a few families are struggling with so many, many activities available to their kids and decisions are being made.
Going into the Year the Pneuma staff felt that a simpler approach was called for. Shorter rehearsal times for our youngest singers and no lines to memorize this term. Still, in a desire to help the kids connect more with our Bible, we introduced the Parables of Jesus to them in a particularly creative style. The parable is read by a narrator and the kids explore the motions the story calls for (while hearing the words of Christ!). And we started teaching how to read music. In this case that means seeing a note and singing it without piano and starting to understand the patterns and applying them. Challenging stuff!
We are looking at several options of how to best serve these children for the rest of the term and will soon be in contact with each set of parents to see if the time is the best (Wednesday evening after Church Night Supper for Tone Chimes was one thing we’re considering). We’re going to refocus on the songs that we learned as kids with less emphasis (especially for our younger kids) in reading music and more into just singing and having a good time with God’s music. We’re going to sing some of the songs of the emerging tradition including praise choruses and hymns. For the rest of the spring term, we’re doing away with the attendance requirement. We hope that the kids will be here as often as possible, but we realize that modern families have difficult schedules and we want o give them the best experience with God’s music that we possibly can. So we’d really like to hear from you: what time is best on Sundays? From 3-4pm or later in the day like 5-6pm? Let us know what you’d like to see so that we can give the kids the best experience. Call me at the Church Office or e-mail me at
ronnalford@bellsouth.net. Let me hear from you today!
