Seventh-day Adventist Children and Family Ministries Australia | Community organisation

Seventh-day Adventist Children and Family Ministries Australia

Phone: +61 3 9871 7591

Address: 289 Maroondah Hwy 3134

Website: https://disciple.org.au/resource_category/children-and-family

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25.01.2022 If we are going to talk discipleship we need to think less about programs and more about relationships If we are going to grow disciples we need to think less ...about the right curriculum and more that Intergenerational relationships is the best curriculum. If we are going nurture disciples then we need to think less about segregation and more about doing it better together If we are going to think about discipleship then we need to aim lower much lower it begins at birth not 10, 14 or 18. The Kingdom advances at the speed of relationships and its starts with our children.. #4to14window

22.01.2022 Daron has a soapbox moment The enemy has plans for our children, our families. The question is do we? In Nehemiah chapter four, Nehemiah has just been given ...permission to travel home to Jerusalem to restore the place of worship, rebuild the altar of sacrifice and to rebuild the walls. The enemies are threatening to come and destroy everything and the strength and will to work of those building the wall is giving out. All seems lost but Nehemiah positions his soldiers at the weakest parts of the wall and positions their families behind them and then tells the people to remember the Lord and to stand and fight for their families, their wives, their marriages, their sons and their daughters. The story ends with the walls going up and worship is restored. Covid 19 is a real threat to our families, our loved ones and it has changed life as we know it. Many social commentators are saying that Covid 19 will be the defining moment of our generation similar to the world wars and the Great Depression of years gone by. Whilst the threat of the pandemic itself continues to play out, the economic hardship will continue in the months and possibly years ahead. My hypothesis is that this is also a defining moment for churches everywhere. The question is what do you as a church really have to offer to children and families. This question goes beyond sabbath school and curriculum and extends to all that we do when we call ourselves Church When it comes to Church, families are asking the question as to what are the social and spiritual benefits of church really are? Unfortunately many have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Some families are saying that they can sabbath better in other ways. This is especially so in churches who have not done Intergenerational togetherness well pre pandemic but have rather gone through the motions and assumed that the families will tag along and that they will come back. In an increasing number of cases, they haven’t! There are other threats to the walls we call family both seen and unseen. The enemy has plans for our families, the question is do we? Now is the time for we as a church to stand up for our families, to equip them, to love them and mentor them. To really demonstrate what being the church looks like. To show in visible ways that we really are better together and to demonstrate what Intergenerational connections really does look like especially in our worship services and programmes but also in our mentoring and the prioritisation of children and families everywhere. Now more than ever as a family unit we need show our families not just what a family looks like but also what familying well looks like. We need to tell our spouse how much we love them hug our children a little bit closer and tighter, read them a story, share a family meal, play board games, rediscover the back yard and spend significant time together. Now is the time to make positive covid 19 family memories, your kids will thank you for it and you are building values that are of significance both now and for eternity Now is the time to stand fight for what is significant for our families, for what is important, what is everlasting, what is of eternal significance. Admist the inconveniences and hard ships let us show out families what it means to fix our eyes on Jesus to know that God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Like Job we need to adopt the attitude yet will I trust Him and show our children what that looks like. It is then that our hearts will be drawn together and the family unit will be stronger than ever’ The enemy has plans for our children. The question is do we? Daron gets off his soapbox and runs to a gap in the wall to stand up and fight for families everywhere.

21.01.2022 Introducing the lovely Cherelle Parker who is the new Support Administrator for the Family and Children’s Ministries Departments including the Children’s Ministries Resource Centre here at the NNSW Conference Office. We are so glad you have joined our team.

16.01.2022 Please, bring your babies to church! It doesn't matter if they fall asleep on the pews. It doesn't matter if they take off the little tie or hair bow. It doesn...'t matter if they whisper or cry during church. It doesn't matter if people give you dirty looks. Church offers stability. Church makes them feel safe. Church is a place they hear the Gospel! So, please, bring your babies to church! We love them! But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14 KJV - Sarah Thren

11.01.2022 Even though many are restricted with Church attendance this weekend, there is a King's Kid's program is ready for you to watch, with your family. First episode of Season 6.

08.01.2022 Daron has a soapbox moment. Holiday kids clubs may well be one of the best ways to bring families to your church, provide spiritual anchor memory moments for ch...ildren and create Intergenerational momentum for all Members of your congregation. Decisions made here (4-14 window) shape entire futures. They have a greater bearing than decisions made at any other age. (Dr Mel Lemke 2019) The NNSW Conference Childrens Ministries Department Resource Centre houses the most unique collection of VBS/Kids club resources in the world. These brilliant kits are pre packaged with ideas to make your kids club amazing. Lisa Nicole Pratt and I purchased the first four kits to get this amazing collection started over 29 years ago and we then donated them to the NNSW Chikdren’s Ministries Resource Centre. From Bug Safari to Amazon Jungle through to Treasured, we have painstakingly collected all of the kits from the last 20 plus years. Not only do we have the kits on our shelves but also house an amazing array of backdrops and probs to bring these kits to life on a shoe string budget in your church or school. We have also moved to printing our backdrops on material which allows us to post materials to bless churches and schools all over Australia. Why do I believe in VBS/kids clubs why does NNSW continue the invest in these resources. Why do we develop backdrops and props to support these kits? During my growing up years my parents along with a good number of adults in my home church gathered together once a year to organise and run VBS. I loved these times. For one week a year over 100 kids and their families would gather in a child sensitive Intergenerational environment to be impacted for the kingdom. We would sing, listen to stories, do craft and lay games. I loved paper mache, cool new songs, amazing stories and challenging activities. Coral Christian-camps would visit each year and would be the highlight of the week. I especially loved the vbs dollars that I could earn and buy books and other biblical Knick knacks from the vbs store. At the end of the week the whole church would gather for a huge meal and a concert to finish the week. I knew I was valued, I knew I belonged. These weeks of VBS were huge memory events, anchor points in my spiritual journey upon which I could build my faith. It seeped in to my bones. VBS kids clubs may well be the most potent form of evangelism your church will ever do. Why? * Kids clubs connects kids with Jesus * Kids clubs connects kids with the Bible * kids clubs connect kids with adults, teenagers... in fact a whole intergenerational mix. * Kids clubs connects kids with service * Kids clubs connect everyone and provides Intergenerational religious momentum for children and adults. *kids clubs focus on the 4-14 window 85% of lifelong decisions for Jesus are made during this age bracket *The chances of someone making a lifelong decision after this age bracket is slim. *A persons moral compass is set by the age of 9. * 85% of people who attended vbs agree that participating in vbs as a child was one of their most meaningful church experiences * 89% say that VBS influenced their spiritual growth * 95% of parents whose child attended a VBS say that it positively influenced their child’s spiritual growth. In a time when 85% of parents in Australia want positive spiritual values for their children.... when parents want to set a Christian moral compass in their child, VBS is important now more than ever. My fear is that when more churches should be doing VBS, many are writing them off because they are too busy, too occupied and it is just too much work to bother... so they appease their consciences by employing a few to do evangelism to adults and ignore the children under their noses who are just dying to meet Jesus and connect. Vbs is still worth doing. please consider, The kingdom of heaven demands it. Daron hops off his soapbox and runs to visit the next VBS.

08.01.2022 Right now, Friday Frenzy..20% discount for 2 or more tickets to Intergenerate Conference in Sydney, Brisbane or Christchurch. Enter the coupon code FRIDAY!! when purchasing 2 or more tickets. Offer ends 11.59pm Friday 2nd July AEST. www.intergenerate.com.au/events

05.01.2022 "Children of eight, ten or twelve years, are old enough to be addressed on the subject of personal religion. Do not teach your children with reference to some f...uture period when they shall be old enough to repent and believe the truth. If properly instructed, very young children may have correct views of their state as sinners, and of the way of salvation through Christ. Ellen White See more

03.01.2022 Daron has a soapbox moment. The Christian Church in Australia is losing 700 children every week. This statistic does not count their families who often leave w...ith them. That’s a whole primary school every week! If that doesn’t make us circle the wagons and look at this issue closely, I don’t know what will. But here is crux of the problem. 50% of children raised in church leave during the transition from primary to high school. (Stop right there did you get that? Read that again? We are losing them before they reach their teenage years. ) (David Goodwin, Lost in Transition, Australian Research!) But you say it is ok.. they will be back. Why is it that we almost exact our kids to leave? the problem is the research today tells us that most are not coming back. This slow bleed happens in our pews every week. Does anyone notice? Does anyone care.? Who will stand up and say enough is enough? Who will stand on my soapbox and shout with me Its time to wake up and get serous about our children? I mean have you counted the number of families who have returned since covid? Who is visiting these families? Who has followed them up or are we just content to let the slow fade continue? What if we could raise our kids in such a way that they never want to leave? They are discipled for life? In 2003, George Barna released his revolutionary work "Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions: Why children should be your churches #1 priority". George confessed that he had got his entire ministry wrong and if given his time again he was would prioritise families everywhere. This is it! I thought. We will finally get it! The stats and the research is clear. Finally we will begin to reach families and equip homes. The ship sailed on! We didn't just miss the boat we missed an entire ocean! In 2009 "Think Orange: Imagine the Impact when Church and Family Collide." This is it! I thought. Surely the church will get it now. Finally we will get church and family on the same page. Finally we will prioritise our children. It was more great research! The ship sailed on! Children overboard. We're losing them. "Man the life boat!" The ship sailed on! In 2010, the D6 Movement began, based around the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6. This is it! This is straight from the Bible the time is now! The slow bleed. The slow fade... The ship sailed on... "Value Genesis" "Faith begins at home" "One generation from Extinction" "Post-Modern Children's Ministries" "You Lost Me" "It Starts at Home" "Already Gone" "Goodby Generation" "Sticky Faith" "Haemorrhaging Faith" "Messy Church" "Faith Forward" "Families and Faith "Growing Young" "Children's Ministries in the way of Jesus" The research is in. The literature is in. But... The ship sails on 85% of lifelong decisions for Jesus are made between the ages of 4-14. After that the chances of a lifelong decision of this nature being made diminishes considerably Stetzer research discovered that Churches that wanted to experience revival invested in prayer and children’s ministries. A persons moral compass is set by the age of nine. This is why the enemy has plans for our children.. the question is do we? Ellen G. White recognised that children do make serious decisions for Jesus but we continue to write them off, turn them away, hand them a mobile phone and tell them to sit down and be quite so they tune out, shuffle off and shuffle on. The slow fade. Ellen said Children of eight, ten or twelve years are old enough to be addressed on the subject of personal religion. Do not teach your children with reference to some future period when they shall be old enough to repent and believe the truth. If properly instructed, very young children may have correct views of their state as sinners, and of the way of salvation through Christ. (Testimonies Volume 1, 169) The ship sails on! Ships do turn slowly they say, but it's too slowly for me! It’s time to prioritise families everywhere. These are my kids, my relatives kids, my church, your kids my family! Whilst there are no guarantees it does make sense to invest in Intergenerational discipleship from a young age (4-14) to fuel warm communities and nurture families everywhere for lifeseems simple but the reality is where the rubber really does meet the road. Daron gets down off his soapbox, grabs the ship's wheel and gives it a hard yank to the left!

03.01.2022 It’s been fun following this intergenerational mentoring story with Kate right from the very beginning. Kate read the intergenerational connections booklet that I had just put together, (She was doing a proof read check for me). Kate saids that she was so convicted from reading the booklet that she said a prayer in agreement to it and prayed for intergenerational connection opportunity of her own, that Sabbath a young boy in Kate’s church named Zion handed her the words that he wrote and asked Kare to put it to music.. and now this Well done Kate Garriga and Zion.

03.01.2022 Daniel Grant Matteo on his soapbox. I stand right alongside him Current research into youth retention in our denomination is sustaining my experience as comm...on. It seems that the age when most people make their real decision for Christ is in what we would call the upper primary/junior/early teen age bracket. That decision needs to be affirmed and supported by their community of faith or they will tend to fall away . . . and increasingly they aren’t coming back. And yet this is the group we devote the least attention, money and human resources to, isn’t it? It’s the group we take least seriously. No wonder we have a youth retention problem. A few weeks ago I watched online as an early teen friend of mine was baptised. While sharing his testimony he told how long he had been waiting for that day, how many times he had asked for Bible studies and how many times he had filled out cards at camps and other events begging for baptism. For the longest time, no-one had taken him seriously because he was too young to understand. How many like him are out there and grew discouraged, never making it through? Each year many homes, schools, local churches and conferences in our Division run amazing home groups, Sabbath Schools, weeks of worship, camps, concerts and VBS programs. Children’s ministry programs are something we tend to execute well, and often. During those programs God gives us many kids, including many who have never been to church before. Solid biblical messages are given through the mediums of preaching, Bible study and memorisation, stories, craft, activities, object lessons and songs. The gospel is presented. Appeals are made. In response to fervent prayer, many of those kids make real decisions to become followers of Christ. Some indicate they would like someone to study the Bible with them and others of those precious young people indicate that they would like to be baptised at some stage in the future. What we don’t do well is to take those decisions seriously. What is your church doing with these kids after those results are reported? I suggest you heed the words of Jesus: . . . suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God (Mark 10:14, KJV). https://record.adventistchurch.com/2018/12/13/not-too-young/