Calvary Children’s Ministry Blog

In the past few decades, we have seen a rise in the number of children who spend their time in day care centers.  This rise is because most families need two incomes in order to survive and the increasing number of single parent homes.  The debate about the good and bad of putting your children in day care become pointless when it become so necessary for the families who use them.

More important is the impact a day care center can have on the future of the children and families it serves.  Recent reports have show the quality of day care centers has a great impact on the children they serve.  For example, children who attended preschool in a high-quality center, on average, had higher scores on test through most of their school years.

From a spiritual prospective, centers like our own Child Enrichment Center provide not only an educational advantage to the children but a spiritual foundation as well.  Charlene has done a wonderful job in making sure our center remains faith-based and the children receive the highest quality care we can provide.  The lessons of my 30 minute chapel service on Tuesday mornings are reinforced by the teachers throughout the week, providing the children with a developmentally appropriate study of the Bible.  They are learning not only to count and say the ABC’s but about Biblical concepts for living their lives.

I am thankful to work in a place where the  nurture and care of the smallest of these is important.  I am thankful to Charlene and her whole staff, who have been open to my ideas about how we keep faith a central part of the center’s life.

When you see one of Child Enrichment Center staff, you thank them for all the great work they do.  They are helping Calvary to reach out to around 70 families in our community.  What a wonderful mission ministry of our church!

With the children back in school, I took a few moments to look back on the summer and realized we had a great summer. VBS went well, and we have followed up on families without a church home, inviting them to join us here at Calvary. We have a picture tree on the second floor of the education building showing the fun and learning from VBS. During VBS, we saw God in the need to serve others.

PassportKids camp in Tennessee was a great experience for everyone involved. The children enjoy the activities and mission projects that are a part of PassportKids. Our children grew in their understanding of internationals and the acceptance they need from those around them. We saw God in the need to love others.

Our day trips brought the children closer together and gave them time to relax and play. Some met new challenges head on, discovering and learning new things. Our hiking trips were the best, as we discovered and enjoy God’s creation together. On one trip, the Monarch butterflies were all over Graveyard Fields. We saw God in the beauty of His creation.

Yes, it was a good summer.

But, now, the children are back in school, and it is time to look forward. Mission Explorers are starting and we have the puppet festival and fall festival on the horizon. The days are starting to get cooler, and fall will be here shortly. The new season will bring new challenges and new discoveries. But wherever we go and in all the places we go, God is there, and we look forward to meeting with Him there.

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Psalm 139:7

We will start our Mission Explorers program on August 20, 2008 from 6:30-7:30 PM. Mission Explorers is a missions program for children that runs through the school year. In Mission Explorers the children learn about missionaries and their ministries. Mission Explorers also get involved in many mission projects of their own.

Mission Explorers is hands-on missions for children and involves:

1. Learning about the culture of the people missionaries work with
2. Playing the games of the culture
3. Tasting the food of the culture
4. Learning about the arts of the culture
5. Learning Bible skills by studying the favorite passages of the missionaries
6. Getting involved in local ministries and projects

Elmer Perry and Nancy Robinson will lead Mission Explorers this year. Pray for us! Also, we welcome and encourage the involvement of parents in the program.

Welcome to the Calvary Baptist Church of Asheville’s Children’s Ministry blog. The goal of this blog is many-fold. First, we will publish articles written by our Children’s Coordinator, Elmer Perry. We will also publish event announcements, reviews, ministry ideas, and information for teachers and parents.

We hope you enjoy!