News - Uprising Youth

Hey everyone,

Some really exciting news this week. I've just created a blog specifically for the Friday Knights age group (years 5-8) called Uprising - you can check it out at http://uprisingyouth.blogspot.com . We're still working on some of the ins and outs of what it will look like, but the idea is that it will be a relevant place for kids (particularly non-Christian kids, who make up about 2/3 of the overall group) to find information on events and happenings, as well as providing another connection point to the local church. Watch this space!

Friday Knights

Hey guys!

Friday Knights is up and running again tomorrow night. The ice cream olympics have been postponed to a later date so we can advertise and get as many people along as we can, because it should be a fantastic night.

Tomorrow, we're looking at playing some schoolyard games, and promoting our new Ground Rulz programme, which is the focus for this term's Kid's Church. As well as friday knights being a safe environment for our kids to hang out, it's also a great opportunity to get children connected with the church. Church is a great place to learn some essential values, and grow into all that God wants us to be. I'm excited about how future generations are going to be impacted by the awesome young people we have rising up.

Mr Ray

Ground Rulz

Is love just fun and Games? The teaching will be set in a school playground, looking at life in the playground amongst their peers. The challenge is for the kids to be a positive influence in the playgrounds they spend each school day in. We are looking at the Colossians passage that talks about the importance of the way we look on the "inside" rather than the obsession this generation have about how they look on the "outside".

Colossians 3:12 -14 talks about how we should behave as God’s chosen people. It teaches us in 3 verses the way we need to behave towards others so that we can live in unity. The world is always talking about peace and how we should live in harmony. God tells us how this could be possible in these three verses.

Children are looking for ways to live, rules to live by, ways to function successfully in our culture. "Clothing" and how we look on the outside is very important to children nowadays. The media have made children very fashion conscious, to the point where parents just can't keep up. God talks about another way we should clothe ourselves that is not only longer lasting but will never go out of fashion.

Next Friday Knights Event - Friday night fever!!

For Years 5 - 8. Be there or be square!!

Kidz Ministry Update

Hi all,

Sorry it's been a while between updates! There are a couple of things going on which as parents you'll probably be interested to know...

Kidz Church - The Over the Edge programme is now into its sixth week. The kids have been having a huge amount of fun as part of a live studio audience in the Over the Edge extreme lifestyle show, with stuntmen, celebrity extreme bikers, and those crazy clowns, the Brave Brothers. Coming up in week seven is the Have a Go studio audience acts, where kids can showcase unusual talents, as well as singing, lip synching, dancing, and other great acts.

The other areas are also going through a period of growth (to say the least!), and as a result, we are looking at utilising the upstairs space in a different way which will mean that there will be more room for everyone!

Feeding Mums Room - As there are currently something like 15 feeding mums and a space which allows for five mums at a stretch, we are looking at expanding into the creche area so that there is a comfortable welcoming environment for feeding mothers. The current room will be used as a sleep room. There will be no formal programme in this room, just a welcoming atmosphere which mothers can enjoy the service via the audio feed.

Creche - Creche will move over to where the current Little Knights reside, and will cater for up to three year olds. There will be a new programme in place, which will include mat time, music time, activity time, and free play time. A video feed will be made available so that parents may still enjoy the service.

Little Knights - Little Knights are going to break out into the upstairs area. We are looking at setting up workstations as well as some awesome free play toys. Due to the fact that they are a more active bunch, this area will focus on delivering a quality programme for the children, so a service feed may not be available.


Little Knights will be the first area to start shifting, with a "Gypsy Day" to occur sometime in the next month. I'm currently looking at this being a celebration event, with a party atmosphere. Any parents who would be keen to help, contact me at the Christian Centre office.

Finally, it would be awesome to have some more volunteers in order to supplement the great work that is already taking place. If you'd like to help once a month or once a term, again, contact the church office.

Hopefully, this post/email will become a regular feed which you can use to keep in contact with what is happening in this vital area.

Blessings to you and your Family.
Mr Ray

Bullies in the Bible!!

After watching The Ant Bully as part of our holiday programme, we've now started a short focus on Bullying and bullies in the bible. So far we have looked at David and Goliath, and this coming week, we will look at Nehemiah and how he coped with the bullying government.

I think this is a great opportunity for us to look at how a biblical perspective can have relevance to today's society, by looking at an issue which many children have had some experience with. If you'd like a copy of the studies to see what we are up to, just email me at ray@christiancentre.org.nz.

What’s all the fuss about Easter?

What is Easter all about? Why do we have hot cross buns? Why are there pictures of a cross? Why do we have eggs? Why are the chicken and rabbit a symbol of Easter? Why did Jesus have to die? Is Easter a sad or happy time?

All of these questions and more have been answered in Little Knights over the past few weeks. It was awesome to come up last Sunday and see the kids having hot cross buns with strawberry jam, and even have several of them explain why there are crosses on the buns. It’s great to see that even some of the littlest in our church community can have a concrete, real understanding of the significance of Easter.

So if, while the eggs are being passed around, your children inform you of the reason why we as Christians should give eggs to each other, DON’T BE SURPRISED :) !

Family Games Cafe

Family Games Cafe is a new event which has the aim of providing an opportunity for families and friends to socialise and spend some quality time together doing something which all ages will enjoy. Feel free to come along. The games which will be provided are not your normal run of the mill Hasbro games, but actually come from a very popular genre called designer games. All of these game rely on skill rather than luck, and there are a variety ranging from Go Away Monster which is suitable for two year olds, right up to games which will perplex experienced chess players (Through the Desert will suit people of this mindset), as well as games where you can be knights, gunslingers, real estate dealers, or even bean farmers...

Cafe facilities will be available (i.e. there WILL be good coffee.)

Come along for a great time.

MI Kidz!!

Team night!!

Team night is on tomorrow night @ Church of Christ for Friday Knights. It should be an absolutely fantastic night - and as the kids are going to be dressed up as superheroes, don't worry too much if they want to wear their y-fronts on the outside! Watch this space for photo evidence (i.e. the kind that comes out at a child's 21st birthday party....)

God’s Amazing Creations - Little Knights Term 1

Genesis 1 – The creation story

Over the first few weeks of 2007 Little Knight’s are marvelling at how creative our God is. We are watching in awe the development of a Monarch Butterfly. As the caterpillar grows and develops into a beautiful butterfly, God too created us to grow and develop into his beautiful creation.

“When he had finished, God saw that everything he made was very good.” (Gen 1:31)

Mission 1:8

MI Kidz is absolutely rocking along... the kids were able to decode a particular challenging activity (many of the leaders looked like they had completed a five star difficulty Soduku by the end...) in order to recieve their mission card!!

Coming up, the Kids Church kids are going to continue to recieve spy gear as the term goes on...

(Oh and BTW the memory verse for this term is Acts 1:8, but it is on a need to know basis only...)

Spy Kids...

The first MI: Kidz week seemed to be a great success, with the drama being a highlight. The drama revolves around two everyday, normal kids, James and Ruby, who are contacted by HQ to go on a mission to save the world...

Just continue to encourage your kids to come dressed in sunglasses and spy gear, and ask them what they remember and most like about kids church on Sunday. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Finally, Friday Knights starts up again on 7 February @ the new venue of Church of Christ on Yarrow Street. The theme is Mission: Impossible and should tie in really well with the Sunday program. Year 5-8 students should wear dark clothing, and may get a little messy...

Thanks for being so supportive over the last couple of weeks, and I look forward to continuing to see what exciting things God has in store for this awesome ministry in the coming months.

Cars Colouring Competition!

The Cars movie went down extremely well with the kids, with a lot of laughter and fun had by all. Just as a fun extension of that, the kids have been given a sheet with a verse on it which relates to what we talked about afterwards. They can draw whatever they like on there, such as a race track, themselves as a car, or one of the cars from the movie! Next week we'll take them in, and have a colouring competition...

The MI KIDZ program starts next week (February 4), so it would be awesome if the kids wanted to come dressed in spy costume (or sunglasses!). Don't worry if they aren't keen, they will receive some spy gear as the term progresses....

The mission begins...

Hi! Welcome to this new initiative to keep parents informed of what's happening in the Kid's Ministry @ ICC. There are all kinds of exciting things starting up. February 4th will see the new MI: Kidz up and running, which should be fantastic for the Zeal kids (5-12). Think Mission Impossible and you aren't too far wrong. Songs, powerpoints and dramas are all part of this exciting program. The new puppet and drama ministry will be getting off the ground. And we will continue to see growth in all areas of the Kid's Ministry.

I'm excited by the coming year. I'm excited by the fantastic team that's already in place. I'm excited by the new enthusiastic leaders who are going to come on board in the coming weeks and months. I hope and pray that this enthusiasm will be contagious with the kids, and that they will hardly be able to contain themselves with what they get to experience and discuss (sorry in advance if you find them too hyped up ;) ).

If you do have any questions, concerns, or would love to come on board in some capacity, contact me at the church office. Blessings for all of your family,

Mr. Ray