So Thankful for Men

The United States has over 1.3 million child care teachers.  Of those, only 4% are men.  In our Redemption Hill Kids classes on Sunday mornings, 30 out of 70 of our teachers are men.

Nationwide, most children’s ministries- like other positions teaching children- are staffed primarily by women.  In fact, many children can grow up without having any regular interaction with a male figure outside the home except a principal.

That’s why I’m so thankful that RH Kids has lots of volunteers who are guys.  And I don’t mean the kind who pick daisies and tiptoe through the tulips (though we’ll welcome volunteers like that if they love Jesus and pass their application and background check.)  I mean the tough masculine types like those pictured below.

Men like Christian Hayes who taught our kids this past week about King Saul’s faithless sacrifice before his battle with the Philistines.  (“He did it because he was scared, not because he was doing it for God,” recalls my six-year old.)  Or Tom Hanrahan, who is more likely to have kids doing jumping jacks than dancing during worship.  Or the K-3 teachers who sometimes forget to have the kids cut-and-color but (in my daughter’s words) play “millions of games.”

I trust that our kids are getting solid Biblical teaching from the men and women who volunteer in RH Kids.  I appreciate that.  But I love that 43% of our teachers are exposing them to a broader spectrum of the character of God than women could do alone.  Thank God for the men!

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Little Globetrotters visit Venezuela

A long trek by air, bus, dug-out canoe, and foot took us to the Amazon jungles in Venezuela for our December missions event with the preschoolers and their parents.  Kelly Little showed pictures and told about visiting people in the jungles who had never heard the name of Jesus before.  When the children threw in their beanbags to say a “beanbag prayer” for the country, they prayed for clean water, plenty of food, and people to go preach to the children in the Amazon region.  Once again, the children took home a calendar to guide them in praying for Venezuela each day this month.

Below are some pictures from the Little Globetrotters event:

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Thanks for Giving to CHAT

A special thanks to the 55 RH folks who brought food and helped serve Thanksgiving dinner at a dinner sponsored by CHAT at their facility called the Lighthouse in Church Hill.  It was great to see families serving together and community groups passing out desserts together.  CHAT director Chris Whiting said, “I was so grateful to introduce so many friends to CHAT and get people out to see the Lighthouse.”  Have a Happy Thanksgiving week.  May generosity come easily to you this holiday season.

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COTN Bake Sale

Sunday the Kids’ Community Group (RH middle schoolers) held a bake sale to raise money for an organization called Children of the Nations.  This group aims to partner with nationals to provide holistic, Christ-centered care for orphaned and destitute children, enabling them to create positive and lasting change in their nations.  Our kids’ group was particularly energized by the prospect of helping orphaned and destitute children, so the kids have been planning this bake sale for months.

We learned more about COTN getting ready for the bake sale; their wholistic efforts to shape national leaders in these countries focus on the following eight areas:

1. Education
2. Feeding Centers
3. Medical Centers
4. Evangelism and Discipleship
5. Agricultural Farming
6. Micro-Enterprise
7. Children’s Homes
8. Trauma Counseling

As you can see from the pictures below, the kids had a great time.  They also had a productive time; they raised over $125 from their bake sale to send to help children in Sierra Leone, Malawi, Uganda, Dominican Republic, and the US through COTN.

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Little Globetrotters Go to China

On the first Tuesday of each month, preschoolers and their parents are invited to trot around the world to see what God is doing with children like them all over the globe.  In our inaugural time together, Chrissy Black took the children on an exciting, hands-on journey through China.  We desire for the youngest RH Kids to love the world God has made and for their parents to gain ideas, resources, and inspiration to lead their children to love international missions.

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Being Ambassadors and Servants this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving today draws up images of harvest and extravagant meals.  Historically, the American Thanksgiving was a celebration of God’s providing deliverance through the harvest (natural means) and through the Pilgrims’ community (the Native Americans.)  As God used these two means, he also supernaturally intervened to keep the  entire community from starving.  Thus we celebrate today.

We also have much to thank God for because of the deliverance He provided us through the Gospel of Jesus.  Our jobs are the natural provision for our lives.  Our church, friends, and family are his community provision.  And supernaturally God has intervened and provided for us salvation through Jesus.  Thanksgiving, indeed!

In our last sermon series we were challenged to think of how we live “in this city, for the nations.” As God’s children we have been served by the One who left glory to go on mission for our sake.  Our love for Him draws us to serve others as we have been served, caring for the city where God has put us.

Please consider two opportunities to serve and be ambassadors this Thanksgiving:  Welcome a refugee family into your home to share a meal with you, as detailed in the previous post.  Or join others from Redemption Hill as we help to serve a Thanksgiving meal in Church Hill.

Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT) is an inner-city non-profit whose goal is to create and sustain intentional communities that are dedicated to transforming the lives of at-risk youth in Church Hill.  We are one of the churches/groups partnering with CHAT to help provide a Thanksgiving meal that helps build community in Church Hill.  CHAT is looking for people who will help set up, bring food, serve food, and break down afterward.

If you are free the Monday night before Thanksgiving (November 23) and able to help with the CHAT Thanksgiving meal, look for the sign up to come through the City, our RH online community, or get in touch with Chris Whiting at chris.whiting@chatrichmond.org.

Our prayer is that this Thanksgiving, instead of being merely a time of feasting, may be a time where we marvel at the magnificent grace of God in our lives and turn that grace toward others as ambassadors and servants of Christ.

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Hanging Around

Our kindergarteners through third graders are dismissed to their class during the Sunday morning sermon.  This dynamic group of children loves to play with each other (thus the hanging kids) and they also love to talk with each other about what God has done for them in Jesus.

This age group uses the Christian Focus curriculum.  Over a three year period, they will cover Biblical history and doctrine not on a chronological schedule but on a liturgical schedule.  That means that from the Advent season through the end of the Easter season each year, they study the life and death of Jesus and his teachings.  During the “ordinary times” of the rest of the year, they study the Old Testament story of redemption.

Of course the kids don’t really know all of this.  But they can tell you what they are praying for, what their favorite parts of the Bible are, why they love Jesus, and-of course- how much they love being together.

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