KIDS IN WORSHIP - WE LOVE THEM; LET'S HELP THEM

Dear Emmaus Road,

I have some ideas about how to help our children participate in worship services, and I am interested in your feedback.

Over the years, our gradually growing crowd of young children has brought energy to our gatherings. We welcome them in many ways, and pursue ideas to support them together. Having them in our midst challenges us to relate the Gospel in creative ways, and to equip them to become future leaders and partners in ministry. Recently, we began referring to our children and youth as the “Young Church”; they are already part of us. On Sunday mornings, we are usually all together for the first part of the service; we intentionally program their exit to Godly Play and Big Kids after they have had an opportunity to engage in worship, singing songs, hearing and reciting prayers, etc. This is a primary way of introducing them to communal worship. During the music, their free, unfettered response has often been noted by visitors as a welcome sign of life in Emmaus Road. It is a contrast with how some have experienced worship gatherings elsewhere, when worship spaces largely excluded children.

I know we love our kids, and I think we like those aspects of our Emmaus Road gatherings. I also believe, though, we could be helping them find their way into more intentional fellowship with us. Over our typical time span of about 15 minutes of singing and a brief prayer or reading, I would like to try some things to help funnel their wonderful energy into authentic engagement with the music and other elements of communal worship. Sometimes, it seems our children move beyond musical response and movement to something more akin to play time. From up front, playing, singing, and speaking, I sense they occasionally lose focus from our attempt to direct attention to the Lord together, and become more enthralled with each other’s motions, the thrill of speed, toys or objects nearby that are tempting to play with, etc. We all recognize there are developmental stages at work, and limits to attention spans. But we know that children can be led into song and motion, and can be engaged as a group, when leaders spend time with them, invite them to hear and learn, and set different expectations for that time. We may not be able to form a traditional children’s choir, but there are other ways to help them find their voice in our gatherings.

I wonder, too, about how to help them make the transition from receiving morning treats to giving time and attention to the main purpose of our gathering. What kind of structure could we introduce to differentiate between the places where fellowship around donuts, fruit, pancakes, etc. is enjoyed, and the spaces where community sings, prays, moves, shares, and learns together?

Here is where I ask for your feedback. Perhaps you have little ones (or a little one), and you know what excites them and what bores them. Maybe you have some creative ideas about how to help our kids move or dance together, or set expectations and boundaries around snacks and worship activities. Please let me know, as I would like to work on this throughout the summer. If we agree on some expectations and approaches, we could enjoy worship together in a way that includes our young church even more effectively.

BTW, nobody has come to me, your pastor, to complain about our children in worship. This springs from my own feelings and conversations I have initiated with some of you.

 Please respond directly to me as you have time to reflect!

BIG KIDS UPDATE - MAY 2017

From Amy Araucto and Betsy Turnbull - Big Kids Leadership Team

Greetings families!

I hope you've been able to get out and enjoy some much needed sunshine. Now that it feels like summer might actually be coming to Seattle I wanted to get in touch to share a few updates:

End of school celebration - Sunday, July 2nd right after church. We will plan something outdoors to have some fun with friends and kick off summer. If you have any location ideas please let Amy or Betsy know. Siblings and families are all welcome!

Summer meetings - we have decided to continue with Big Kids during the summer worship time. There are enough people coming regularly and we feel the kids will benefit from it. The only change is that we won't be asking volunteers to do 3 weeks in a row, but will be doing one at a time just to piece it together for summer. Reba will be sending out a schedule in the coming weeks so please let her know via planning center if you will be gone.

Volunteers - currently on the rotation are Betsy, Brian, Andrew and Alicia. Are there others who might want to give it a try? With the newly developed itinerary it's pretty easy to jump in. The kids can basically tell you the schedule and it's printed in the room. 

New members - there are a few kids entering 2nd grade who might be joining next year, so we can revisit the idea of dividing the group if it becomes an issue. Of course we would need more volunteers to make that feasible so we will just play that by ear.

As always, Betsy and I are here to talk anytime and we welcome your input and ideas. We love working with your kiddos and are glad they all seem to be enjoying Big Kids in our new church home.

Thank you!

Amy 

206-235-5411

MARCH 2017 NEWS FROM EMMAUS ROAD TREASURER!

March 2017 News from the Emmaus Road Treasurer!

2016 Giving Statements:  The 2016 Giving Statements went out by e-mail in mid-February to those people that provided e-mail addresses, and are in the process of being mailed out to everyone else this week.  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.  You can reach me at treasurer@emmausroad.net.

New Online Donation Portal:  Emmaus Road has a new online giving portal, which is very cool (if I may say so myself!).  Click the link below and check it out!

https://emmausroadseattle.churchcenteronline.com/giving

This online portal will:

- Handle a one time donation from your credit card or your bank account (or by Apple Pay starting in April 2017);

- Handle a scheduled recurring donation from your credit card or your bank account (or by Apple Pay starting in April 2017);

- Send you a donation receipt via e-mail with every donation;

- Account for your donation in your Giving donor profile (so that you can look up your donation history any time you want);

- Automatically transfer the funds to Emmaus Road right after the donation is made (PayPal requires us to manually transfer funds, and then has a delay while the transfer processes).

If you want to make online donations to Emmaus Road, I encourage you to try this new online giving portal instead of PayPal, and let me know what you think.  

That said, if you are a PayPal fan, that is a-ok too, you can stick with your routine!  And, if you make donations by check, that is of course absolutely fine.  This is just a new opportunity for folks who prefer to donate using an online option.

2017 Giving:  All said and most importantly, THANK YOU for your generous giving to Emmaus Road  -- it is your donations that make the work of Emmaus Road possible.  Know that your giving spirit and monthly donations are truly the financial core of all that Emmaus Road does, and will continue to do, as we keep moving forward into 2017.

     

With Gratitude, 

Your Emmaus Road Treasurer,

Christina Nelson

--

C.Nelson

treasurer@emmausroad.net

www.emmausroad.net

EMMAUS ROAD - RAISING LEADERS 2017

This text is from the email message published January 18, 2017

Dear Emmaus Road,

Normally in church life, there is an ongoing process of raising new leaders and allowing former leaders to rest, learn, and eventually return.

For our church, though, the process has been interrupted and arrested the last couple years.  Now it feels like we have reached a time and place to renew our cycle of leadership recruiting, training, and empowering.

We have three leaders to acknowledge, thank, and release from their roles.

We have two new leaders to vote into office. I will send a separate email with a Doodle Poll link to call for the official vote.

We have several new leaders who are not “officers” but leading important areas of ministry.

We will also be recruiting some important leaders in the next several months before 2017 ends.

FIRSTLY, some gratitude:

Kristen Vander Linden, who served as our Sunday Crew Coordinator has handed the baton to Reba Ruiter.  This already happened a year ago, but I can’t remember if this was formally, publicly, acknowledged.  Thank you, Kristen, for the time and attention you devoted to this!  Thank you, Reba, for taking this on and for beginning to use Planning Center Online to help us organize our system further!

Mike Elenbaas, we thank you for several years of important work as both an elder and Treasurer.  You were willing to wear two hats and brought much enthusiasm and energy to our Council.  We hope to see these gifts emerge again in our future together.

Teresa Elenbaas, we thank, you for the many years you served as our Children’s Ministry Coordinator, helping oversee several areas of activity, including supervision and encouragement of our Godly Play Storyteller, Matt Park.  Your attention to detail and willingness to listen to divergent opinions is greatly appreciated.

SECONDLY, I have two church officers to recommend as candidates for Council:

I recommend Dan Ruiter as an elder.  Dan is willing to resume elder responsibilities (he served as elder for several seasons in the past) alongside current elder, Rennie Araucto. We would once again have two elders, whose focus would be on being equipped, and equipping others, to help maintain discipleship as a ministry priority, and consult on major church decisions with Pastor Eric.

I recommend Christina Nelson as Treasurer.  Christina knows how to get things accomplished.  She would be working alongside Jennifer Geelhood, Emmaus Road’s newly hired bookkeeper as of this month.  Christina can help Emmaus Road achieve a new level of financial organization and cultivate some volunteer sustainability (in terms of the Treasurer role, which can be very demanding at times). Chandra Mullenix and David Anema remain as members of the Stewardship Team, lending support, too.

I will soon send a separate email with a Doodle Poll link when I call for an official vote on these two candidates. Please contact me (Eric) with any questions or concerns about either candidate.  You are encouraged to approach either Dan or Christina with respectful questions, as well.

THIRDLY, we have other leaders to celebrate:

Lara Fullner-Grennan is our liaison with the Nursery volunteers (not scheduling - which Reba oversees - but voicing any concerns/needs as they arise)

Nicole Moxon (part-time staff), is our Godly Play Storyteller, our Convener of Children’s Ministry leadership for quarterly update conversations, our Safe Church Policy Administrator, and our liaison to the Greenbelt Youth Network, gathering youth from across churches for shared events and leader learning.

Amy Araucto is taking on Big Kids from Angie, who we also thank for the last few years of coordination and oversight.

Youth Mentors currently include Jade Guettler and Kevin Moxon, coached and encouraged by pastor Eric.

Angie and Biff are sharing coordination of the New Horizons dinners, helping us revamp our menus, and working with various small groups.

Alex and Jade Guettler are overseeing our supportive role with Aurora Commons

As we celebrate these newer leaders who are stepping up this season, let us not forget the regular service and leadership of our musicians every Sunday, along with those who host and facilitate small group gatherings beyond Sunday.  We also commend Biff for stepping up and making the transition from setup/takedown responsibilities to custodian and caretaker.

FINALLY, in the near future:

We need to raise up an elder representing the households from the North End,

as well as an elder from the Maple Leaf area (along with our formal partnership with the Turnbulls and The House Ministries)

a Building/Grounds Team and leader,

an Easter Brunch coordinator,

and someone inspired to help us do Church Camp again (maybe I’m the only one interested in that).

We also need to officially welcome some of our newer ministry partners and worshippers as full-fledged members of the “Road Crew”, our nickname for “membership” with Emmaus Road.  I am in the process of discerning how to communicate our leadership structure (which you can see is in transition).

Please pray for each other, pray for our leaders, and ask for us to remain alert to the Holy Spirit’s wisdom. 

Stay tuned for more information!