Kia ora whānau
As always we have packed a lot into the first term of the year. We had a small little break early on in gathering together as we jumped into Alert Level 2. But all in all we have enjoyed better consistency. This has been obvious in the relationship building within our programmes.
Within Term One we celebrated Easter Sunday altogether. Such an incredible time walking through God’s story from creation
As a wider church community we also farewelled Nick and Sarah Field from their role as Senior Pastors. Such a legacy they leave as over their 24 years of leadership at The Street they have consistently lifted Jesus high, pointed us to the Word of God and encouraged us to worship with our whole lives. We look forward to all God has in store for us in this new season. Enjoy catching up with what the Children’s and Youth Ministries have been up to over these past 10 weeks.
Mainly Music
Mainly music this term has seen lots of new faces, which has been exciting to see! We love it when groups of mums and bubs find us and bring their friends along too; such an awesome way to build community. We have just finished our special lead up to Easter, where we read the story of Jesus each week, and finished this week with an Easter egg hunt. As a team, we are praying for the seeds that have been sown, that they would begin to grow, and families would desire to know who Jesus is. Please be praying with us!
Kids Zone - Pre school
What a fabulous start to 2021 in the Pre School programmes. We have had settled programmes with lots of fun and such an awesome team of leaders investing each week.
Our 1-2’s programme has had several new team members join us. The team is working well together and creating wonderful opportunities for children to build trust and belonging within the Kids Zone ministry. We have made some environmental changes which has been a positive experience and we are continuing to assess other changes needed to best serve this group with the ever growing group size!
The 3-4’s programme is a smaller group for this half of the year and this has facilitated children, leaders and families to spend more time getting to know each other and engaging in meaningful interactions. The team continues to go above and beyond as they creatively and energetically teach the children four key truths. God loves me, I can love Jesus, God created me and I can love others. Look out for some changes to the welcome process as children arrive that will be implemented from the start of term Two.
Kids Zone - School-Aged
Our school-aged children have gone back to basics for term one in Kids Zone. The first half of the term was devoted to exploring prayer, how and why we do it, and looking at great examples of people praying in the Bible. The second half of the term focused on God’s Word, with bottom lines such as I Know My Bible and How To Use It and The Word of God Is A Powerful Tool For My Everyday Life. Two of our five core values as a church are Prayerful and Bible-based, so it’s great that we can be instilling the importance of God’s Word and Prayer at such a young age.
We almost got through the term without a lockdown, but not quite! Thankfully, because we had decided to retain pre-recorded teaching during Alert Level 1, transitioning back to Kids Zone Online was a breeze. Pre-recorded teaching has a few bonuses, including resilience when transitioning between alert levels, consistent education across programmes, and parents and team members’ ability to engage with the teaching content before and after the Sunday. Jump onto the partnering Facebook page and check out the teaching for Sunday so you’re equipped to have a rich conversation with your young person about what they learnt that day.
Squad Friday Night
In Squad we had a great term with fun times in the Life Centre in homes. One of our best nights was the epic Nerf Battle, which is pretty much just chaos with nerf guns. We also have slowly been introducing worship by occasionally bringing the Squad youth in to The Massive for worship.
Coming up in term 2 we will be having our epic Laser Tag night and will give you more details early in term. Coming up 24-26 September we will be taking our Squad youth to iCamp. Be watching facebook and email for more details.
And lastly we would like to create a security team for Squad. We would need 2 people each night to help watch the front doors and keep track of who is coming and going. Currently our Squad leaders do this but it would be helpful to be able to free them up to be interacting with the Squad youth. If this is something you are interested please contact Matt.
Massive
We've just finished up a great term with a theme called misfits. We worked our way through 1 Peter and explored "What does it look like to truly live as Christ-followers in a world and culture where we are ‘misfits’?"
One of our biggest highlights of the term was Easter Camp. Although the weather wasn't amazing our time together and with God was. Many of our youth commented on how they truly felt like they were part of a safe community where they could be open and vulnerable. They also spoke about fresh encounters they had with God.
Coming up in Term 2 we will be having our epic Laser Tag night. We will be posting details in email and on Facebook early on in the term. Coming at the end of term 3, 1-4 October will be Camp Massive. Be on the look out for more details in term 2!
Things to know about
Parents Evening - 17th May
Our children are facing some big things in the world today. As a church community, we would love to help equip parents with a practical, relational and discipleship response.
You are invited to come together to begin a discussion around Technology, Sexual Integrity, Gender Identity and Anxiety.
WHEN: Monday 17th May
WHERE: 9 Hania Street, Main Auditorium
TIME: 7-9pm
For more information, email families@thestreet.org.nz
Join the team - PLEASE!
We are the Church! It takes every single one of us to joyfully and sacrificially serve with the gifts and talents that God has given us to make the body function. Our Kids Zone team across all programmes needs 30 new team members.
Join the Kids Zone team and be part of investing in the future faith of children (yours and others) in an intentional and practical way. Full training and ongoing support is provided, and a police vet check is required.
Check-In
Check-In for all Kids Zone Sunday morning programmes is at the Kids Zone Hub in the foyer from 8:45 am. All children, regardless of what time you arrive, need to be checked in for safety reasons. If the Hub has closed, please check-in at the programme room for your child.
Preschool children can head straight up to their programmes, or if you choose to have them in the main auditorium with you, please ensure they are in the preschool rooms NO LATER than 9:20 am. This helps with the smooth running of the programmes for all children.
School-Aged children start in the main auditorium and head over to their programmes in the Life Centre at the service leader’s direction.
If your child does not end up attending a programme, they need to be checked out. A leader will come looking for them if they are recorded as attending but not present when the roll call is done.
Crackers
In line with the Ministry of Education regulations for Early Childhood Centres, we are no longer using hard rice crackers in the Preschool programmes. These will be replaced with a wheat-based cracker. If you have any questions or do not want your child to have these crackers, please let us know.
From Us
Our door is always open and we love to hear from you and how we can best support you as you raise your children to know and love the Lord. We are keen to pray for you by name and the specific things that are going on for your family. Never hesitate to be in touch! We love you and look forward to this next year together.
