Newsletter

Children, Youth and Family Newsletter January 2024

As we enter into 2024, things are really starting to solidify here in the world of Children, Youth and Family Ministry. After trying a new schedule and taking some time to evaluate and revamp - we are going to keep with the schedule we have been following.

JANUARY CALENDAR

Here is what is going on in the month of JANUARY: Details for these events can be found below

January 03: Facebook LIVE "Star Word" Event

January 07: Childrens MInistry AND Baptism Celebration

January 10: Middle School Ministry

January 14: Childrens MInistry AND High School Ministry

January 17: Middle School Ministry

January 21: Childrens Ministry and SUMMER SUNDAY

January 24: Middle School Ministry

January 28: Childrens Ministry AND High School Ministry

January 31: Middle School Ministry

CHILDRENS MINISTRY

Childrens Ministry (Birth-5th Grade) meets during worship. We will leave after the Childrens Message and return to worship after the Sermon. We will continue to follow the lectionary text, so your young people will be hearing and digging into the same text that is being preached on. We will also be bringing music BACK and plan to sing in Church for more than just the Christmas program and Palm Sunday.

During January we will return to using Sunday's scripture as the basis of our conversations and lesson time. Our activities will be a mix of games, crafts and other fun learning experiences

REGISTRATION and FEES

Please take a moment to fill out the REGISTRATION LINK This will help me better support you, your children and their activities outside of Prince of Peace, as well as understand how I can best serve them here at Prince of Peace. The 23-24 fee for Children's Ministry is $40 and can be paid by cash or check

MIDDLE SCHOOL MINISTRY

MIddle School Ministry (6th-8th Grade) meets on Wednesday nights in a combination of Large Group/Small Group lessons and discussion times. Our time together will be spent digging into the scripture text from the previous Sunday so that we can work towards applying scripture to our daily lives. We will also incorporate Service Events, Fellowship Events and Worship Components into our Wednesday evenings. Traditional Confirmation elements, such as learning the 10 Commandments, Lords Prayer, etc will be presented in retreat or class form and will be communicated ahead of time. Our Wednesday night schedule is this:

6:30 - 6:45: DECOMPRESS and STRESS RELIEF TIME

6:45 - 7:30/7:45: Structured Lesson Time

7:30/7:45 - 8:00: DECOMPRESS and STRESS RELIEF TIME

REGISTRATION and FEES

Please take a minute to fill out the REGISTRATION LINK will help me better support you, your children and their activities outside of Prince of Peace, as well as understand how I can best serve them here at Prince of Peace. The 23-24 fee for Middle School Ministry is $40

HIGH SCHOOL MINISTRY

High School Ministry will meet two Sundays a month (FOR NOW) for High School Hangout from 6:00 - 9:00 PM. Church will be open and available for whatever your high schooler needs it to be. There will be a quiet place to study (YOUTH ROOM), a space to relieve some stress (CLC) a place to do Group Projects (Welcome Center) and a place to simply be. Katie will be here to talk if you need it, and will have devotionals ready to go that will correlate with that Sundays scripture. Starting in January, we will be doing a short conversation time from 7:00 - 7:30. This time will be used to talk about Christian Values and ideas around kindness, gratitude and others. We may also work in some Book Conversation

On the Sundays that the Church is NOT open for High School Hangout, a Devotional will be made available by 5:30 on those nights.

REGISTRATION AND FEES

While High School Ministry does not have as much "structure" as our other areas, we would still appreciate your help in gathering information about your child. This information will help us better serve them when they are here, but will also allow us to meet them where they are when they are NOT at Church. While there is no official "FEE" for High School Ministry (with the exception of paying for individual events as needed) free will donations are always accepted as well as snacks for a "snack corner". REGISTRATION LINK

BAPTISM CELEBRATION

January 7th, the Lutheran Church celebrates Baptism of our Lord Sunday - a day set aside to hear the story of Jesus' Baptism. Jesus' Baptism was a special day for Jesus, just as our own Baptisms are a special day for us.

THIS Baptism of our Lord Sunday will be a day of celebration as we take time to celebrate our own baptisms.

During worship if you had a child baptized in 2023, their name will be read as part of the prayers.

If you had a child baptized in the years 2020-2023 we will have a special event for them in the CLC following worship.

There will also be special discussions and activities in the Welcome Center for the entire congregation.

SUMMER 2024

On January 21st we will be celebrating SUMMER SUNDAY! This day will be the day that information about our ENTIRE Summer Plans will be available for you including WAPO Dates (although those will also be sent ahead of the registration day on the 15th), Summer Day Camp information and Ministry opportunities for Middle and High School.

UPCOMING FEBRUARY

Here what is coming in FEBRUARY

PLEASE NOTE: These dates are TENTATIVE and some may change based on feedback

February 04: Childrens Ministry

February 07: Middle School Ministry

February 11: Childrens Ministry AND High School Ministry

February 14: LENT Mentoring Begins

February 18: Childrens Ministry

February 21: LENT Mentoring

February 25: Childrens Ministry AND High School Ministry

February 28: LENT Mentoring

DATE TBD: Childrens Ministry Event

DATE TBD: Youth Ministry Event

Upcoming Church Wide Events

January 21st we will be having our Churchwide Annual Meeting. We will talk about the joys of 2023 and our hopes for 2024. The meeting will start at 11:00 AM in the Worship Center
If you would love to be on an Usher and/or Greeter team, please let me know and I will pass your names on to the team leads.

FINANCIAL UPDATE

Prince of Peace is currently in the process of updating their online giving platform to allow easier access. This is also allowing up to have an online payment option.

In case you did NOT receive it, HERE is a blast that was recently sent out that gives more detail on how to set up your new account, as well as cancelling your previous account (if you had one through VANCO).