by Yuen Kwong

I can’t believe that it’s going to be eight years since I first joined the Fireflies ministry. It has truly been an amazing experience and I loved every minute of it! Being in a ministry for this long has allowed me to see how God has grown this ministry not only in size but also spiritually over the years. We went from a few toddlers at the old church in the Scripps Ranch area to our current location and taking up 2 rooms to accommodate for the 30+ babies and toddlers that we care for.

When the Elders first announced that Fireflies will now have a teaching curriculum for the older kids (generally 15 months to 3 year-olds) years ago, my initial thought was that the kids are so young, would they really grasp anything that we’re teaching them? What would the lesson look like? As the Nursery staff began to go over the curriculum, we slowly fine tuned what lessons to go over, how often we will teach the lesson, what memory verses to go along with each lesson, and what songs to sing. Our staff holds quarterly meetings to discuss how things are working and how we can better serve the children and aiding their parents in teaching them who God is.

As the years progressed, I transitioned from the regular rotation to the teaching rotation, and all the while, God has humbled and blessed me in so many ways as I learned and continue to learn how to care for the children physically and spiritually. Caring for the little ones can be physically exhausting, but I find that the days when we have to address heart issues with the kids to be the most fatiguing days. Rather than behavior modification, we seek to help the children understand that their behavior (refusing to obey, pushing, biting, hitting, snatching, etc.) stems from a sinful heart and we want to help them identify the root issues as we teach them appropriate responses.

To all the parents, kudos to you for your loving patience with your kids and your diligence in going over the lessons and memory verses/motions with them. Although sometimes they may be a little shy during the lesson time to show what they’ve learned at home, all your hard work shows through subtle things. For instance, on a particularly chaotic Sunday a few years back, I had to teach a lesson on how only God is big showing how God made everything and also Adam and Eve’s disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit was due to their attempt to be like God. Our curriculum comes with picture illustrations as visual aids, and the picture of the forbidden fruit and its tree looked like an apple and an apple tree. I was afraid that the kids would associate apples as the forbidden fruit and would refuse to eat them, so I repeated many times that the pictured fruit was not an apple, but a type of fruit that God told Adam and Eve not to eat. During the lesson, we were already late into our normal schedule. Typically, we start our lesson between 10:00am – 10:15am, but due to lots of crying kids, potty breaks, lots of poopy diapers, and disciplining issues, service was ending with the hymn and we haven’t even had the lesson yet! At the end of the day when the kids were picked up, thinking back on the lesson, I struggled with whether or not I had communicated the lesson clearly and effectively, especially since so many of the kids were distracted by some of the inconsolable kids crying in the background. Later that evening, I saw a Facebook video post that one of the church members took of some kids in the car as they were heading out to lunch. The kids were asked what they learned today and the nursery aged child responded that he learned that Adam and Eve disobeyed because God told them not to eat the fruit, and he emphasized that the fruit was not an apple, just a fruit. When the auntie asked the child, if he disobeys, he responded sadly, “Yes, I disobey sometimes because mommy and daddy tell me not to cry but I still cry.” That short video brought me such joy! Even in my failure, shortcomings, and anxiety, God makes everything glorify Him.

To all the parents, I encourage you to continue to depend and trust in the Lord as you parent your child(ren). Please let the teachers or Nursery Coordinators know how we can better serve you and teach your children. To the nursery staff workers, I challenge you to invest in the kids during the playing time and make every opportunity a teaching opportunity. And to take the time to get to know the parents and encourage them with something that the child did in nursery. To the female LBC members who may be potentially interested in this ministry, please come and observe! If you don’t know how to care for children, it is a great place to observe and learn from the more experienced sisters – we’ll teach you everything from changing poopy diapers to shepherding a child’s heart!

by Ryan McAdams

* You probably know the sport as “soccer.”

Visit a youth soccer (football, from now on) match of your choosing on any given Saturday, and you’ll likely hear coaches barking instructions like stay back, Tanner, you’re a defender! or kick it up front! Once they’ve moved beyond the all-bunch-around-the-ball stage, you’ll see the kids find a certain sense of comfort in the position to which the coaches assign them, to the point that a kid will rarely leave the general zone of his position. (Many in and outside of the United States have pointed to this as a major flaw in the United States’s youth soccer development system.) In fact, the early development of the sport of football would also look this way, too, with two or three defenders, and up to eight forwards on one side of the pitch (field), and the same match-up in reverse on the other side, with the defenders desperately trying to kick the ball to the other side of the field, and nobody running in between.

But, in the early 1970s, while football had advanced to include midfielders, the Netherlands, under visionary coach Rinus Michaels began to introduce a concept in their play, which they named “Total Football.” They thought that every member of the team should have the ability to play in any position on the pitch. For the old positionally rigid teams, this would pose a problem when one of the Dutch defenders decided that he saw an opportunity and took off down the field to join the other attackers. Additionally, nobody expected defenders to have any skill in dribbling or passing, but opposing teams found that with these skills, the Dutch could keep the ball almost indefinitely. Indeed, this philosophy reached its zenith in the 1974 World Cup Final, where the Dutch scored their first goal after about a minute of play, and the Germans hadn’t touched the ball once. You may think, I don’t remember the Dutch winning a World Cup, and you’d be right – they actually lost that match 2-1, with most observers claiming that the Dutch simply had more interest in passing and playing with the ball than scoring after that first goal.

But, the reality is that certain players do have certain strengths and weaknesses, and so you have many present-day teams which have adopted part of the philosophy of Total Football without completely abandoning the idea of distinct roles. One of the major tenets of Total Football which helped to cement its legacy was the way in which the teams adjusted and viewed space. In the scenario I previously described, a defender who saw an opening would join the attackers, but this only initiated a chain reaction of sorts. Ideally, the other ten players on his team would understand his intention, know where he was and where he was going, and adjust to cover the space he vacated in the defense. The entire team would adapt to the situation and support each other in the common goal of scoring and preventing scoring from their opponents. Forwards would run back to help in defense if an opposing player began to break away, or wide defenders would run forward along the sidelines into open space to give their attacking players another passing option.

And this brings us to Children’s Ministry. Like football, Children’s Ministry (or any ministry, really) can crystallize into a specific routine, like the message and post-message discussions happen first hour, and singing and activity happen second hour. (Coincidentally, this approximates our Sonlight elementary school ministry schedule.) This schedule has nothing inherently wrong in it, but we can focus so much on our position/routine that we neglect the goal of our ministry. Those of us who serve in the Children’s Ministry and the children’s parents work on a team to instill God’s Word in the children’s hearts. Just like most modern-day clubs take ideas from Total Football, yet still retain the sense of positions, God has very clearly given the parents the primary role of shepherding their children, and the children’s ministries must work to support the parents in their shepherding.

To this end, as the Sonlight ministry, we must have the flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of our parents and abilities of our staff. So, if the first-hour message and second-hour singing and crafts helps the parents teach God’s word to their children best, then we keep it. But, if not, we must have the humility to move into other space and try different things. We facilitate communication lines between the parents and staff so that we can work together for their children’s edification, and so that we as the staff can understand the parents’ intentions and situations and fit ourselves to the current state of the playing field. This may lead to Sonlight looking radically different from one year to the next while always instructing the children in God’s word. But if Sonlight is simply responding to the new set of children and changing needs of the parents, then that difference should not cause concern. Rather, show concern if Sonlight never changes.

by Grace Lee

Teaching on any subject is eye-opening and educational in the preparation and presentation, but when it happens to be the Word of God to a group that includes your own children, a huge measure of humility and conviction is definitely part of the process.

When Jin and I prayerfully joined the Sparklers’ staff last year, we didn’t realize the extent of how challenged and blessed we’d be through our involvement. We had always appreciated the staff – all of children’s staff for that matter – but our admiration and appreciation grew in such a deeper level as we ourselves had to prepare lessons (currently through the Old Testament) and get a whole behind-the-scenes look of what happens each Sunday to have God’s Word taught to these impressionable children.

We were asked as staff to listen and respond to two sermons on teaching Sunday school preschoolers from Children Desiring God at the end of last year: Preschool Teaching by Connie Oman and Preschool Lesson Preparation & Training by Connie Oman and Holly Urbanski. Two things struck my heart from listening to these sermons:

1. The hearts of preschoolers are fertile, and the window of opportunity for a child’s salvation gets smaller as they get older, so the best teachers should be teaching preschool. –Gulp- This added such weight to the responsibility and significance of communicating God’s Word to the Sparklers.
2. Connie Oman’s own teaching was dotted throughout with tears as she spoke of the gospel. Her love for Christ was so evident, and this really challenged me – my prayer became that I wouldn’t be just relaying Bible stories or truths to give information to the kids, but that I’d be speaking from the heart of the great and loving God whom I know and serve.

Anyone who works with preschoolers can tell you that they are impressionable, energetic, curious, and just downright adorable (most of the time). It’s been such a privilege to serve in Sparklers and see the children as they engage with biblical truths and interact with one another. It’s impossible to walk out of that room without having cracked a smile or laughed.

by Carol Lim

I am extremely blessed to be a part of Fireflies Nursery ministry.  This is where I get to serve the children and the parents, but more than that, this is a ministry that God has used and continues to use to teach me truth about Himself.

I was recently reading a passage in Matthew 18 where Jesus’ disciples are debating about being the greatest in the Kingdom.  As they are arguing, Jesus brings a child in the midst to exhort those listening to have a childlike faith (v.1-3) and to be humble like a child (v.4) – completely lacking in sophistication and power, yet filled with simplicity and totally dependent on others to care for them.  I saw from this passage how Jesus used a child to teach His disciples, children of God, a lesson about His love and affection for His own, and His desire in wanting to protect His children from falling into sin.  He even lays out a harsh statement that “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (v.6)  How terrified those disciples must have been, when they realized that by bickering and arguing about being the greatest in the Kingdom they were in fact provoking each other to bitterness, pride, envy, jealousy and thus mutually causing each other to sin.

The passage helped me to think through how our Heavenly Father feels about wanting to make sure that His children are being cared for.  Having raised two children and now watching my older child raise a daughter of her own there is no doubt in my mind how far I would go to protect my children from anyone trying to harm them.  If you attempt to harm my child (or my grandchild) I would probably come after you.  There’s no question that I’m committed to care for them, to protect them from any harm and danger.  This kind of love and care is what I regularly witness as I see moms and dads bring in their child into nursery week after week.  I see how the parents want to make sure that their child is safe and is being cared for (I see some nervous first-time moms peeking in through the window from time to time).  Likewise I am reminded to be cautious about how I treat another believer, who is a child of God.  How I treat God’s people has always been of great concern to God.  My attitude, speech, and actions all have a huge implication on whether I’m causing another believer to love God or to sin.  It is no longer just about my spiritual well-being, but also looking out for another believer, encouraging him/her to grow in their knowledge and understanding of Him who constantly desires to love, care and protect us.

by Dennis Su

In Sonlight, we’re continuing our study of the Old Testament, focusing on the book of Exodus for the past few weeks. We recently learned about the tabernacle and how it was used by God to dwell with the Israelites. It has been encouraging to see the interest the kids have about the tabernacle and items within it. What has also been encouraging in studying the tabernacle is seeing how God uses the tabernacle to point to Christ.

In one of the lessons, we saw how the Mercy Seat and the Day of Atonement pointed to Christ’s atonement for man’s sin and how the sins of the Israelites were covered through this ceremony. We can also see how other items in the tabernacle point to Christ and to God’s holiness. The veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies conveys God’s holiness and His separation from man’s sinfulness. Later we see in the New Testament (Hebrews 10:19-20) that Jesus represented the new way for man to be brought into God’s presence (veil no longer needed) and that the death of Christ also resulted in the tabernacle veil being torn in half. The bronze altar was for continual sacrifices required of the Israelites by God and pointed to the ultimate sacrifice through Christ. The basin in the tabernacle was also used by priests to wash themselves clean before being in God’s presence. If this was not done before going into the Holy Place, they would die. In each item of the tabernacle we can see either God’s holiness or illustration of Christ.

The kids also had an opportunity to reconstruct the tabernacle during Sunday School. This activity helped emphasize how it was God who wanted to be with Israel and who gave specific instructions on how the tabernacle was to be built. My hope is that the Sonlight kids would be able to see how God wants to have a relationship with man despite our sinfulness and that the purpose of Christ’s death would be more clearly seen through the tabernacle lessons.

by Jane Kim

The Fireflies Ministry has changed from its small staff of 5 members and 3 babies to the booming ministry it is today of over 30 staff members and 30+ infants and toddlers. Back in 1999 when LBC first started, this ministry, albeit small, was needed even then. As a collegian, I thought it would be a great way to spend time with the cute babies and serve the 3 families of our church. Over the years, however, my views on how I could serve on staff changed. Sure, it was fun for a while holding sleeping babies and playing with the inquisitive toddlers. However, it was definitely not all rainbows and butterflies. I cannot tell you the number of times I held a crying infant through an entire service, changed diapers that had exploded, caught throw-up with my bare hands, or had spit-up run down my hair or shirt. Yuck! However, did I feel any less compelled to care for and love them despite the fact that we were not related by blood? Honestly, no. Even though we were not related by birth, I saw each one as a part of my church family. It was an opportunity to serve not only their parents so that they could have an undistracted time of worship, but it was also an opportunity to show in a physical way God’s love to each child.

Now I’m a mom of four with my last child in nursery. Serving on staff has given me an opportunity to see and work with other members who are dedicated to imparting God’s truth and providing love and care for each child on Sundays and special events. This is a ministry that does not take a break in serving. It has evolved to include teaching toddlers at a young age about who God is and what He has done. Most of these children will not remember to adulthood all the particulars of what they received in our care (e.g., “so and so held me while I screamed in her ear for over an hour,” “she was the one that cleaned up after my accident during my potty training,” or “that lady read me the same book over and over again because I asked her to do so”). No, they will not remember those particulars. I hope and pray though that they will come out of this ministry and our church with a sense of comfort and ease knowing that they had a safe, loving, caring environment that they went to on Sundays to learn about God. As a mom, I am so thankful for this ministry and the staff who serve our children. Thank you Children’s Ministry, in particular Fireflies Staff, for your faithful service to us all! It is a service that is definitely done behind the scenes, and I am so privileged to have been part of it and a recipient of it all these years!

by Kyle Grindley

God’s Big Plan

Teaching in Sparklers has blessed me because, as a staff, we teach through the both Old and New Testaments, every 2 years. We have been using this curriculum since 2008, which means I am on my third lap teaching through the Bible with the Sparklers. Distilling dense Bible passages down to 10 minute lessons that 3-year-olds can understand has really helped me focus on the big overarching themes in the Bible. Going through the Bible like this has shown me two amazing things: God has a big plan, and we have an exciting role in His big plan.

The Bible is one unified story of God displaying His glory through redeeming His people. God made this plan in eternity past, and shared it with us in the Bible through 40 authors over more than a thousand years. God validated His word by writing history in advance, something only God could do. First Peter 1 says that Christ and His work were foreknown before the foundation of the world. God didn’t just predict history, but He planned the redemption of His people through Christ before creation. God didn’t interrupt history by sending Jesus, He orchestrated history to lead up to Christ in a perfect story about God’s glory.

We can see a concise picture of God’s glory when we look at God’s proclamation when He agreed to let His glory pass before Moses. God did not just say “I will let my glory pass before you,” He said “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” (Ex. 33:19, emphasis added) God proclaimed that he is Lord and He is good. Time after time throughout redemptive history demonstrates this goodness-lordship couplet. God has the power and right to rule, thus He is “The Lord”, and motivated by His merciful goodness, He uses that rule to bless His people. God is committed to His glory, and the Bible is the story of God displaying His glory, showing the whole of His attributes by using His power for the good of His people, which results in praise from His people.

God has allowed us to join as willing participants in displaying His glory. We display the goodness and lordship of God when we trust Him. His goodness is on display because we trust that God will do what is best for us and keep His promises. His lordship, or sovereignty, is on display because we trust that He knows what is best for us and has the ability to accomplish it. God is worth our complete trust because He is completely good and completely in control.

Teaching God’s Big Plan

This February Sparklers is getting a lot of new kids, not quite doubling our numbers. To accommodate for the growth we are making some changes, trying to mix new ideas with our tried curriculum. One thing we are adding is a Bible outline to try to keep unity of God’s big plan from being lost amongst the many stories. These stories are testaments to God’s glory in and of themselves, but they are so much richer when woven in the context of God’s larger plan of redemption.

The outline we are going to try is based on a telling of redemptive history through a series of “kingdoms”; where a kingdom is defined as “God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing.” (A great summary can be found at davemiers.com; Kingdoms Summary). This struck me as a good way to digest and understand what God is doing throughout history because it specifically highlights His sovereignty in His “rule” and His goodness in His “blessing”.

The Big Picture Story Bible, by David Helm, is a children’s Bible that tells the Bible’s story through the lens of “God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing.” It describes the Bible as “a big book, about a big God, who keeps a big promise.” Teaching about our big God who keeps His big promise falls right in line with the current Sparklers curriculum. Helm’s adaptation for children omits the explicit “kingdom” terminology, while preserving the meaning behind it. We are taking a similar approach in Sparklers. The original alliterated titles were changed for more 3-year-old friendly titles, and the explicit “kingdom” references were dropped so the titles could be more descriptive and point directly to God.

As we teach through the Bible we will use this outline to show the Sparklers God’s plan for bringing glory to himself through saving us. It will also help them understand where each of the individual stories fit in this plan. Hopefully what they learn in Sparklers will feed a sense of wonder at the awesome God behind everything.

A Bible Outline for Sparklers

• God’s Garden – God created the entire universe; the earth, skies, planets, and people. He put them in a garden where He cared for them. God also gave them a job to do (Gen 1:28), and a commandment (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were cast out of the garden, but God promised that this would not last forever (Gen. 3). God would send His Son to crush Satan and sin’s power (Gen. 3:15). Adam and Eve’s children continued to disobey God.
• God’s Promise – God called a man named Abram out of idolatry (Gen. 12, Josh. 24:2-3) and promised him that He would make him the father of a great nation and all the nations would be blessed because of him (Gen 12 & 15).
• God’s Nation – After 400 years God’s promise of a nation began to take shape. God called Abraham’s descendants out of Egypt, gave them His commands, and promises to be their God and make them His people if they obey him (Ex. 19, Lev 26, Deut. 11). God proved faithful in spite of their unfaithfulness.
• God’s Kings – God established His kings as representatives over His people. He promised David that one day one of his sons will rule on David’s throne forever (2 Sam. 7). However, Solomon turns his heart away from God (1 King 11).
• God’s Punishment & Prophets – Because the people had turned their hearts away from God, He punished them (by splitting the kingdom, then sending Judah to exile). God did not forget His people, He sent prophets to tell the people to turn back to God so they could receive His blessing again. They also told about God’s promise to send a savior.
• God’s Son – Just as God has promised, He sent a savior to crush sin’s power. That savior was His son, Jesus, who is both God and man. Jesus showed that He was God through signs and miracles, and teaching God’s Word. Jesus perfectly obeyed God, died, and rose again defeating sin’s power for those who believe in Him.
• God’s Church – Jesus went to sit at God’s right hand, but He sent the Holy Spirit to be with His people, those who trust in Him. God’s Word spread to people all over the world including us.
• God’s Kingdom – After God gathers all His people in His church, Jesus will come again to reign on David’s throne forever, just like God promised. God will take all His people to live with Him in heaven under His perfect rule, where they will experience His perfect blessing.

References

• Begg, Alistair. “The Kingdom of God, Volume 1.” Truth for Life, 27 Aug. 2012. Web. 05 Jan. 2014.
• Begg, Alistair. “The Kingdom of God, Volume 2.” Truth for Life, 4 Sep. 2012. Web. 05 Jan. 2014.
• Goldsworthy, Graeme. Gospel and Kingdom. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2012. Print.
• Goldsworthy, Graeme. “The Kingdom of God as Hermeneutic Grid.” The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1 Apr. 2008. Web. 05 Jan. 2013.
• Helm, David R., and Gail Schoonmaker. The Big Picture Story Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010. Print.
• Miers, Dave. “God’s Big Picture: Overview of Vaughan Roberts’ Bible Overview.” DaveMiers.com. N.p., 19 June 2008. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
• Roberts, Vaughan. God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Story-line of the Bible. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 2003. Print.

by Dennis Su

This posting by John Piper gives reasons for teaching unsaved kids to behave in a way that conforms to God’s will.  As part of Sonlight staff, this is a topic we face regularly as we seek to teach the elementary kids about sin and God’s truth.

Why Require Unregenerate Children to Act Like They’re Good?

by Sandra Kim

The Nursery Ministry has always been such a blessing in my life in so many ways. Many years back, when we were cramped in a 10 x 10 room with 1 bin of toys and about 4 children, I relished in spending time with the youngest children of our church. It was fun to get to know them and their families as we supported one another to help the kids practice sharing, singing, and praying together.

As our children multiplied (Praise God!) our rooms moved, and buildings moved altogether, our focus on the children were the same. I took a break from serving in Nursery while my daughter Samantha had her turn to sing, read and play with her beloved Nursery teachers. Now that she has moved up to Sparklers, I get to come back to my smock and sing praise songs on the yellow rug.

Through all these transitions, God has reminded me of the importance in loving Him and loving his people. There are times when my arms were sore the whole day after serving in Nursery or I felt pressure to memorize “Rock of Ages” because one of the children only wanted to sing that song as he envisioned himself as Mr. Eugene Park and we had to sing along as he strummed the air popper toy as his air guitar, or take trips to the bathroom every 15 minutes to practice potty training with the kids. God can use all moments to remind us that we can worship Him as long as our hearts are focused on God. I have learned so much through my interactions with the babies, children and parents of our church. It is a joy each Sunday I get to serve, teach and minister alongside so many ladies. I learned and practiced how to change diapers and hold babies in Nursery and now I get to share my experience with the younger ladies in our ministry. I hope and pray that you too find a ministry you can share in the joy of serving and sharing in each other’s lives.

by Dennis Su

Recently we learned about Abraham and Sarah doubting God. In the lesson, the kids were taught that Abraham and Sarah didn’t trust God with being able to fulfill his promise of giving Abraham an heir, a child. This was illustrated by having the kids wait quietly for an extended period of time before we would continue the lesson. During this awkward waiting time, the intent was to raise doubts that the quiet waiting period was going to come to an end. As a result of Abraham and Sarah’s waiting, Sarah came up with a plan to take things into their own hands by having Abraham have a child with Hagar, her servant. It is Sarah’s behavior that reminds me about how we sometimes put ourselves in the role of God to accomplish things that we feel are right or are entitled to.

Sarah was getting old and the reasons for her physically not being able to have children were stacking up. It was through her own judgment that a more fitting plan than God’s was created to fulfill both her desire and in her own strange way God’s promise. Although Sarah was ultimately not known for consistently being lacking in her faith, this one incident serves as a reminder for Christians that we are under the umbrella of God who promises us an inheritance through Christ and that our trust should be in Him and nothing else.

Through Christ we have been put in good standing with God, being given the promise of so much (Ephesians 1:3-14). We are still sinners and are subject to a world that is full of temptations and like Sarah, we will find ourselves in circumstances where our way may seem better than God’s. But if we are set on knowing that God’s promises are perfect without error and trustworthy, we can rest in knowing that His plans will be carried out in His own timing and not our own. As the kids were waiting, some began to question whether the time of silence would end. In the case of Abraham and Sarah, who carried out their own plan apart from God, it was God’s perfect plan that resulted in His fulfilled promise through the birth of Isaac born from Sarah at the age of 90.