Did you know that May was “Teacher Appreciation Month”? Well it is, and boy, we have some fantastic teachers to give major ‘high-fives of thanks’! The great news is that if somehow the month of May passed you by without getting that moment to tell our teachers, thanks… well I’m sure they’d still like to hear it in June, (…. and July… and August, and…)
To help make the point of how much we have to say thank-you for, let’s just talk numbers. If I were to ask you to guess how many different kids have participated in our Children’s Church program this year… what would be your guess? Go ahead and pick a number of how many little ones, from the cradle to 5th grade you think have attended church with us at least 1 Sunday this calendar year. If your guessed 30 – well then I’d suspect that you have just read our quarterly business report and saw that our AVERAGE attendance has been 28 and added a couple numbers.
No my friend, the total number of kids with whom we’ve shared the love of Jesus is much higher than 30. Go ahead, guess again.
Perhaps you think it is 50 kids. What a wonderful, joyful number that would be. What if we could boast that there are 50 kids in Port Angeles who know more about the love of God because of our faithful Children’s Church teachers? Wouldn’t that be something to celebrate!
Indeed it would. And we can celebrate that AT LEAST 50 kids have learned about this Good News because, in fact the number is even higher still. Go ahead, guess again.
Perhaps you think our volunteer teachers have impacted the hearts and lives of 60 little ones this year. Well you’d be right, expect the total number is higher still. And if you guessed 70 kids, well then you missed the mark by 1. So far, in 2016 – we have had 71 different children come to our church to learn about Jesus.
Let’s just stop here and take a breath, and mediate on that for a moment. God has seen fit to entrust us this year with the growth and development of 71 children! This, my friends, is what it looks like when the Holy Spirit is on the move!
If you need to give a shout of praise while you are reading this go ahead. When those around you look at you strangely just share this letter with them and invite them to join you at church on Sunday.
And do you know how we are able to have this impact on these little ones? It is only because we have a dedicated group of people who have given selflessly of themselves to “train up these little ones in the way they should go,” (Proverbs 22:6). So sometime soon, find an opportunity to find one of our amazing volunteer teachers and tell them how you appreciate them. And help them remember the importance of what it is they do.
I mean that sincerely… do, help them remember the importance of what they do. It is so easy when surrounded by enthusiastic six year olds, to forget the eternal significance of helping little hearts open themselves to the love of Jesus. The very mission of our church to ‘lead people in an ever changing culture to the hope of Jesus’ is what is being fulfilled every week in those classes down the hall. These teachers don’t do it for a paycheck, they don’t do it for accolades or praise. They do it because they love Jesus and they want to help kids love Jesus too.
So find time this week to tell one of our fantastic teachers – “thank-you”.
And, in reading this letter you find stirring within your own heart the desire to help teach our little ones about Jesus, then reach out to me, or Chris Cummings, or Deziree Greenstreet. Simply let one of us know that you are willing to learn what it takes to be one of the few and proud and we’ll happily help sign you up for the teaching corps!