Dear Parents and Caregivers of children at Windsor Park,

After a month or so in the role of Children and Family

Ministry Pastor, I thought it would be good to let you know

how things are going in the ministry and what we are

looking forward to having in the future to benefit your

children and your families.

Firstly a BIG Thank you for the wonderful welcome you have

all given me. I feel very

privileged to be working

amongst a community

of people that love and

serve God together.

Also your children are

absolutely amazing and

so full of potential.

So what have I seen and what has been happening?

VOLUNTEERS

I have been amazed and thankful as I have met many of the

volunteers involved in Kidschurch on Sundays and during

the week in preparation. There are awesome teams of

people involved in teaching, small groups, crafts,

welcoming, preparation, media and setup. It is fantastic!

Thank you for all the time and energy you bring to the many

varied ways you participate. Thank you for your faithfulness.

CHILDREN

We cater for about 500 children, with about 250 coming

through our doors every Sunday morning. Every child is so

special, with the potential to develop into incredible people

serving and growing in God.

FAITHFUL LEADERS TO THANK

We have been blessed with a number of excellent leaders,

who have taken on extra leadership responsibilities for

some time. They have done a great job and deserve our

thanks and affirmation.

JO HARRIS has led the preschool

area this year and has done a

fantastic job of preparing for

preschool and resourcing the

leaders for teaching. Jo finished

this role mid-August. THANK YOU

JO for a job well done and setting

up the preschool with a great

team and resources for the future.

You will be missed, but we know

you will not be able to stay away

totally, so we will see you around.

JACINDA STAVELEY has led the

Kidschurch (junior and senior)

area this year. She also has

done a fantastic job of co-

ordinating the teams and the

teaching on Sundays. THANK

YOU JACINDA for building a

great team of leaders and

supporting and encouraging

them so well. Jacinda will be

continuing to co-ordinate the

small group leader teams in Kidschurch for this year. Her

wish is to be more present to welcome children and

families and make them feel welcome and known.

MARGARET AND MARTIN CLELAND have served faithfully

in the crèche co-ordinating the team and teaching there for

some time. They will be helping out on the roster from time

to time but will no longer be co-ordinating. THANK YOU for

your faithfulness in this role. We appreciate everything you

gave and did and were to the team.

Our most recent leadership team change has happened on

our staff team. GLENYS FUCHS has

been offered a role in a school

after care facility and is starting

work there in the next while. She

finishes in Kidschurch this week.

THANK YOU GLENYS for your

faithful service over about four

years. We appreciate how you

have got alongside people and

have loved the children. Your heart

for God has shone in our office.

Bless you in your new role.

We now look ahead to the future with great trust in God as

he leads us in new initiatives and directions. We have a

great legacy to build on and we are excited about what God

will do next through the Children and Family Ministry at

Windsor Park.

Have a read of the exciting things planned for your children

in Kidschurch, as we all focus on mission together with the

whole church. May God bless you and give you strength as

you raise your children in His love.

Your servant in Christ

Elke Keeling

Pastor—Children and Family Ministries

To all you wonderful people who teach and help in the

crèche, to all the parents who use the nursery and the

crèche, to all the children in these areas:

We are so pleased to let you know of some exciting

developments for crèche. After discussions with several of

you and other groups using the crèche facilities, we have

put a proposal forward to renovate and freshen up these

facilities. We have now been given the go-ahead to clean

up, repaint and refurnish the facilities.

The rooms have been looking a bit tired for a while and

several people have given generously to try and improve

things in a few ways like toys and carpets. I want to

acknowledge and thank you for what you have done.

Now we have the opportunity to give it all a total facelift.

As you come to serve in or use the crèche in the next few

months you will notice changes like spring cleaning,

painting, carpets, new doors with windows, new toys and

much more. It is so exciting that this area is getting the

attention it deserves.

If I have not spoken to you yet or you are keen to give

feedback, ideas or skills to help make this happen, please

do email me. In the meantime we ask for your patience

and support with changes for the better.

I am so excited for the potential we have to develop this

area for Sunday and community events during the week.

Bless you all and thank you for your continued

involvement.

In preschool the children have been learning about who

God is. The parent and child newspapers have been

provided to help you talk with your children about what

they learnt at preschool.

We hope these have been a great tool for you as you

nurture your young preschooler in their faith each week.

SEPTEMBER PROGRAMME

Over the first three Sundays in September, preschool will

be joining the entire church and engaging in the Self Denial

Project. This is a great project where we learn about global

mission and collect for those adventurous and courageous

people who go on mission to other countries.

Because the entire church is doing this—preschool, older

Kidschurch and adults—you can have great discussions as a

family as you learn and engage together.

You will receive take home sheets with a story to read and

family activities to do together.

We hope they will give you great God-Moments with your

children.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

A great big THANK YOU to Jo Harris for co-ordinating the

crèche and preschool teaching this year. She has done a

marvellous job supporting you all. Jo finished in this co-

ordinating role on 12 August and she will be missed. Jo will

still be around so please thank her personally if you get the

chance.

We can’t wait to see the new crèche

and play with the new toys and read

the new books! YIPPEE!

Hey mum and dad!

We are learning about Mission in preschool

together with the whole church!

Our junior and senior kids have been learning the 10

commandments over many weeks. Today we have the final

lesson and prizegiving. We have heard many awesome stories

of how the children are putting the ten cool rules into action

in their lives.

Here is just one of many:

“My son went to school after learning rule number 8 about

not stealing. His friends wanted to steal someone’s stuff and

he told them about God’s rule and how stealing stuff from

others is wrong and hurts other people. They then decided

not to do it. I was so happy to see my son putting what he

learnt at Kidschurch into action!”

Do you know the TEN COOL RULES. Ask your children about

them and discuss how to put them into action:

LOVING GOD MATTERS MOST

1. I will worship God alone 2. I won’t have idols at home

3. I will honour God’s Great Name 4. I will rest on God’s Day

LOVING OTHERS FOLLOWS CLOSE

5. I will honour Mum and Dad 6. I will know killing is bad

7. I will stay faithful every day 8. I won’t steal stuff away

9. I will speak truth instead of lies 10. I will avoid jealous eyes

PARTNERING WITH YOU TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN

Here is the information and the tools for you, the parent, to

reinforce what your children are learning and experiencing at

Kidschurch:

On Sunday 29 August we are launching a new unit on Mission

Adventures. The whole of Kidschurch will be buzzing with

excitement and adventure as we go on an expedition to

discover the awesome opportunities of being on God’s

mission in the world.

The children will hear from missionaries that our church

supports like Colin and Christine Edwards, they will hear

testimonies from the young people who went on a ‘mission

exposure’ trip and they will also be encouraged to help others

here and abroad through things like food hampers or

Christmas boxes.

For the first three Sundays of September we will be joining

the adult church in discovering mission in the book of ACTS

and collecting money for global missionaries sent out by the

Baptist Churches of New Zealand. It is called “Self Denial”

weeks. The children will be exploring how Paul and the early

disciples took the gospel to all nations. Each Sunday they will

be bringing home a take home sheet. Please go through this

with them as a family and talk about it together. Perhaps you

could also discuss how you can contribute financially to these

mission efforts.

Each child will receive a special mini courier bag to collect

money in with a different challenge each week.

QUICK GUIDE FOR PARENTS:

1. Don’t miss a Sunday—each week builds on the next for

four weeks.

2. Learn from Grant in the service or at Kidschurch if you

are serving there.

3. Talk about it at home

4. Use the take home sheets for discussion and family

activity tips

5. Encourage your children to collect money and put it in

their bags to bring to KIdschurch.

Thank you to all the many volunteers who serve in Kidschurch each Sunday and at community

programmes during the week. Many, many children and families are blessed, encouraged and

supported by what you do.

As you might already have seen we are looking to put together a new staff team in Children and

Family Ministry to assist all the teams that are involved around the place. If you, or anyone you

know, is interested in these positions please make contact or just call to have a chat.

We are trusting God to build this team for what He has in store for us in the future.