All members are invited to stay after worship for a pizza lunch and an Operation Christmas Child Box Packing Event. All ages are welcome.
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Operation Christmas Child
It’s that time of year! We are starting to collect items for Operation Christmas Child!
Pick up a box from the church to pack your own or donate hygiene products, school supplies, kids clothing, toys or money.
Kids will be packing boxes on Wednesday, November 6 in the morning and seniors will pack Thursday, November 14.
Visit Samaritan’s Purse to learn more about Operation Christmas Child https://www.samaritanspurse.org/…/operation-christmas-child/
Operation Christmas Child
Good News. Great Joy. Spread the Word! Such were the angel’s message and song to shepherds on the hillside. It is the same message for us. Jesus and His gift of salvation are too good to keep to ourselves.
We share the Good News many ways. One of them is through “Operation Christmas Child,” for which we fill shoeboxes with delightful things to arouse excitement for Jesus in the hearts of children all over the world. Children receiving boxes are told that it is the love of God, through Jesus’ birth and saving love on the cross and from the empty tomb, that make these gifts possible.
We hope you will consider putting boxes together again this year. If you have some, but not all of the materials for assembly, be sure to bring them to the church. You can bring completed boxes or simple articles to put in the boxes. Pick up a brochure in the narthex, church office or gathering space. If you can’t find them, ask the office. The brochures spell out exactly how the boxes must be assembled, boys and girls differently, and for specific age levels. Following the brochure makes it easy. Here’s what you can do:
- Pick up a brochure.
- Fill a box following the brochure’s instructions.
- OR, bring articles for children for others to pack (again, see the brochure for what can or can’t be included in the box).
- Opt to provide cash to help pay shipping costs (each box costs $ 7.00 to ship). If you make out a check for $ 7.00 or $ 14.00, etc., make it out to “Samaritan’s Purse.”
- Pray! Pray for the Name of Jesus to shine through the gifts.
Remember the deadline: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10. Dean Dietel will pick up the boxes for shipping on November 11.
Bring everything related to Operation Christmas Child to the church office: completed boxes, cash gifts, articles for boxes.
On Wednesday, November 6, beginning at 9am, FLC Seniors are invited to work with Release time students to pack shoe boxes together. Let Pastor Pilgrim or Kacie Fahey know if you can share your time and serve your Lord in this activity. To read more about Operation Christmas Child, click here.
Children
Faith Kids Ministry exists to:
- Assist and equip parents in keeping their baptismal promises
- Create a safe and positive church experience for children
- Give children a solid Biblical foundation through intentional teaching and modeling
- Provide children with an opportunity to discover and nurture their gifts
Below is information about some of our children’s ministries at Faith Lutheran.
2023 – 2024 School Year
Sunday School is offered to children 3 years old through 6th grade from 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. We are using a curriculum written by our very own members who know the children and the ways they learn best. The children learn about the Bible passage for the week in their classrooms through fun and interactive games, stories, crafts, science, and snacks. Children start Sunday School off with Faith Rocks Worship where they will sing fun Christ-centered songs and hear about the days’ lesson.
Sunday School Registration Link
B23 – This is a meeting during the educational hour from 9:10 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. in the Nursery on the third Sunday of each month where parents and their little ones can come together for fellowship and learn how to incorporate their faith into the home to help their toddlers and babies grow in faith.
Nursery – a staffed nursery is available from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. each Sunday. This is wonderful for parents with babies and toddlers who want to attend a Digging Deeper class and have less distractions during the 10:10 a.m. worship services.
Faith Seeds – This is a time during worship services when children of all ages are invited to come forward for a lesson geared towards them. Parents are invited to come up with their children.
Sprouts – This is a time during the 10:10 a.m. Foundation service sermons (immediately following Faith Seeds) when children ages three-year-old through 1st grade, may join a leader for an age-appropriate lesson on the sermon text. Children will return to their parents shortly after the sermon ends. Volunteers are always needed!
Her is the link to sigh up to lead Sprouts: Sign Up to Lead Sprouts
Activity Bags – These are available for children to use during the services. They can be found at the front and back of the sanctuary and both the right and left entrances to the foundation.
Great Start – Let’s have a Great Start on your 2 hour late starts! Great Start is a morning ministry for students in Kindergarten – 5th grade during scheduled 2 hour late start days. The program runs from 7:45 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.. Parents will drop off their children at church and then the morning will be filled with breakfast and rotations of Bible story time, crafts, games, and snack, led by volunteers. A bus will pick up the students from church and dropped them off at Park, Tiger and West Elementary. Due to the possible demand of this program, we will have a maximum capacity of 45 students.
This ministry is to replace Faith Lutheran Church leading Release Time for the 2nd – 5th graders.
Great Start Registration Link
56er’s is an after-school group for 5th and 6th graders on Wednesday. Children are invited to come to Faith once school is finished and enjoy games, fellowship, snacks, and lessons about God. A bus will drive the 6th graders over from the Middle School and the 5th graders can walk over from Park Elementary. All are welcome!
Please fill out a Connect card with emergency contact information: 56er’s Connect Card
Faith Family Fun The Children, Youth and Family Ministry team puts on events for families of all ages to join in fellowship with others. Upcoming events are: a pizza lunch and Operation Christmas Child box packng on Sunday, November 5 right after the 10:10 worship services and a Happy Birthday Jesus Party on Sunday, December 10 from 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. for babies through 5th grade. Parents can drop off their children and enjoy and evening out. Registration forthis event will come out later this fall.
2024 Summer Activities for Children
Vacation Bible School
At VBS Scuba, children will dive into friendship with God where they will learn that God is a friend who’s real, He is a friend who loves, a friend we cna trust, and God is afriend forever! We will explore all of this through amazing Bible stories, games, crafts, snacks, and worship.
June 24 – 27 from 9 a.m. – noon at Faith Lutheran for children who have completed the first year of preschool through 4th grade. Cost is $15/ child ($40 family max.)
Bible Camp
Faith is going to Ingham Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camps this summer. This is for children who have completed 2nd – 6th grade. Tune in later this year for the week that Faith will be going and a registration link.
Mystery Bus
This popular program is for children who have completed 5th – 7th grade. Students will go on a three-day mini mission trip from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Each day students particpate in a service project and participate in a fun activity. Cost is $100/student, and this event has a limit of 40 students. Tune in later this year for dates and a registration link.
Day Camp
Want to experience camp but do not want to stay overnight for a full week? Sign up for Day Camp! Ingham Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camps staff members will lead a fun week of worship, games, crafts, and Bible studies about our amazing Lord!
Tune in later this year for the dates of day camp which will run from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Christ the King for children who have completed kindergarten through 5th grade.
God Squad
Children come to hang out, play games, eat snacks, and learn about God. Like 56er’s during the school year, all are welcome!
Wednesdays (June 12 – August 7) from 3:30 – 5 p.m. at Faith Lutheran for 5th – 7th grade students. Not meeting July 17.
Live Christmas
As staff and leaders, part of our Advent preparation includes plans for the many ways we celebrate the birth of our Lord. This is all designed to help us reflect on this deep and powerful mystery of the Word that became flesh and lived among us. What does “The Word became flesh” really mean? I will resist a brief theological treatise and simply invite you to live it – LIVE!
“The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have beheld his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
Christmas: Giving
“They offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11)
Primarily due to the story of the magi, we think of Christmas as a time of giving. And that giving takes on many forms. As you read this, Operation Christmas Child gifts are well on their way — these gifts are received by children all over the world.
Christmas: Experience
“In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus… and she gave birth to her firstborn son… and laid him in a manger. (Luke 2: 1,7)
This is a story that takes place in history. And so, we can imagine the commotion of traveling to one’s own town to be registered. There was confusion and crowds and “no place for them in the inn.” To help us imagine and experience this, there are two opportunities to experience this story: Nov. 28 – “Walk to Bethlehem” and Dec. 19 -“Live Nativity.”
Christmas: Outreach
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard.”
(Luke 2:20)
There is something about this story that make us want to sing and tell it. It is not the kind of thing you can contain or keep to yourself. So it is to this day. On Dec. 5, we all have this opportunity to reach out with an evening of caroling to others in our Faith community.
Christmas: Singing
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God.” (Luke 2:13)
Music and singing are powerful parts of the Christmas story. Some of the most powerful hymns, songs, and carols are associated with Christmas. On Dec. 9, we will gather for our annual Christmas Concert. It is a wonderful evening of music and song!
Christmas: Surprise
“And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” (Matthew 1:31)
Of all the ways God might reveal Himself to us, who would even imagine an infant child! And since that time God has continued to surprise us with the way He comes to us. Ever since Bethlehem, the place of children in the story of God is prominent. And so it is that we count on children to tell us this story. There are two opportunities for this: on Dec.12 we will hear the witness of our Preschool-Kindergarten students, and on Dec. 16., our 1st – 6th graders.
Christmas: Worship
“They knelt down and paid him homage.” (Matthew 2:11)
Finally, all our preparations for Christmas culminate in worship. Like all the characters in this grand story, we give to God our thanks and praise and worship. What else can we do? There are five opportunities to worship and celebrate the birth of our Lord: Dec. 24 @ 2, 4, 6 and 11 p.m. and Dec. 25 @ 10 a.m.
Prepare yourself to meet the Lord!
In Christ,
Pastor Randy Freund