fAMily Ministries - CrossRoads Church

Early Childhood MinistryPastor Nicole Thibeau (NicoleT@CrossRoadsChurch.ca)Anna Halliwell (AnnaH@CrossRoadsChurch.ca) Marcia Bowler (MarciaB@CrossRoadsChurch.ca)Challenge to ALLEarly Childhood Families!by Nicole ThibeauWhen you think about EarlyChildhood Ministry, what are thefirst five words that come to yourmind?As many of you know, I am weeksaway from leaving my positionhere at the church to welcome oursecond baby into our family. As Ileave, I feel it’s really important notto spend time looking back, butlooking forward. Looking aheadto the big plans God has in storefor our CrossRoads families! Joe and I will continueto call CrossRoads home and we look forward tojourneying with God and the families at CrossRoadsin the pathway He has set out for us as parents. Hereis where I believe God is leading our Early ChildhoodMinistry. I am amazed at how in control God always isand how His planning and foresight is impeccable! InHis wisdom, He has created a plan and put into motiona vision that is meant to be carried out and propelledforward by the families of CrossRoads. Even in theabsence of a Pastoral role, God has indeed equippedand placed the ministry in a spot where I believeincredible growth and increased commitment willcontinue to occur in the lives of our families. So I goback to my original question. When you think aboutEarly Childhood Ministry, what are the first five wordsthat come to your mind? Do you have your answersyet? Although I’m sure your answers describe EarlyChildhood, there are three key points that I wanteach of you to adopt, absorb, and be striving for asfamilies in Early Childhood.1. Early Childhood is a family-run ministry; thechurch seeks a partnership with parents.2. Early Childhood seeks to equip parents to bethe spiritual leaders in their child’s life.3. Early Childhood desires to help and inspireparents to bring faith into their home.Family-Run MinistryWe want Early Childhood to be a family-run ministry,whereby parents lead the direction and embodythe vision in the years to come. We want parentsto experience the parenting journey together.Connecting parents to one another. To shareexperiences and to cheer one another on is a priorityfor us (swapping of stories, what worked, what didn’twork… especially when it comes to bringing faithinto the home). We want to empower our familiesto be rooted at home and to help grow them intheir commitment to the Lord, to their family, andto the church. We hope that serving in the ministry,providing input and investing in what happens in theclassroom will become a main priority for families.Equipping Parents to be Spiritual LeadersThere has been a huge shift in our ministry. Wehave left behind the belief that it is the church’s soleresponsibility to lead our children into a relationshipwith Jesus – to be the primary spiritual teachersin a child’s life. Instead we have shifted towards apartnership with parents, in which we uphold theparents as the spiritual leaders of their home and weseek to equip them in this endeavor. Deuteronomy6:5-9 states: “Love the Lord your God with all yourheart and with all your soul and with all yourstrength. These commandments that I give youtoday are to be upon your hearts. Impress themTHE CROSSING || October 2012 || www.CrossRoadsChurch.ca Page 17