We have some exciting new summer plans for Calvary Kids this year! In this post I’ll share my “behind the scenes” look at the heart of these plans, explain the new options for this summer and their purpose, and share how you can get involved.
How did we get here?
As I began planning for summer, I felt the Lord pushing me to look at two main things: how our Calvary Kids activities are both equipping parents to be spiritual leaders in their home, and reaching the lost through outreach. These are both such important elements of discipleship. Because of this, I felt led to make some changes to how we usually do Vacation Bible School (VBS) and other summer programming with Calvary Kids to be more purposeful in trying to reach the community with the truth of the gospel and to better equip parents as they disciple their children.
How can we equip families for discipleship?
Parents are called to be the spiritual leaders of our households. Many parents know how important this is, and the desire is there, but they find it daunting, overwhelming, and they do not even know where to start. The question I kept pondering was, how as a church can we support, model, and train the family discipleship process? How can we equip families to take on discipleship with confidence?
To help equip parents to live into this discipleship role, we will be having monthly Family Discipleship Nights where we practice family discipleship together throughout the summer! We will meet on the first Wednesday of each month starting the night with a meal together at Open Table, and then from 6:30-8:00 p.m., parents and kids will work through a discipleship training activity together.
Calvary Kids Family Discipleship Nights
June 7
July 5
August 2
How do we reach the lost?
We are living in a secular culture and many people are not comfortable, for various reasons, with bringing their kids to church. With the traditional VBS model we’ve used for many years, we have seen that we attract many kids from the surrounding community that already have a church home, but we have not seen very many kids attend VBS who have no church home. How can we reach those are not hearing the gospel? How can we lower the resistance of kids and parents in coming to church? What would it look like to take VBS out into the community?
As I pondered those questions, it became clear to me that we cannot keep waiting for people to come to us to hear about the saving love of Christ. We must go to them.
Because of all this, we are making plans to have three Calvary Kids Adventure Days this summer where we will take the heart of VBS out into the community. The purpose of these days will be to build relationships in the community, love families well, present the Gospel, and of course, have fun! Our Adventure Days will be filled with all the same fun VBS activities that we know and love: games, crafts, Gospel presentations, and more! Instead of meeting on our Calvary campus where parents drop off their kids, Adventure Days will take place in three different community parks and parents/caregivers will stay with their kids as they enjoy the activities together.
Calvary Kids Adventure Days 2023
June 21 (Wednesday)
at Plymouth Township Park in the morning
July 10 (Monday)
at Livonia Rotary Park in the evening
August 12 (Saturday)
at Canton Heritage Park in the afternoon
How can I get involved?
We are still planning and preparing for this upcoming summer of ministry, and there are many ways for you to get involved.
Pray: I sincerely ask for you to be praying for these new opportunities. Pray for the logistics and details as we plan, but more importantly, pray for relationships to be made, and for hearts to be softened and changed by the gospel message of Jesus.
Volunteer: If you are interested in being part of the brainstorming/planning team for the Adventure Days or the Family Nights, I would love to hear from you. There is great flexibility in this as the events are spread out over the summer. Please contact me at carrie.macklem@cbcjoy.org to get involved in this way. Once the events are more developed, more specific volunteer needs will be announced.
Participate: Make sure to save the dates listed above in your own family calendar and plan to attend some or all of them! Attending or serving at the Calvary Kids Adventure Days will be a great way for you to be a part of making relationships within our community, loving well, and changing hearts.
Invite: Just as we have always encouraged our church family when preparing for VBS, be thinking about who you could invite! Consider how you can be intentional about inviting the neighbor, the friend, or the coworker who needs to hear the truth of Christ.