"The Fabulous Reinvention of Sunday School"

This is a terrific book written by Aaron Reynolds - particularly for those of you working with primary aged kids. Ever wondered how you could tell a Bible story with greater power, passion and punch? Then this book is for you. check out the deal available through the Willow Creek Association and receive the bonus DVD master class session.

Kids Vision Country Link Team

We recognise that the needs and challenges of ministering to kids in country areas are unique. Kids Vision is committed to helping churches in country areas as much as we can ... and so we are pleased to introduce kids ministry leaders from two of our churches who are prepared to offer help and support. Sheryl O'Sullivan is available to churches in the northern region and Kerry Cross is happy to help churches in the south-west.

Our Country Link Team is committed to helping communicate information and resources.

In this blog, we would love you to meet Sheryl O'Sullivan from Northam ...

Sheryl is the Children’s Ministry Team Leader at Northam Church of Christ. As well as overseeing the Sunday morning children’s programs, she runs a playgroup, teaches SRE and supports the Salvos in the after school and holiday programs. She enjoys writing her own programs for children. Sheryl is excited about the future direction of the local church as they prepare to run new programs for children and parents in the new Bridgeley Community Centre. Sheryl has a heart for equipping other children’s leaders and being able to support and resource them. She is the Kids Vision contact for the northern and eastern country churches. Her motto? Loving Him by loving His kids.

Kids Vision Network August Meeting

We had another great network time together on Thursday 29th August at the Baldivis Church. Thanks Danny for hosting us and for Julie for the great lunch and cookies!

One of the outcomes of our dicussions was that we are going to review the timing of network get-togethers. We recognise that few of us are availble to meet during the day and so we would love to hear from you if a night meeting would make it easier for you to attend. Network gatherings are for anyone involved in leading and serving in a kids related ministry area in a church, school or outreach setting. They provide a terrific opportunity to be encouraged and resourced in ministry. Email Tania if you agree that a night meeting once per term would suit you better.

Julie and Kylie from Warnbro shared their shopping exploits from the Kidshaper Conference in Melbourne last week. They recommend:

• The new DVD packs from Planetkids. These are sensational all-in-one ministry materials for Australian kids. Rob Bradbury and his team are committed to working together as ONE church to reach kids. The "4" DVD sets have fun, generic branding which means that they will fit into any church setting (in other words, they are not branded as Planetkids products). Check out http://www.planetshakers.com/ for details. Thanks Rob for your Kingdom heart!


• Andrew Shepherd has written a book called "Honey I Shrunk the Kids Ministry!". Andrew is Children's Pastor at Crossways Baptist in Melbourne. Take a look at Crossways Kids @ http://www.crossway.org.au/. The book doesn't seem to be available as yet - so keep your eyes open.


• Have you seen the series of books for preschoolers called "Lost Sheep"? These excellent books are now available in GIANT size and also come in a story telling kit. Take a look at http://www.lostsheep.com.au/.

Childsafe

Over 30 of our churches have begun the process of adopting Childsafe. Childsafe is a tool which enables churches to promote, develop and maintain best practice principles for working with children and young people in all aspects of ministry.

Implementation of Childsafe is underway in some of our churches (Kalgoorie, Baldivis, South Perth ...) COCWA is presently working on a simple implementation plan + a basic training package. Facilitators for the basic team training presentation are Scott Vawser (Youth Vision) and Tania Watson (Kids Vision). Contact either of these two people or Nigel Pegram at COCWA if you would like further information. Please note that the training package covers BOTH youth and children's ministry ... so its easy to get all of your teams together for the one training session!

Information regarding Childsafe Online has been emailed to churches this past week. User details will be sent out in the near future once ChildSafe has finished setting up our sub site.

August Network Meeting

Our next network meeting is at The Baldivis Church on Thursday August 30th, 10:30 - 1:30pm. Lunch is provided. Please RSVP to Julie Newcombe (julie.newcombe@warnbro.org.au) by August 26th if you are going to be there.

Kids Vision network meetings are open to anyone who is involved in, or interested in children's ministry. We look forward to seeing you soon and enjoying the terrific kids facility that The Baldivis Church has built.

Meet the Kids Vision WA Team

Tania Watson is on the pastoral team of South Perth Church of Christ. Tania’s passion is to be an advocate for children and for those who work with them in our churches. Her desire is to see children’s ministry incorporated and integrated deeply into the life of faith communities so that children’s faith in Jesus Christ is affirmed and nurtured at every stage of their development.



Julie Newcombe is the Children’s Pastor at Warnbro Community Church. Julie loves working with children of all ages, whether it is in Toddler Jam, Sunday Kids Church, Junior Youth Groups, Kids Camps or local primary schools. A high priority for Julie is building effective teams and reaching children through relationships.





Danny Marwick is the Children's Pastor at The Baldivis Church. On Tuesday mornings you will find Danny playing in the sandpit with the playgroup kids ( he has become an expert at sandcastles). He also enjoys meeting kids at the local primary school under the Kids Hope mentoring banner. School breakfasts are another time where Danny works with other volunteers from the church. What Danny enjoys the most in his week is worshiping with all the kids in Kids Church - jumping around,and singing praises to God and hearing about what God is doing in their lives.

Welcome

This is the very first post on the Kids Vision blog - Welcome!!