Comments on: Orange Thoughts – What is KidStuf?

By: worshipcity

worshipcity — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:34:12 +0000

BTW – good job today! Even though at one point in Get This Party Started I almost took your head off! HAHAHA

By: worshipcity

worshipcity — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:33:43 +0000

Yeah dude but I agree with Jeff. It’s got to be something more than a stage production. It’s got to be something that engages the children’s attention and the adults thinking. I’m glad the kids get it again in the back but the parents don’t and I hope, pray, wish, and desire for the parents to use that CD at home but it’s not a given.

Orange did a great job nailing down the bottom line for us, in our debrief (prior to this month’s RiverKidStuf) I don’t think we did such a great job of that. It needs to be crystal clear in there so that the parents and the kids get it and can take it with them. They can get great entertainment anywhere but for these 30 minutes I hope they get a catalyst for talking about Jesus than anything else.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:31:53 +0000

One of the great things about KidStuf (and in our case RiverKidStuf) is that the point is to put the kids and parents together, so that they can be on the same page when they go back home and live life together the rest of the week.

Parents are always going to have a greater impact on their children’s lives than can the church, even the most event-filled or best-intentioned church, simply because the parents are with the kids more than anybody else (typically).

Of course, what really helps KidStuf work is that the things that are shown and taught in KidStuf are also talked about that same morning in the other things that the kids do while their parents are in “big” church. So the kids get extra doses of it, often in ways that are even more Biblical.

Hopefully that combination of everything, from the small group to the big KidStuf, helps the kids really begin to understand the virtue (this morning it was patience) and the Bible story. Then the parents get to see it and hear about it in KidStuf too (sharing the funnyness with their kids) and they are given a CD/kit to take home so that they can have a reference during the week to help them talk about it with their kids.

The whole package is what really makes it successful. KidStuf is just a part of that. By itself, it really is just more of a stage production.

By: Jeff Greathouse

Jeff Greathouse — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:11:33 +0000

Thanks for the thoughts.

I am still processing the “event” myself. I know that my SP and I had an interesting discussion about it afterwards.

He felt very similar to you in the “production” line and was a little concerned that the virtue lesson was somewhat hidden even though they nailed it down a few times.

There is also the aspect of being “bible lite” with the understanding that if we can not move parents or children into family time at home or children’s small groups (with more teaching), are we really giving them something they can hold onto.

Still thinking, so I will quit typing.