Category Archives: Family and Children Ministry

Cedar Chips, Family and Children Ministry

Children & Family – March Update

Love. Belong. Serve.

Soon these three words will become very familiar to our church, as they will provide the framework and foundation for all of the ministry efforts of our entire church. We hope these words already reflect your experiences with Cedar Hills, but that may not be the case for everyone. Maybe to you, these words represent worthy aspirations for our church to pursue.

It is clear that throughout Scripture these three words (Belong, Love, Serve) are important and distinctive of the Christian faith, for any age and place in their spiritual journey. Wherever you’re at, these three simple words represent some BIG priorities that we believe are central to making disciples who make disciples. In light of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20, we must approach the harvest field like in Luke 10:2, with a humble mindset. Some of those “laborers” for the gospel are wearing diapers today. However, they are no less valuable to the Kingdom work that lies ahead. We should behold the words of Charles H. Spurgeon, “If we dream that the Lord will not notice the little and insignificant, what do we think of this text: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father’s care (Matthew 10:29)? Does God care for sparrows but not care for little children?

The idea of insignificance should be set aside at once” (Spurgeon, Come Ye Children, 41-42). Thus it is of utmost importance to the Kingdom that we must help our children belong, love and serve, today, as they become disciples of Christ.

Kyle French
Director of Children & Family Ministry

Easter, Family Adventure, Family and Children Ministry, Holiday, News, Noah's Ark

Candy Donations for Egg Hunt

It’s that time of year!  Easter is quick approaching and we’re planning another great Easter Egg Hunt for Saturday, April 11 a 9am.  The egg hunt is for ages preschool to 5th grade and is free and open to the public. Bring your own basket!

Help us with our Egg Hunt supplies and donate a few bags of candy! Just make sure they are individually wrapped and can fit inside a plastic egg (otherwise, the office staff has to eat the ones that don’t make the cut!)

Drop off at the bin near the Family Discipleship Table or to the church office anytime before April 9.

Family and Children Ministry, News

Children & Family Ministry “Hub”

Children & Family Ministry HubIntroducing the Children and Family Ministry hub — it’s starting off simple but we would love to hear what we can add or include that would best suit your spiritual needs and efforts in family discipleship!

And as an additional reminder, the Parenting Together room (the loft over the Worship Center) also has a great library to check out too!

If you have any recommendations or want to share what resources have helped shape your faith, I’d love to hear about them!

Kyle French
Director Children & Family Ministry

Cedar Chips, Family and Children Ministry, News, Noah's Ark

Noah’s Ark Update – February 2020

Noah’s Ark Preschool
Cedar Chips – February 2020

We are now enrolling students for the 2020-2021 school year. We have a few spots left in our 4-year-old classes, which you can choose three, four, or five days of school. Our 3-year-old classes are offered on Mon/Wed/Fri or Tue/Thurs. The application can be downloaded from our webpage and the $50 registration fee paid online to hold your spot for next year. Contact us with
questions at 396-3125, by email, or visit the website: www.noahsarkcr.org.

We will have a Valentine card exchange, pajama day, and a visit from our favorite Dental Health Professional this month.
We will be hosting another Blood Drive on March 3 – register online! The stipend we receive after collecting 20 blood donations helps us purchase supplies. You can always donate supplies for the preschool. There is a box under the mission table in the Gathering Space.

Kris Crowther,
Director of Noah’s Ark Preschool

Cedar Chips, Family and Children Ministry, News, Worship, Youth

Children & Family Ministry Update – Feb. 2020

Children & Family Ministry
Cedar Chips – February 2020

Have you ever been amazed by the wonder of a child? How cheerful their faith seems to be? Or maybe it is how quickly they can absorb what is being taught or modeled for them? All of which are very true, our children are incredibly insightful and relentlessly curious. While the answers are not always hitting the mark, or maybe not even on topic for that matter, but the effort alone is palpable. The beauty of it is, that even if they’re wrong, kids will never stop trying to find the “right answer” or the “right way.”

Unfortunately, there are record numbers of teenagers and young adults that are leaving the faith in the 21st century, why? While there are a myriad of reasons, the most pressing and practical is this: our churches have continually sectioned-off
(intentionally and unintentionally) the various generations from worshipping together. To be clear, it is a very good thing that as a church we are tending specifically to the hearts of our youngest members. But we can’t lose sight, does our “ends justify our means?” What I mean by that is threefold: 1) While it’s common sense, children and youth don’t stay that way for long,
and thus must transition into something at some point; 2) How will our children learn to participate in a corporate worship service if they never get to experience it for themselves; 3) Children tend to learn best from having something modeled for them.

So then, what can we do to help our children? How about a resolution for the New Year? Keep it simple and start small. Designate one Sunday a month for your whole family to worship together for the entire service. That’s step one. Step two—talk about it! Ask your children not only about what they learned, but what they saw and how they felt about it. Even if they spent their time in “la-la-land.” If they know you’ll consistently be asking, they’ll start paying attention. There is no time like the present to begin setting the foundation for a lifetime of faith.

Kyle French
Director of Children & Family Ministry

Advent, Bright Spot, Family and Children Ministry, Holiday, News, Worship

The Giving Manger

For the season of Advent, we are including the “Giving Manger” – a daily calendar of things we can do to shine the light of Christ in our community.  Each Sunday in both services, the children will be invited forward to help light the Advent candles.  Next they’ll walk over to the manger.  If they were able to complete one of the Giving Manger tasks, they will get to add some straw to the manger to help prepare it for Jesus’ birth.  We’ll get to watch the manger fill up during the season of Advent.

If you weren’t here Sunday (or lost yours! 🙂 ) here is the Giving Manger calendar.  We’ll have some extra copies at the Welcome Center as well:

Cedar Chips, Family and Children Ministry, Holiday, News, Noah's Ark

Noah’s Ark Dec. 2019 Update

Oh, how Children love Christmas.  They are so new to this holiday (it might be the first one they remember), that we enjoy being able to start them off right by telling them about the true meaning of Christmas though books, songs, acting the story out and we also get a little help from Pastor Kent.  Come and watch our Christmas Programs on December 19 and 20 at 9:15am; everyone is welcome!

The State Licenser came to our school for a surprise visit in October (on pictured day, no less) and has granted Noah’s Ark a full License for another year without any changes or recommendations.  We are truly blessed with an amazingly organized and loving staff.

We are pleased to announce that Darlene DeVries has accepted the position of Assistant Teacher for our 3 year olds on MWF.  The students love her already.  We are very fortunate to have found someone who loves children as she does

We’ve started a Guest Reader Program.  We are looking for volunteers from the church who can come and read to our classes on Thursday or Friday mornings from 10:55-11:10.  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me.

If you’d like to assist us by staying within our budget this year, please consider donating supplies.  We’ve provided a box in the Gathering Space under the mission table with pictures of supplies (we are a little picky due to allergies and licensing requirements) we need in our classrooms.  We thank you in advance.

Kris Crowther
Director of Noah’s Ark Preschool

Family Adventure, Family and Children Ministry, Holiday, News, Transform the Corridor

Family Adventure Potluck & Game Night

Image may contain: people eating, pizza and foodDo you love food? Do you love to laugh and play some games? Well, we think you can enjoy the best of both worlds at the Family Adventure Potluck and Game Night.

Come out and join us on November 20th, from 5:30pm-7:30pm for food and fun! All we ask is if you can bring a dish or dessert to share, we’ll prepare plenty of ham and beverages for everyone! We wouldn’t want anyone to miss out, so PLEASE, PLEASE invite someone who you know might be feeling a little down during the holiday season so they can share in all the fun!

Annual Report, Family and Children Ministry, News, Noah's Ark

Noah’s Ark Annual Report


We celebrated Leslie Clauson and her 16 years of service to Noah’s Ark. She retired at the end of May 2019. We ended the 2018-2019 school year with 46 students. There has been a decrease in numbers for several years due to the free 4-year-old preschool offered in the public schools. We continue to offer a quality Christian-based program and are blessed with an outstanding staff.

I would like to acknowledge Jan Fick’s 25th year as a Noah’s Ark Teacher last year. We have a staff of six. Jack Fick, Lead Teacher of the 4-year-old MWF (26 years), Lori Larson, Assistant Teacher of the 4-year-old MWF (13 years), Matt Houghkirk, Lead Teacher of the 3-year-old MWF, Darlene DeVries, Assistant Teacher of the 3-year-old MWF, Lorri Anderson, Assistant Teacher of the 3-year-old T/TH (5 years) and myself, Lead of the 3-year-old T/TH, and Lunch Bunch MWF (7 years).

Our board members for this school year are Allison Johnson (Deacon), Melissa Oberembt, Carrie Campbell, Sarah Lewis, Mellany Davis, Justina Conrad, Jan Fick, and myself. They are a dedicated
volunteer group that supports our school and meets monthly.

A budget was submitted for the 2019-2020 school year that was approved by the board, which includes
a donation to the church in December of $7,500. We anticipate ending the year with a very slight profit.
We have eight church families who send their children to our school this year. Our current enrollment is
at 48. We continue to recruit more students to fill our last five remaining spots.

Kris Crowther
Director of Noah’s Ark Preschool

Annual Report, Cedar Chips, Family Adventure, Family and Children Ministry, News

Children & Family Annual Report

With such a blessing of flexibility and grace from our families, the children’s ministry has undergone
quite a few changes. But we think, with the help of our families, we have found the “special sauce,” and are re-establishing our focus around the necessity of Family Discipleship. Before we move-on, let me explain what we mean by the term Family Discipleship:

In simplest terms, being a “disciple” of something means that you are buying into and embodying all that a specific leader is instructing. The addition of the “-ship,” is suggesting that you are a “disciple” for a given amount of time. In Christianity, that leader is Jesus Christ and the amount of time he requests, is for the rest of your life.

Therefore, Family Discipleship means that together as a family, whatever that looks like, we have committed to being lifelong followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We see family discipleship in a three-fold approach: 1) Gospel, 2) Community and 3) Mission. Practically speaking, this means, that discipleship, as a family and as an individual, we must desire to be more gospel-fluent, as well as experiencing and serving in community as much as possible.

White it’s a joyous task to walk with Jesus, and follow him wherever he may lead us, it can feel incredibly difficult and can actually be quite scary.

Unfortunately, we can’t say that Jesus won’t make you uncomfortable, but we believe that the church is meant to be the extended family that comes alongside you in this journey! Here’s a brief look at how we think that the church can come together with your family on this adventure:

Gospel: Sunday Classes, Providing Resources, Explorers Children’s Worship
Community: Parenting Together, Missional Communities, Monthly Events
Mission: Family Discipleship, Monthly Events, Monthly Supply Drives

Kyle French
Director of Family and Children’s Ministry