From the beginning days of our church, we have held one belief that relates to our children’s ministry:
“What happens at home is more important than what happens at church.”
It is for this reason that we feel that one of the best things we can do as a church is to “partner with parents” and equip them to lead their kids spiritually. Since 1996, KidStuf has mainly been leveraged as a weekly shared experience for families. Last summer we decided to change our strategy in hopes of more effectively equipping parents to apply our Big Idea at home, all month long. This new strategy consists of 3 key components:
happens on the first Sunday of the month and acts as a launching point for parents to learn about the Big Idea with their kids. The shared experience is still a critical part of our strategy. Although it is no longer happening as frequently as before, it is still a consistent environment designed for kids and parents.
is a creative resource that families receive at the end of KidStuf Live each month. It ties in directly to our Big Idea and what the families experienced together at KidStuf Live. Each Take Out comes with weekly instructions that guide parents on how to reinforce the Big Idea in lots of fun and applicable ways.
is our new website that serves as another shared experience for families and provides resources for parents to help them reinforce the Big Idea at home. We also have a kids page with games, Gordo’s Blog, GodTime, and music.
To learn more about our new strategy please visit www.kidstuf.com
Post written by: Mike - KidStuf
June 16th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Good Afternoon,
My name is Gary Ellis Jr. I am the Student Pastor at my church Abundant Life Outreach Center in Clarksville, Tn. I have been looking at Kidstuff and was really inspired by the concept. I would like to know if it is possible to replicate this in other churches? If it is what do I need to do to order the cirriculum and is there a training conference available?
Thank you all for allowing God to use you
God Bless
Gary Ellis Jr
June 16th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Hey Gary,
So glad you like KidStuf. It is an amazing program but we can’t take credit for the curriculum. It is actually produced by a company called The ReThink Group (www.rethinkgroup.org) and the curriculum is called 252 Basics. Is has been replicated for many years now by churches all over the world. There are many more resources offered through the above website that will be able to help you out. Specifically, there is a conference each year called The Orange Conference - typically around May - that gives much insight into KidStuf as well as other curriculums they offer. I hope that is helpful. Good luck! Let us know if you have further questions!
Angela
April 7th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Hi Mike-
Would you be willing to share the pro’s and con’s of changing your weekly family production to a monthly family production? Obviously you can use resources elsewhere that may be more helpful. Do you all have a gauge on whether or not parents are actually accessing and using the resources you’re giving them? Are they taking more ownership since you’ve given it to them?
Thanks for any thoughts you can give!
May 23rd, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Hey–
I’m trying to cast some vision for a ‘Kidstuf’ like program in our church. Where I need help specifically is showing them what it is going to look like. We are renovating our old Worship Center and I need to give our media team an idea what we are looking at as far as lighting/sound/etc. Is there any way to get a video clip of Kidstuf to show them?
May 23rd, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Hi Colin,
Go to KidStuf.com — we post a highlight of the show every week. Let me know if that isn’t what you’re wanting.
K