Photos of the Christmas Outreach at The Refuge with Ms. Agarth's class

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Ten Ways to Share the Heart of Jesus Is The Gift this Christmas
For God so loved the world that He gave….
JOHN 3:16 NIV

1. Give the Gift of Encouragement. Instead of writing letters to Santa, have children
write letters to someone who needs encouragement this Christmas. For example,
soldiers, nursing home residents, or hospital patients.

2. Give the Gift of Hope. Adopt a needy family in your church or community. Bless
them with Christmas presents or a special dinner.

3. Give the Gift of Joy. Find simple ways to bring a smile to someone’s face during
the Christmas season. For example, pay for the car behind you at a drive-through.

4. Give the Gift of Kindness. Offer your time or energy to someone in need. Hang
lights for an elderly neighbor or wrap presents for an overwhelmed new mom.

5. Give the Gift of Words. Speak words of affirmation and affection to your friends
and family. Take time to write a special note in your Christmas cards.

6. Give the Gift of Faith. Read the Christmas story with your family. Talk about
what Christ’s birth means for your lives today.

7. Give the Gift of Peace. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the season, set
aside one “silent night” to be at home. Light a fire, curl up with a cup of hot
chocolate, and take a few moments to rest.

8. Give the Gift of Hospitality. Invite someone to your home who may not have
family close by or host an open house for your neighbors.

9. Give the Gift of Time. Help nursing home residents write Christmas letters, offer
to baby-sit so busy parents can go on a date, or spend a few hours at a shelter.

10. Give the Gift of Love. Whatever you do, ask God to help you reflect His heart and
share the love that inspired Him to send us the very best gift of all.

A great new class on missions at Calvary

On behalf of Pastor Chet Lowe, and the Outreach Ministry of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, I wanted to invite you to a brand new class being offered in 2010. It is a dynamic class that will help put a new fire of vision and passion into your New Year. Come join us for 5 weeks as we pursue the heart of God to take the greatest news ever past the four walls of this church, to a lost and dying world.

God's Outreach to the World:Purposing to Fulfill Acts 1:8
Ft. Lauderdale Campus

Cost: $45.00

When: Sundays, January 10-February 7, 2010, 12:30-2:30 pm

Where: Meeting Room 1 (Behind the Grille)

Who: Led by Pastor Chet Lowe

This five-week course will challenge, inspire, and help you better understand God's great love for the world and His invitation to partner with Him in making disciples of all nations.

The cost of this class is $45 which includes class material and books.

Registration is required for this class.

For more information, contact Ben MacAdam at 954.315.4362
Register now to join Pastor Chet Lowe as he teaches this new five week course.

To register just click on this link:
"God's Outreach to the World:Purposing to Fulfill Acts 1:8"

Are you raising a mission-minded child

In her book "The Mission Minded Child: Raising a New Generation to Fulfill God's Purpose", Ann Dunagan lists some of the characteristics of kids who are developing a heart for missions.

A mission minded child...

• dreams of fulfilling God's destiny.
• May want to become a missionary--or a teacher or a doctor or a newspaper reporter or a state governor or a pastor or a businessperson or an airplane pilot or an author or a florist or a mother--as long as its what God wants.
• prays for that next-door neighbor.
• is not a picky eater!
• takes home a photo magnet from the visiting missionary family and puts it on the kitchen refrigerator.
• is healthy, active, and adventurous.
• spends a summer night sleeping outside on the trampoline, gazes up at a sky filled with twinkling stars, and realizes God's plan is infinitely bigger than his or her own backyard.
• imagines rollerblading on the Great Wall of China!
• recognizes the names of David Livingstone, Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor, and Loren Cunningham.
• knows how to use chopsticks.
• has a reputation for thoroughly enjoying the Bible sword drills and memory verse contests at church.
• puts extra money in the monthly missions offering and feels extra good inside.
• thinks it could be fun to sleep in a mud hut in Africa!
• reads all the way through the Bible by the age of ten (or eleven or twelve)--and is excited to start again!
• stares at the photos in the new geography textbook or magazine and imagines climbing to the top of that Egyptian pyramid, snorkeling in those tropical-blue waters, and giving a new outfit to that poor boy with the ripped-up shirt.
• befriends the new kid at school.
• thinks beyond the "box" of what's merely expected and hopes to do something big, or something little, for God.
• wants to obey (even when no one is looking).
• loves Jesus!
  

So, are you raising mission-minded children? Are you mission-minded?

GREAT OBJECT LESSONS

GREAT OBJECT LESSONS

Objects/Topics

Apple/Trinity
Balloon/Spirit Filled
Candy Cane/Jesus
Cell Phone/Calling on God/Salvation/Spiritually Charged
Cell Phone Scavenger Hunt/God's Guidance
Chalkboard or Dry Erase Board/Sin & Forgiveness
Chocolate Cake/Tough Times
Christmas
Combs(2)/Serving others
Cooking Recipe/Believing God
Cooking with cat food/Sin
Digital Camera or Photo/Image of God
Dirty Shirt/Sin
Fishing/Temptation
Hunting/Temptation
Kiwi/Inner & Outer Beauty
M&Ms/God loves everyone
Math/God's amazing love
Math/God of order
Mirror/Image of God
Name or Name Tag/Trinity
Penny/Trusting in God
Pudding/Believing God
Pumpkin/Gospel
Sand Dollar/Jesus
Toothpaste/Be careful what you say
Tootsie Pop/Heart for Jesus
Silver/Tough Times
Tea Bag/Gospel
Toolbox or Tools/Church & Spiritual Gifts
Water/Trinity

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More great object lessons...

Advent Alphabet

What do sand, trees, money, pearls, wheat, and mustard seeds have in common? Jesus used them all as tangible symbols or object lessons to help his disciples to understand and remember intangible truths. The Master Communicator often attached deeper meanings to common things and objects.

Alphabetically listed are 25 items commonly associated with Advent and Christmas, one object lesson per day starting December 1, to help your family attach deeper spiritual insight to traditional customs and apply what they have learned to everyday life.

Aromas (December 1)
Identify Christmas scents by smelling small bags containing apple slice, bayberry candle, clove, ginger, peppermint, or pine cone. Place fresh evergreens around. Add spices, (rosemary, laurel, bay, sage) to wreaths and greens. Make a pomander ball by pressing whole cloves into an unpeeled orange and hanging it as a symbol for Christmas fragrances.

Bells (Dec. 2)
Sing “Jingle Bells” while each family member shakes the rhythm with a bell. Make a set of bell chimes by filling water glasses unequally and see who can tap out a recognizable melody with a spoon. Hang bells as the symbol.

Candles (Dec. 3)
To reinforce the symbolism of light use Christmas candles. Line a driveway or walk with luminaries (candles set in open paper lunch bags half filled with sand) Set votive or electrical candles in windows. Make a candle carving by tracing a design onto a thick candle and shaving away the wax with a knife. Eat dinner by candlelight. Take a few quiet moments of meditation by candlelight.

Decorations (Dec. 4)
Go out to view decorations and vote on the one which best communicates the true meaning of Christmas. Sing carols about decorations between stops (“Deck the Halls” “Jingle Bells”). Begin to hang your Christmas decorations. Create personalized paper placemats with drawings, stickers, dry transfers, markers, and paints and cover them with plastic wrap or clear shelf adhesive to preserve them.

Eating (Dec. 5)
Use a cookie as today’s symbol. Make some wassail. Wassail means “be well” so drink each cup as a toast to each other’s health. Make plates of cookies as gifts and watch your children enjoy the true meaning of Christmas - giving to others.

Friends (Dec 6)
Prepare a conversational activity and snacks for friends who drop in. You might set up a table with a jigsaw puzzle (500-1000 pieces) to try to complete by Christmas with the help of friends. It’s appropriate that Jesus' first friendly visitors were shepherds for he became the good shepherd. Hang candy canes, shaped like a shepherd’s crook.

Greetings (Dec 7)
Place Christmas cards received in a basket on the dinner table and take turns reading one at each meal. Share happy memories of the senders and include them in prayers. Make a “Good News paper” about Jesus’ birth, including a birthday announcement, copy of Caesar’s census decree, interview with King Herod, a notice about the free concert by the Herald angels in pastures near Bethlehem, etc. The good news of Christmas is that a Savior has been born.

Home (Dec. 8)
People without a home or away from home tend to feel more lonely at Christmas time. God understands because his Son was away from home for the first time on Christmas Eve. Joseph and Mary spent their first Christmas in Bethlehem, about 60 miles from their home in Nazareth (a 3 day trip). Having no friends or relatives with whom to stay, and no advance reservations at an overbooked hotel, they spent Christmas in a stable. The first home of Jesus, our Spiritual Bread of Life, was Bethlehem which means “house of Bread” Sing “O Little
Town of Bethlehem as your family prayer.” Symbol: house.

Individuals (Dec 9)
The ultimate meaning for Christmas is personal, the need for each person to receive God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life. As a symbol use a picture frame with the child’s picture. Read “A Christmas Carol" by Dickens to focus on the needs of others.

Jesus (Dec. 10)
Hang a cross to symbolize Jesus. Have a Birthday celebration for Jesus with a star shaped cake. Wrap a toy and donate to a charity as a gift to Christ.

Kin (Dec. 11)
Christmas is a time to be with family. Hang a family symbol or photo. Talk about Jesus' family. Do something together as a family.

Love (Dec. 12)
Hang a heart as the symbol. Make a large red heart and write on it the qualities of true love from I Cor. 13

Music (Dec. 13)
Hang a musical note as a symbol. Invite friends to join you in singing carols for shut ins or seniors. Play Christmas music around the house.

Nativity (Dec. 14)
Set out a nativity scene. Add pieces daily explaining their relationship to the manger story. Leave the manger empty with a box of straw. When children do good deeds let them place a piece of straw in the manger with the goal of having it filled for Christmas when you place Jesus in it.

Ornaments (Dec. 15)
Help children make personal ornaments. Make or purchase one cross ornament as a reminder that Jesus' cradle was the prelude to the cross.

Present (Dec. 16)
To focus on giving gifts or presents: help someone less fortunate through donations. Help each person choose and wrap a symbol of an intangible gift for Jesus (i.e. a
heart for love, a clock for time, etc.)

Questions (Dec. 17)
Hang a question mark on the tree. Have a quiz on Christmas facts, a spelling bee on Christmas words, etc. The wisemen asked a question in Matt 2:2 seeking Jesus to worship him.

Red (Dec. 18)
How many red Christmas items can you name? Hang one as a symbol. Red symbolizes the blood of Christ, as well as, red holly berries and poinsettia leaves which are vivid reminders of life in a lifeless winter.

Stocking (Dec. 19)
Renouncing wealth to serve as a church leader, legend says Saint Nicholas gave his inherited wealth away by putting gold in stockings hung to dry.

Tree (Dec. 20)
Establish some family traditions based around the Christmas Tree. Explain how three trees explain the Christmas story - Adam lost access to the tree of life by eating from the forbidden tree but Jesus reopened the way to the tree of life by his sacrifice on the cross (itself a tree).

Unwrapping (Dec. 21)
Use an open box to symbolize the unwrapping of gifts.

Vacation (Dec. 22)
Create a vacation calendar and on it creatively plan and build anticipation as to how holidays can be spent.

Wreath (Dec. 23)
See who can count the most circular Christmas items around the house. A wreath is like Jesus in that it never ends.

Xmas (Dec. 24)
Christmas literally means "celebration of Christ" The X represents the first letter of Christ in the Greek alphabet. Hang a Chi-Rho cross as a symbol, the first two letters of Christ.

Yule (Dec. 25)
Yule is another name for the Christmas Season. You might use a yule log as a symbol. On Christmas morning ask children to stay in bed until they hear Christmas music playing. No Christmas presents are to be opened until everyone is present. Share a worship time before opening gifts. Do at least one fun activity as a family. Make Christmas dinner special with a centerpiece and lighted candles.. Make Christmas place cards with Scriptures to be read. See which family members can share the significance of the 25 ornamental symbols hung this month.

Condensed and adapted from "An Advent Alphabet" by
Karen and Terry Hall, Moody Magazine, December 1986

Resources of the day - Pat Canon's Site

Pat Canon was our Mission Possible trainer for years -
She has tons of idea and her site for teaching

Click Here

World Map - A great resource

Check out this website for an amazing interactive globe
http://www.Worldmap.org

Click on the resource tab for tons of interesting facts to share with your class!

Some Resources to Look At

Wycliffe Fun Facts Activity Pages

Each Fun Fact Activity Page covers a different part of the world: Africa, Asia, Americas, the Pacific and Europe. On each sheet children (ages 5-11) can color maps, learn interesting facts and recipes, do crafts, solve puzzles, enjoy pictures and more.

Download all Fun Facts

* Fun Facts Activity Page--Africa
* Fun Facts Activity Page--Americas
* Fun Facts Activity Page--Asia
* Fun Facts Activity Page--Europe
* Fun Facts Activity Page--Pacific

10 Ways to Help Kids Love Missions

10 Ways to Help Kids Love Missions
April 9, 2008 | By: Tia | Category: Commentary, International Outreach

There are things we can do to help our kids love the nations and the cause of Christ, even though a heart and calling for the Great Commission is ultimately something only God can grant. Here are a few ideas from Ryan and Anna, who are currently preparing to serve in Asia with their two young daughters.

1. Pray for missionaries as a family. We keep a stack of prayer cards on the dinner table and rotate through them during mealtime prayers.

2. Read missionary biographies to your children. The stories of Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, William Carey, Gladys Aylward, and other missionary pioneers are captivating ways to orient a child’s heart on the most important things in life.

3. Draw the whole family into supporting missionaries financially. Teach your kids from a young age that being a good steward of their money involves channeling resources toward the the cause of Christ in missions. Older kids can donate some of their lawn mowing and babysitting money. Younger children can earn money doing chores around the house which can be set aside for missionaries.

4. Find your child a missionary kid pen pal. Many children of missionaries around the world would be delighted to get mail from a child their age in their parent’s culture. Your child (and the whole family) will learn valuable insights about living abroad through the eyes of a child. Additionally, when the missionaries visit your church, your child will already have a relationship with the MK and will be able to include them more easily.

5. Entertain missionaries in your home. Inviting missionaries over will be as much of a blessing to your family as to the missionaries. Host them for dinner or for a whole furlough. Build or buy your house with this in mind.

6. Take risks as a family. There are ways to live life which help children grasp the reality that discomfort and suffering are normal and rewarding parts of the Christian experience. Volunteer at a rescue mission; house a single mother; move to the inner-city.

7. Affirm and nurture qualities in your children which could serve them on the mission field. As your children grow in knowledge and skill, encourage them to think about how they could use their gifts in missions work. Then, if God says, “go,” release them to go!

8. Teach your children to be world Christians. Don't expose them to only the American perspective on news and realities around the world. Go out of your way to make them more aware than the average American Christian about geography, world history, and the plights and perspectives of people across the globe.

9. Read missionary prayer letters to your children. Ask them questions about the content and look up facts about the missionaries’ location on the Internet.

10. Use missions fact books and resources such as Operation World, the Global Prayer Digest, the Joshua Project, and Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). Kids of Courage is the youth-oriented arm of VOM and offers activity books, spotlights on the persecuted world, and more.

Most of all, pray every day that your kids will develop hearts that mirror God’s compassion for the nations and love for his glory in them!