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| | We have been using Group curriculum for years and thus also the Daily Challenges. I had hoped that when we started LIO in September that it would sort of re-ignite kids (and adults) interest in these. Unfortunately since these are being reviewed and sent home every week I think the newness has really worn off. I DO think that everyone is more cognizant that there are things we can do every day to share the love of Jesus with people and in that respect, it has been a success. However, I don't really think families are doing the daily challenges and really even the take home sheets for the purpose of family study and discussion. It goes without saying that parents have the opportunity to be much more effective at teaching their children about Jesus than we do at church since we only have them an hour or so a week. So I'm not content to just sit back and keep sending pages home that go straight to the garbage or get tossed their before they leave church property. I've thought about doing tear offs or small cards that give families discussion questions and activities (like saying a prayer or looking up scripture) to use that match our monthly topic. I've been testing it on my own family and it has been a great experience for us. Does anyone have other options that they have tried successfully to get families to discuss Jesus and share their faith like suggested through the Daily Challenges?
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| Great ideas, Cindy. I'm looking forward to what others have to say. We all kind get comfortable with something and forget the impact and meaning it can have. I think of the Lord's Prayer and have to catch myself sometimes -- and remember to think about what I'm praying!
What do you think about the idea of checking back in with kids about what they did the previous week? If they know that you expect some feedback, perhaps they'll be more enthused about taking it home. Maybe kids could even share more of how they've put their faith into practice, and you could then share that with the rest of the church. Keep the ideas and questions coming! Blessings!
Deb Bernard
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| | Thanks for the reply Deb! I'm hoping others may have some suggestions too. Actually the teachers "following up the next week " is how we initially started to realize the problem. I know God has a solution for us...just waiting for it to materialize. 
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| | And for those of you wondering what a Daily Challenge is: The Daily Challenge® Of course you want kids to come to Living Inside Out and learn about Jesus’ love. But imagine how life-changing it would be if kids took what they learned, applied it right away to daily life, and showed Jesus’ love in real life. That’s where the Daily Challenge comes in! It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3! - Present the Daily Challenges each week in small group.
- Let kids choose their Challenge! While kids are still in small group, they look over that week’s Daily Challenges, found on their take-home sheet. Group members work together to choose which challenge they’ll do before they come back the following week.
- Small-group leaders check in with kids the following week to talk about how they followed through on their Challenge. Over time this builds accountability within the group and they begin to support and care for each other in their daily lives.
Remember that your goal is to encourage kids to practice what they’re learning just for the joy of serving Jesus! Don’t offer bribes, incentives, or group competitions to entice kids to complete their Daily Challenges. We discovered that kids didn’t need any other motivation—they were excited about choosing a Challenge and living it out! Focus on intrinsic motivation (from the heart), not extrinsic motivation (from external factors). You'll find Daily Challenge activities in most of Group's curriculum resources.
Deb Bernard
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| | Cindy, We just finished the first module, so I'm kind of new at LIO, but I'be sending this e-mails to the leaders. We use LIO for Children's Church, what happens around 2 times a month, so we also, have the factor that we do not see the kids (in a LIO environment) every week. But, I know how important it's the follow-up. I believe that if the kids sees that we are really interested, they will do it. Hope this helps: Thank you for being part of LIO Children's Church yesterday!! Because we do not have Children's Church every Sunday, sometimes we lose the follow-up with the kids, so please take the responsibility to approach the kids that you had yesterday in the following weeks and follow up on the Daily Challenge that you gave them yesterday in the Small Groups and the Large Group Leader in the teaching you gave. Please, make sure that you approach the kids and check on them, they will do the daily challenge if they are accountable to somebody, when you see one of them, make sure that you ask about their flashlight, their Bible Reading, etc. Thanks for all you do! I know that if you take time for this, you will reap some cool testimonies!!!
Denise
Below is the description of the Daily Challenge. The Daily Challenge® Of course you want kids to come to Living Inside Out and learn about Jesus’ love. But imagine how life-changing it would be if kids took what they learned, applied it right away to daily life, and showed Jesus’ love in real life. That’s where the Daily Challenge comes in! It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3! - Present the Daily Challenges each week in small group.
- Let kids choose their Challenge! While kids are still in small group, they look over that week’s Daily Challenges, found on their take-home sheet. Group members work together to choose which challenge they’ll do before they come back the following week.
- Small-group leaders check in with kids the following week to talk about how they followed through on their Challenge. Over time this builds accountability within the group and they begin to support and care for each other in their daily lives.
Remember that your goal is to encourage kids to practice what they’re learning just for the joy of serving Jesus! Don’t offer bribes, incentives, or group competitions to entice kids to complete their Daily Challenges. We discovered that kids didn’t need any other motivation—they were excited about choosing a Challenge and living it out! Focus on intrinsic motivation (from the heart), not extrinsic motivation (from external factors).
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| | My problem in this regard is the same as with any other kind of take-home paper. Older kids leave them behind all around the church. Sometimes the small group leaders don't even get to discussing it or giving them out, because either the kids' bad behavior eats up the time, or they just plain forget. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to run them off. The only ones I know get into at least the parents' hands are the ones for the youngest, because those are sometimes attached to a coloring page, and the kids hand them to the parents when they are picked up. One little guy even asks if he's getting a paper today. I think it works in VBS because it's "homework" to be done by the next day. And besides, they "wear" it home! I have used the craft-like ideas on the take-home sheet in small group if it seems like it will go over well, or if the ideas in the small group script seem like they won't go well, and we need an alternative. |
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| | Yes, Debby I can identify with you 100%!! Most of the time, my own kids don't bring anything home from church, but, they bring from school, maybe we can have them carrying a backpack for church?! I want to work with the teachers and also with the parents too! One thing that I want to do soon, will be to post the "page to do at home" in our website. For GROUP - is it okay? Do we have anything available in a format that we could put that in an e-mail or website? I think this need to be a major campaign, like bringing their Bible and offering to church, we need to enphasize the bringing stuff home too! So, the parents should expect the kids to bring something, and if not, they could have acess to that. I just don't want to give out that, because this is what we need, kids living Jesus!!!!
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| Let me check on what you can post on your website, and get back to you! At the least, perhaps you can have a reminder/check-in... But I'll see if we can do more!
Deb Bernard
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