I have about 30 kids, and we break up as K-1, 2-3, and 4-6, and the three divisions in Living Inside Out work well for us. The kids begin in the morning worship service, then we leave with about an hour + for the program. I do the worship, lesson presentation, and one other activity from the large group part, then they go to age groups for the small group part. A 1 to 5 or less ratio is best. If you read this board, you'll see that sometimes we complain that the older ones don't have enough of substance in their small group sessions, but that is easily fleshed out if necessary. I sometimes add a simple craft if it seems there will be extra time.

I have small group leaders commit for a unit (usually a calendar month). It has been mostly easy getting volunteers that way.

The kids love it, and I have heard such great things from parents about how the kids talk about what they did all Sunday afternoon! I say go for it!

Deb Bernard

Curriculum Senior Marketing Manager

I just wanted to let everyone know that we had our volunteer kickoff training event this past weekend, and it was SO AWESOME!  Most of our small group leaders were able to attend, and I followed the training from the director's CD (Get Organized -- check it out at http://store.grouppublishing.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?section=11602&item=48944).  I had them try week 3 from the Star Quest theme...it was so fun to watch them "see," "hear," and "experience" what Living Inside Out will be like. There were plenty of smiles and lots of relaxed small group leaders by the time we were finished. I love the way Group equips the volunteers by providing such user-friendly material! It is going to be an awesome year...incredible things will happen!

Deb Bernard

Curriculum Senior Marketing Manager

We use a fellowship hall which is quite large for our kids service.   It's one big room the size of small school gym...sound isnt the greatest but we carpeted it and put a stage in with lighting and speakers.   We have anywhere from 15-40 1st through 5th graders attend depending upon the time of year with two teams of about 10-12 per Volunteers on a team that rotate.   We set up round tables in the room for small group time and have a bunch of chairs set up and open space for Large group time.....we act out dramas on stage or in the open areas of the room as well as do the bible story as the kids are all seated up front together- we begin with the kids sitting up front as one large group...with the jumpstarts, then move to do the 4 songs then do a section we call visitors/birthdays/communion and offering time, then we move to the bible story then do the video or one or two large group activities....we use the final 20 minutes for a small group time to go over the take home sheets, memory verse and bible story summary....we didnt have the money to buy the special memory makers unfortunately so we skipped that.   Our service for the kids runs about 1 hour and 10 minutes in total with each thing taking about 10 mintues each.   We let some kids go up on stage to do the motions to the songs and to sing through one or two microphones during the beginning songs.   We try to have some decorations to match the topic but that's been tough for us....I am able to get people to dress up for the skits and we created an area with stuff for those.   Our church hopes to be able to put more money into decorations later this year.   Hope all this is helpful to anyone interested in how we do the Living Inside Out curriculum.   Our Church size is about 400 average attendees per Sunday.   We struggle a bit with the upper elementary kids (4th and 5th graders)...to keep them interested during the small group time but that has been the only negative.  I made sure we purchased the posters and have them all on the walls to help make things look better and not so bland.   Thanks. Dave B.

Deb Bernard

Curriculum Senior Marketing Manager

This is really a question you are in a better position to decide based on your goals and your knowledge of your ministry. But perhaps I can offer a few thoughts for you to consider.

First, think of how often you'd use Group's Living Inside Out materials. Is this something you'd use each week? If so, are there weeks you'd do something else where you wouldn't need materials? For example, in my church, we do special Sundays for Mother's Day and usually a few other Sundays in the year, we take the summer off, and we use a couple of our Sunday morning times in December to practice for a Christmas program. And we don't have Sunday school on Christmas or Easter (everyone is in church as a family). So that means I can almost use 12 modules for 2 years (and we think from purchasing patterns that this is what a number of churches are doing). If that sounds like you, you'll likely have more than a year's worth of materials to use.

Another thing to consider is how often you have changed programs in the recent past.

We are still working on our production schedule but don't have an update yet. I'll post updates as I know anything in that subcategory in the "General" section of this forum.

If I can be of service in any other way, please let me know. (I am out of the office 7/20 - 7/26). God bless you and your ministry!


Deb Bernard

Curriculum Senior Marketing Manager

We would like to incorporate a piece with the children working with their Bibles, which I can't seem to find in the literature.  Any suggestions on where - large or small group?  And how - i.e., version, exercises. technique?

Thanks so much!