One gum ball, two gumballs, three gumballs … three thousand gumballs!

If you were in church on Sunday you would have seen a dentist’s dream come true as I pulled out 3000 gumballs to illustrate the hours of influence a family has over their child in a year. (This is why it is so important to come to church on Sunday, you never know what you will see, or get to go home with!)

The 3000 gumballs are significant compared to the 40 hours that we as a church community have over the life of the average church-going child. We discovered as we heard Deuteronomy 6 so beautifully read that the primary responsibility for raising faithful children lies with parents. The moral of the story: what would happen if we pooled all our gumballs together – the 40 hours of church resources with 3000 hours of family influence? The impact on the spiritual and moral development of our children would be HUGE!

We are thrilled to have Nancy Varga come on board to oversee Family Ministries. Family Ministries includes, nursery, KidsZone and youth. Her role will also be to assist in equipping, encouraging and providing resources and opportunities for you to have ‘God experiences’ with your children and the significant children in your life.

One such experience is Messy Church. You may have seen signs around the church or advertisements in the bulletin and wondered what it's all about.

Last week at Messy Church I had the opportunity to sit, over dinner, with a woman who met us through VBC. A lovely lady from the community with three lovely children looking, as she said to me, “for something”. Is it a spiritual component to their life? Is it community? Or maybe a safe, fun place to bring her children? Yes, Yes, Yes to all of it. She was thrilled to be there.

Each week at Messy Church you can count on having dinner prepared for you. Just come, enjoy, and then spend a some time experiencing God with your children - working on a craft or a fun activity together that speaks to a biblical principle. We are doing this around tables with other families so you are certain to make some wonderful connections.

Messy Church will look different each week. There might be a movie night, or puppet show or games... you need to come and experience it not only for your children, but for you!

If you would like more information on Messy Church, KidsZone or Nursery please contact Nancy Varga at familyministry@amberleachurch.ca