introduction: Our Community Garden

Caleb Clardy, founding pastor of Trinity Grace, shared how when our church started ten years ago, we had a handful of kids. Knowing the neighborhood we lived in, we ask the Lord to grow our territory with the families of Park Slope.

The Lord answered our prayer so many times over and we now have more than 200 active children on our on our roster. We want to be faithful to steward his faithfulness and blessing.

Kids are an integral part of our church body. We like to think of it like a community garden, each plot being so different but creating the whole. Each of our child carries the image of God, revealing more of who he is. Showing us a little more about his character and creativity.

Individual Plots, One Garden

Elisa Booker, Pastor of Children and Families, explained the goal of TGC Kids to walk alongside parents as they raise kids with healthy minds and whole hearts, encouraging the next generation to practice the way of Jesus together as a church family.

There are 936 weeks from birth to graduation. We take the available time for each child at church and at home very seriously. When you know how much time you have, you are likely to get serious about it, and treasure it and use it well.

To use a real example, Elisa and Armistead Booker have two children: Benjamin (five years old) and Elizabeth (two years old). There are 651 more weeks for Benjamin and 824 more weeks for Elizabeth to be fed, comforted, guided, played with, taught who God is, and encouraged to discover what Jesus means in their own lives.

School takes up about 25% of a child’s waking hours each week. Church takes up only 2% of their alert time. That leaves families with 73% of a child’s time when their eyes are wide open and focused on their parents.

Tending the Garden

Elisa Booker discussed the significance of the two hours each week that a child spends at TGC Kids. As with a community garden, we are committed to do our very best to water, protect, make sure the sun shines and even weed (kindly) if we see an unruly vine. But you as the plot owner, parents are responsible for the plan to see their “family garden” flourish.

The job of raising kids in presence, formation and love — To Know Jesus, Be Like Jesus and Do what Jesus did — might seem complicated, daunting, and like a lot of pressure. It’s also tempting to think that maybe they will just get all they need to know at church.

While TGC Kids aims to introduce each child to life with Jesus and the stories of the Bible, it will only ever scratch the surface. What we do as a church matters, but what parents do matters even more.

The good news is the plan is simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. As parents, we must live in the way of Jesus, and then strive — with abundant grace — to love our kids the way that God loves us. Kids naturally look to their parents and trusted individuals for comfort, safety, and to make sense of their experiences. They need our full attention: loving, kind and understanding.

We don’t have to do each moment perfectly, or even be a perfect parent. We actually only need to be a “good enough” parent and the perfect parent (God) does the rest. We just have to look our kids each time we lose our temper, miss a moment, or forget God’s grace, and say “I’m sorry. I love you. How can I help you?” And a hug really goes a long way.

Curriculum: Tools In Our Shed

Danielle Swink, Director of Preschool Ministries, introduced the tools used on Sundays and how you can keep up-to-date with TGC Kids and partner with our team.

First Look (preschool)

Everything we teach our preschoolers is based on one of three simple, but powerful, truths:

• God Made Me

• God Loves Me

• Jesus Wants To Be My Friend Forever

The entire program is constructed to incite wonder in a preschooler and meet them where they are cognitively, spiritually, physically, emotionally and socially. Through age-appropriate activities, preschoolers are building their spiritual foundation so that by the time they graduate to Kindergarten they know the three basic truths.

252 Kids (grades k–5)

Our elementary kids follow three basic and powerful truths modeled by Jesus in Luke 2:52:

• I need to make the wise choice.

• I can trust God no matter what.

• I should treat others the way I want to be treated.

The 252 Kids program is designed to provoke discovery and invite kids into a new understanding of how to grow in relationship with Jesus. It focuses on 150 Key Bible stories, 4 Faith Skills and 30 Life applications.

Parent Cue mobile app

The free Parent Cue app helps you make the most of the time you spend with your kid throughout the week. Some of the most important things you do for your child don’t happen in a single day (or even on Sundays). You make small deposits in their life every single day, week after week—over time.

Using this app, you can get a sneak peek at what we're learning at church, practice the memory verse, explore new ways to connect with your child, and countdown the weeks until graduation.

Monthly Videos

Explore the latest TGC Kids content produced by our curriculum partner. The channel is updated monthly with new videos to enjoy, share, and learn along with your child.

The Team: Many Gardners, One Garden

Elisa Booker explained the pressures and challenges of having enough adults to run TGC Kids programming each Sunday. With over 200 children on the roster and an average of 90 in our classes each week, we need at least 96 volunteers per month (or 24 volunteers per Sunday). We currently only have 60 volunteers.

To cover for this deficit, we use paid babysitters, which accounts for 25–50% of the team on any given week. Using babysitters isn’t all bad. There are pros and cons to using babysitters. They are consistent, loving, and willing to hear about the love of Jesus. But they are an immense expense in our annual budget and most of them do not know Jesus and therefore they are are not “gardeners.”

We need you on our team. Right now.

We are intimately aware of all the challenges of serving on our team. It impacts your ability to be in the worship gathering on that Sunday; you have a challenging schedule (home and work); and you are often saying, “I am with my kids 24/7… I need Sundays.”

We understand, but we also think this call is so vital and important that it requires us to require you to serve.

So we are requiring you to choose one of the following serving methods.

• Serve once a month / You choose a team (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Sunday) and commit to this responsibility every month (October 2019—June 2020).

• Serve three times per year / You fulfill the base requirement and commit to three dates this year (October 2019—June 2020) and we will reach out to schedule your time.

Elisa Booker
Pastor of Children and Families

Danielle Swink
Director of Preschool Ministries