Nomad is at Westchester Park this week, and we are eating from around 6-7, and God will take care of everything after. If you want to bring an instrument to play, bring one! Please bring some food to share. Please come! Can't wait!
Westchester Park is on the corner of Lincoln and Manchester in Los Angeles. We are on the west side (the Lincoln side) near the picnic tables. I'll have the grill there, so bring something you want to grill.
Okay, now, I really need you to do me a favor.... Below are some questions. Please answer one!
August is gone, and September is here, and I cannot believe the summer is basically over. As we prepare to re-engage, what are some good things we can do to help with the heat?
School is back for me (John): I'm teaching at Loyola and West LA and the energy is back up (as I am...in the morning...cause of the 5:30 alarm....yeah.).
Speaking of teaching, last week Nomad helped an educational program for community kids as well as children living in a local shelter. I've been doing educational programs for children for ten years, and that includes serving underpriveledged children, too. This week was an awesome week: the leaders were amazing, the crafts were just incredible - they created a galaxy in a room at the church building - and the children were super responsive, not just to the crafts and games and songs but also to the message. The message is this: that God created the universe, the universe is beautiful, God created these children, they are beautiful...and they can be in a relationship with God.
One night I was sharing about how God loves them like a dad, and he sent his only son to earth to live among us so we could all be his kids, too. There were tears in the eyes of the homeless children, the ones in difficult living situations, and the ones in safe living situations, too. There were some leaders responding, in fact!
So here's my question: so when you have kids with different needs, should you keep them together? Or do you think kids should be grouped and taught according to their needs - effectively separating them? I mean we do it with age groups?
Some of you know there is a reason I'm asking this. I want to get your feedback for a variety of reasons....partly to see just what people think about this issue.
I see parallel questions in the church. Many conventional churches separate families in order to minister to them. The kids go here, the married parents go there, and the single mom's go over there; and the older parents go to the boomer class. Is this an effective structure to minister to people? Are there advantages to keeping people together?
Comments are welcome and wanted! Post, post, post...even if it's just about the heat!
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I will post a comment regarding that question, right now, I am overwhemled with emotions!!!! Being the mother of 2 amazing, beautiful, fullfilling, wonderful little bundles of joy, they were also "children that should have been kept separated", I am just too emotional to answer that question right now....later
ReplyDeleteOne thing to address: "Are there consequences if programs/schools/ministries separate kids because of their socio-economic status?"
ReplyDeleteI think that it depends on the problem but overall I'd say group kids by age and not problem. Sometimes sharing what you are going through even if it's a different situation helps you overcome your own struggle.
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