December 22, 2003

 How an After-School Program
Changed our Ministry

Over the course of more than a year beginning in 1999, general discussions made apparent the growing desire of the Raleigh, North Carolina, congregation to extend its ministry into the community. A series of events led us first into our prison ministry program and to Otis Hardy (see page 22 of Seekers and Disciples, Herald House: 2003). The blessing this ministry has had upon all involved led us to explore additional opportunities to touch lives. Outreach children’s ministry was an interest shared by many in the congregation.

Otis Hardy with after-school kids

Motivation
In the spring of 2000 I [Carol Gibson] retired from a 25-year teaching career. Because I served 18 of those years as a reading specialist, I told my husband Jerry that I wanted to continue helping children with their reading and thought my gifts could best be used at a learning center. I initially selected a center in an inner-city housing project. The children who resided there were bused to the school where I had taught.

Jerry suggested that instead I should help serve the children in the apartments right down the street from our church in Cary, North Carolina. He felt that the proximity to our church made it more likely that we could also interact with the parents. Lucky for us, Otis Hardy, a recently converted Christian who has since become a full-time World Church minister, had moved into those apartments after being released from prison on February 15, 2000.

Otis had been “paving the way” for us by being a presence in that community. He continued to tell us that ministry was all about relationships--that you must build relationships first and minister to people where they are before they will come to you. With his encouragement, we planned an August picnic complete with crafts and piñatas at the Chatham Forest Apartments pool. More than 100 people attended. During the picnic, Otis introduced me to a resident, Michelle Love, who was very interested in doing something for the children who lived there. She had two children of her own, a kindergartener and third grader, and said she would support me in whatever I wanted to do.

That fall we began making specific plans for an after-school program. Michelle, with a degree in social work, and I, with a degree in reading, were to be co-directors. Otis had planned to take the Chatham Forest children to the Governor’s Mansion (where he served as the pastry chef through a prison program) to see the Christmas decorations and listen to live music. Because he scheduled it for the week of his wedding, I told him he was too busy. But Otis had promised the children, so we went! Many of the children who went on this outing became our first participants in the after-school program one month later.

Beginnings
We applied for and received a grant from our regional endowment fund to support the after-school program, which allowed us to buy two new computers as well as software for the accelerated reader program. Our school district provided software and workbooks for a math program that paralleled the school’s curriculum. We began our program with six passionate adults (two teachers, two social workers, and two businessmen/elders). We now have more than 12 workers, five of whom are from the surrounding community.

The after-school program began on January 17, 2001. In just two-and-a-half years it has grown from eight to 10 participants to 22 to 25 children each week. During the first year, Michelle told me our church was going to gain many new members because of our efforts with this program. I explained that was not why we started it and I had been very clear with parents that we would work only on school material, not on church teachings. She quietly affirmed that it would happen anyway. She was right!

Celebrations and Activities
In January 2002, Michelle asked the children to write and perform a play for their parents at our one-year spaghetti dinner celebration. Every parent who had a child in that play, came to enjoy the spaghetti and see the production. In May, the children wrote poems of tribute to their mothers and held a mother-daughter tea party to celebrate Mother’s Day.

Shortly before school was out the first summer (2001) the apartment manager, Pat Leak, asked, “Carol, what are you going to do to keep the children busy this summer?” I had not planned to do anything! Michelle, Cindy Thomas (a social worker from our congregation), and I got together and planned activities for six afternoons of the summer including activities such as reading, watching movies, and crafts. The children were required to read for 45 minutes before doing another activity. We had many faithful helpers who assisted with that program.

The next summer we decided to offer a weeklong evening Bible school instead of the weekly activities. We were pleasantly surprised when many of our after-school children willingly came to Bible school. A total of 28 children participated with 16 who were there every night. By the end of the week, many of the children were asking if they could come to church. One child said, “This is my church now. I want to come all the time.”

After-School Transitions into Church Activities
Our procedure for after-school was always to pick up children by the carload and bring them to church, so we agreed to pick up children for Sunday School and worship as well. A couple of the children were already active in Sunday school and church before Bible School, but now about 10 children were coming to church each week. We have already split our elementary class twice to keep it manageable and there are more children coming each week.

The Raleigh congregation now has a children’s choir with 15 to 20 children who sing once a month or so. This ensemble was inspired by the awesome job Deborah Smith did with music at Bible school. Michelle Scott now directs this group. We also have Kids for Christ each Wednesday following the after-school program. This started because the children coming to after-school wanted to stay for our weekly dinner, with a few staying for fellowship service Wednesday evening as well. Tass Welch began Kids for Christ to offer a specialized service for the youth.

The dinners began three years ago because of our prison ministry. We feed the inmates and others who are able to be with us before our regular Wednesday evening fellowship service. Building these events has been part of a three-year process. Changes, such as adding Kids for Christ, have been welcome in our ministry as we accommodate the needs of children.

Requests for Baptism
One neighborhood child, Ashley, who went to junior camp last year asked for baptism in the fall, while another, Brooke, asked for baptism after attending a baptismal service. It went something like this:

On the way to Food Court (we go out to lunch after church most Sundays except the last Sunday of each month when we have potluck), Brooke asked, “Mrs. Gibson, may I borrow your cell phone? I have to call my mom.” I asked, “Why?” Brooke replied, “Because I need to ask her if I can be baptized.”

“No!” I said. “You can’t call her. We’ll talk about it.” I had only received permission from Brooke’s parents to bring her to church. I didn’t think about her wanting to be baptized after only being in church a few months. Plus, I felt she was just caught up in the moment after witnessing the baptisms of two of her friends.

We went on to lunch and I thought she had forgotten about it. No such luck! On the way home she asked for my phone again and she was bright enough to tell me that she was just going to tell her mom that we were on the way home so she wouldn’t worry. I assured her that her mom knew I would get her and her sister home by 2:00 p.m. like I did every Sunday.

I was not prepared for what happened when I took her home. She burst into her apartment and said, “Mom I want to be baptized.” I was embarrassed and quickly said to her mom that it wasn’t necessary; Brooke could come to church as long as she wanted without being baptized. Amazingly enough, her mom quietly told me that she had been thinking about it too, because the girls had never been baptized into any church. And to think I had been worried!

Jerry and I provided the “Faith and Beliefs” tract to Brooke’s parents. We visited with them about our church and to make sure it was okay for Brooke to take pre-baptismal classes. Nancy Weeks taught her, using the wonderful Of Water and the Spirit materials.

On February 23, 2003, I was privileged to baptize Brooke and Ashley. The girls are cousins and 20 people in their family were there to witness and support their decision to be baptized. The children’s choir sang and we all rejoiced.

Vacation Bible School and Subsequent Baptisms
We completed another Bible School (SCUBA) in July 2003, under the able direction for the second consecutive year of Tass Welch. Everyone had a wonderful experience with five of our neighborhood children serving as junior leaders. On Communion Sunday following Bible School the children’s choir sang three numbers for church. As I walked up the aisle to partake of Communion being served by our elders in the front, two more neighborhood girls stopped me and asked for baptism. One parent was present and immediately gave his consent and I spoke with the other child’s mom the next day who also gave her consent.

Those two girls, both named Elizabeth, were baptized September 14, along with two other neighborhood girls, Angelica and Kiara, who made their decisions to be baptized while attending reunion in Ashville, North Carolina. Another eighth grader, Shey, told of her intention to be baptized while at reunion as well. She, along with three others (two adults and one child) were baptized on October 26. Now all five of our junior leaders from Vacation Bible School (VBS) have been baptized.

Reunion this year was an outstanding experience for our youth. Having Jimmy and Jared Munson there made it especially meaningful for them. Besides our five junior leaders from VBS, we had three other girls attend reunion over Labor Day weekend. Seven of the eight girls had never attended reunion before. Their testimonies can be read in our on-line congregational newsletter at http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/t/dtweeks/index.htm. Besides the stories already shared here, we celebrated two additional baptisms in November, one in December, and six in August. These baptisms of adults and children have certainly enhanced our ministry and helped influence future baptisms.

Involvement of Many
There’s hardly a person in our congregation who has not been involved in our children’s ministry in one way or another. One of our young couples, Jessica and Dwonne Paul, lives in Chatham Forest and conducts a Bible study for the children on Monday nights as well as other activities for the junior youth of the congregation. Another family, Tass Welch along with her two daughters Kathryn and Carrie, heads Kids for Christ.

During Kids for Christ, Tass seeks to discover the gifts of the children while developing them as disciples and leaders. These gifts are often used to enhance our worship. Her daughter, Kathryn leads the junior and senior high youth activities, including a Sunday night study of Ron Clark’s The Essential 55. Kathryn also now serves as co-director of the after-school program with me. Michelle Scott, directs the children’s choir and has an assistant, Ada Scott, who spearheaded getting choir outfits for the children.

Nancy and Ray Weeks are responsible for Sunday morning praise singing and Nancy is the expert math teacher for the after-school program. Cindy and Steve Thomas serve at after-school as tutors and bring five to seven children from their own neighborhood with them each week. In addition to those already mentioned, several young adults helped with Bible School this year including Matthew Flanery and Sam and Natasha Wheeler. Former Pastor Betty Cowick is always available to help with food and organizing what we need, and Otis and Jerry are there to provide ministry, transportation, and any help we need as well.

What We Have Learned
We have, indeed, learned so much about children’s ministry during the past three years. They have changed our worship services and our lives. They have brought a special vibrancy into our music and drama as well as our dinners and other activities. They minister to us in ways we never could have imagined. They actively participate in Sunday services by participating in choir, scripture dramas, scripture readings, prayers, the offering, a children’s activity during the focus moment, or a testimony of God’s love in their lives.

The children are now among our best missionaries, often inviting their friends to after-school, Wednesday dinners, youth activities, or Sunday morning worship. Since Jimmy Munson was here, they feel especially compelled to be involved in 10 people’s lives on an ongoing basis! As one of our girls says to me when I tell her what time I’ll pick her up, “Me and the Holy Spirit will be ready!”

Carol Gibson reporting
co-pastor, Raleigh congregation, Cary, North Carolina