October 5

Hello small group leader! Thank you for your wonderful leadership this past Sunday. Here are some announcements to help you prepare for our upcoming time together.

Safe Sanctuaries Training

Thank you to those of you who have already made time this week for the 20-minute Safe Sanctuaries training. Our conference policy is that all volunteers complete Safe Sanctuaries training annually. If you did not complete training for VBS or at the beginning of the school year, please contact Sarah Flannery to arrange a training time that works for you. 

Nametags

Remember that we want you to have name tags each week! Just go to the check-in screen, put in the last four digits of your main phone number, and select your name and "event". Then click "Finish", and your name tag will print. 

Reminder E-mails from Elexio

We are so sorry that you have received "confirmation of serving" e-mails from our database for the past few weeks. Many thanks to one of you for pointing that out! We have disabled the reminder e-mail feature, so you should not receive those in the future.

Lesson for this Week

Time to prepare for another awesome week of Alive! On this first Sunday of October, you will continue the new series called What's the Point? This series is all about God's plan for us as individuals. The four questions you will grapple with are:

Why did God create me?
How come I'm not perfect?
Why didn't God make us like robots?
What does God want from me?

All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. You can download this week's lesson here:

How Come I'm Not Perfect?

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!

September 28

Time to prepare for another awesome week of Alive! On this final Sunday in September, you will begin a new series called What's the Point? This series is all about God's plan for us as individuals. The four questions you will grapple with are:

Why did God create me?
How come I'm not perfect?
Why didn't God make us like robots?
What does God want from me?

All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. You can download this week's lesson here:

Why Did God Create Me?

Encourage kids to bring their own Bibles to church. The BEST encouragement you can provide is to actually use their Bibles during large and small group time.

New Post-It easels in your room

There are now 3 large Post-It paper easels in your classroom for use during small group discussions. Let us know if you need anything else!

Arrival Time

We completely understand that sharing Room 005 with Children's Worship is not ideal, and we are working toward a better arrangement. In the meantime, please do what you can to limit noise or interruption at the end of the Children's Worship time / beginning of Alive time. Children's Worship officially ends at 10 am, and Alive officially begins at 10:05. Come talk to Sarah if you have any concerns about how to share this space! Thank you for your help.

Schedule

The leading schedule is posted on on the blog under "Leader Schedule" up at the top. Here is a link to it. Elizabeth included cell phone numbers for each of you, so please work together to provide coverage if one of you is unavailable. We are working on getting the new sub list up on the blog, but it's always ideal to cover the class among yourselves if possible, since you all know the group and the system so well!

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!

September 21

This is the final week of the Fact or Fiction series. I hope you've had great discussion together! All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. You can download this week's lesson here:

Why Should the Bible Matter to Me?

Make good use of the Bibles in the classroom every week, and encourage the kids to bring their own Bibles to church, because they'll need them!

How is your room working?

We want to hear more about the space you're using. Is Room 005 working okay for you? Have you utilized both sides of the room for breakout discussions? Is there anything else that you need?

Arrival Time

Without a doubt, sharing Room 005 with Children's Worship is not ideal, and we are working toward a better arrangement. In the meantime, please do what you can to limit noise or interruption at the end of the Children's Worship time / beginning of Alive time. Children's Worship officially ends at 10 am, and Alive officially begins at 10:05. Come talk to Sarah if you have any concerns about how to share this space! Thank you for your help.

Schedule

The leading schedule is posted on on the blog under "Leader Schedule" up at the top. Here is a link to it. Elizabeth included cell phone numbers for each of you, so please work together to provide coverage if one of you is unavailable. We are working on getting the new sub list up on the blog, but it's always ideal to cover the class among yourselves if possible, since you all know the group and the system so well!

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!

September 14

Welcome to Week 3! Thank you for your wonderful leadership last week.

All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. This week we continue with the Fact or Fiction series, which is a great parallel with the ongoing sermon series. You can download this week's lesson here:

How is the Bible Different from Other Books?

Make good use of the Bibles in the classroom every week, and encourage the kids to bring their own Bibles to church, because they'll need them!

How is your room working?

With the room change for Alive this semester, we definitely want to hear your feedback. Is Room 005 working okay for you? Have you utilized both sides of the room for breakout discussions? Is there anything else that you need?

Poster-size Post Its

We will order large post-it paper for you to use in your small group breakout times this week, and we hope to have it in the room this Sunday (Sept 14).

Optional Classroom Decorating

Unlike our previous location in the Scout Center, this room is completely open for decorating. If you'd like to hand some of the wall decals that were in there or put up some posters, or have the kids make posters or other decorations, feel free! You can make that space your own.

Arrival Time

Without a doubt, sharing Room 005 with Children's Worship is not ideal, and we are working toward a better arrangement. In the meantime, please do what you can to limit noise or interruption at the end of the Children's Worship time / beginning of Alive time. Children's Worship officially ends at 10 am, and Alive officially begins at 10:05. Come talk to Sarah if you have any concerns about how to share this space! Thank you for your help.

Schedule

By now you should have your team's teaching schedule. Of the three leaders for your class, we want two of you in the classroom each week for Safe Sanctuaries and general support, but only one of you should be tasked with actually leading the lesson. If you need help figuring out your rotation schedule, just let Karen, Cindy or Sarah know!

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!

September 7

Welcome to Week 2! Thank you for your wonderful leadership last week.

All the Grapple curriculum is communicated electronically, and you can find it anytime on the Grapple tab here. This week we continue with the Fact or Fiction series, which is a great parallel with the ongoing sermon series. You can download this week's lesson here:

How do we know the Bible is true?

Make good use of the Bibles in the classroom each week, and encourage the kids to bring their own Bibles to church, because they'll need them! 

Curriculum and DVD

It is completely Sarah's fault that the DVD was not available for this past Sunday. Rest assured that the curriculum book and DVD will be on your black bookshelf inside the door this week. Thank you for your patience!

Classroom Decorating

Unlike our previous location in the Scout Center, this room is completely open for decorating. If you'd like to hand some of the wall decals that were in there or put up some posters, or have the kids make posters or other decorations, feel free! You can make that space your own.

Arrival Time

Without a doubt, sharing Room 005 with Children's Worship is not ideal, and we are working toward a better arrangement. In the meantime, please do what you can to limit noise or interruption at the end of the Children's Worship time / beginning of Alive time. Children's Worship officially ends at 10 am, and Alive officially begins at 10:05. Come talk to Sarah if you have any concerns about how to share this space! Thank you for your help.

Schedule

By now you should have your team's teaching schedule. Of the three leaders for your class, we want two of you in the classroom each week for Safe Sanctuaries and general support, but only one of you should be tasked with actually leading the lesson. If you need help figuring out your rotation schedule, just let Karen, Cindy or Sarah know!

Other announcements

Sarah is back in town for this Sunday, so she will be happy to assist Cindy and Karen and all of you in any way!

Other questions? Send an e-mail, phone call or text - we're here for you!