Sparta Church - CM 11.13.26

11/6/26

Discipling Kids in Serving Others

Christmas time is highly commercialized in our world and our kids are inundated with ads. It's no surprise many of them get focused on their wants and wishlists at this time of year! Our OCC Packing Party is an opportunity for families to make time in our busy schedules to help our kids think and care about others. At the packing party, we take time to decorate shoe boxes and learn more about the kids who will receive them. Then, kids will fill box for a child of the age and gender of their choosing. Everything is provided to fill a box! This is an activity you participate with your children to serve together.
After packing boxes, we'll enjoy some cookies and milk! Join us for a evening of learning how to love others and serve together!

*Prefer to pack a box at home? Go for it! Any boxes you do at home can be brought to the church on a Sunday morning for the collection week.; you do not need to bring your packed boxes to the Packing Party. *

Serving together is a great way to show our kids how to follow Jesus. If you're looking for a way to serve as a family, consider serving as Greeters on Sunday morning! Greeters simply open the doors and greet people on Sunday mornings. Your family couls serve at 9am or 10:30 service. Greeters beging opening the door 15 minutes before service and stay at the doors to greet until 15 minutes after the service starts.

Email the church office to serve as greeter

Have you heard?!? Our Toddler classroom is BACK this Fall!

Starting September 13th, we will be restarting our 2-3 year old classroom for both 9:00 and 10:30 service. During this time, your toddler will play, hear a Bible story, do an activity, sing songs and be loved on by our wonderful Toddler Team.

Love working with babies or 2-3 year olds? We need more helping hands to our Nursery and Toddler Room!
Email [email protected] for more info!

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR UPWARD BASKETBALL!

Upward Basketball runs from January-March 2027 grades Kindergarten-6th.
Registration closes 11/9!
Love to work with kids? We need coaches, Referees and snack shop

Join our Kids CORE Classes!

Children's CORE classes are for ages 4 years old to 5th grade. Offered during our 9am Worship Service, CORE classes are meant to teach our kids all about the God who loves us and reveals Himself in Scripture! They will be reading the Bible and memorizing Scripture. All ages will continue to follow the Answers in Genesis Curriculum and are synchronized (meaning your 5 year old and your 10-year-old will be covering the same portion of the Bible each week).

CORE age groups and locations:
PreK (4-5 years old): Room 304
Kindergarten/1st Grade: Room 303
2nd/3rd Grade: Room 306
4th/5th Grade: Multipurpose Room

Check the Children's Ministry email each week to see what your kids are learning in CORE!

This Sunday at 4REAL Worship

Welcome! As far as culture goes, November has become an extension of the holiday marketing machine. The general theme of every email and ad seems to be: “Buy more and buy it earlier!” That’s why November is the perfect month for us to pause and focus on gratitude and thanksgiving through THE GREAT GRATITUDE CHALLENGE - Thanking God for every good thing. We’ll start by remembering all the amazing good gifts that God has already given to us—and how we always have something to be grateful for. We’ll also dig into what it means to have a heart of gratitude and to regularly express our thanks to God. After all, God even set aside special times for His people to worship and celebrate! And speaking of celebration— Advent begins on Week 5 of this month. We want kids to know they can thank God for the incredible hope that He gave us in sending Jesus!

Always Something to Be Grateful for - This week, kids will discover that no matter what’s going on in their lives, they always have something to be grateful for. Like Habakkuk, who chose praise in the midst of a dark time, we can look at our difficult circumstances and still choose to thank God that He has rescued us and will make everything right in the end.

This week's Bottom Line, "I can thank God no matter what."

Books for Important Conversations

Scripture teaches us that the good world God created is broken with sin. As parents, we wish we could shield our kids from all the wickedness in the world. However, we know our kids will encounter brokenness. So how do we talk to our kids and prepare them some of these difficult and dark things? Below are some books that were written to help families disciple their children through the hard topics of private parts, boundaries, abuse and pornography. The goal of each of the books below is to help facilitate parent-child conversations.
*Remember, no book or author is perfect! Use your discernment and discretion to decide if these are a good fit for your family. If you are a follower of Jesus you have the Holy Spirit to help them discern what is best for your family and kids.*

God Made All of Me

Justin and Lindsey Holcomb

God Made All of Me s an invaluable resource and beautifully illustrated story to help families talk about sensitive issues with two- to eight-year-old children.

Good Pictures, Bad Pictures Jr.
Good Pictures, Bad Pictures

Kristen Jenson

Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr. is a book for paretns to read with their young kids ages 3 to 8. Using gentle, age-appropriate messages, children will learn to Turn, Run & Tell when they are accidentally exposed to inappropriate content.
Good Pictures, Bad Pictures is a read-aloud story about a mom and dad who explain what pornography is, why it’s dangerous, and how to reject it. The 5-point CAN DO Plan teaches kids exactly what to do to protect their young minds when they see pornography. For older kids ages 6 and up.

Good Pictures, Bad Pictures

Kristen Jenson

Good Pictures, Bad Pictures is a read-aloud story about a mom and dad who explain what pornography is, why it’s dangerous, and how to reject it. The 5-point CAN DO Plan teaches kids exactly what to do to protect their young minds when they see pornography. For older kids ages 6 and up.

Helping Your Kids Know God's Good Design

Elizabeth Urbanowicz

This one's for you, parents! This how-to handbook equips you to talk about sex, gender, and the Bible with children between the ages of 4 and 12 with confidence and nuance. Inside you’ll find biblically grounded answers to some of Christian parents’ most common questions

A Glimpse of Kids Min This Fall!

Fall Fest

Out first Fall Festival was a wonderful time for families to enjoy this fall season and fellowship together. Thank you to all the ministries and individuals that hosted activities, trunks and helped make this a wonderful afternoon!

Healthy Kids Running Series

Thank you to our volunteers and families for a great Fall Healthy Kids Running Series! The weather may have been a challenge, but it was still a great series cheering on kids and families. Want to help out or get your kids running? Join us next Spring!

Royal Rangers

Rangers is an activity-based, small-group program for boys and young men in grades Kindergarten and up with a mission to evangelize, equip and empower the next generation of Christlike men and lifelong servant leaders. They kicked off in September and have been busy learning, serving and having a lot of fun along the way!