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This past week we launched two new programs at SFC.  On Wednesdays we are meeting for an hour to have dinner at a Laughing Planet restaurant in the next neighborhood over.  The restaurant is the kind where you order at the counter and then food is brought to your table.  It’s family friendly with really healthy choices of the burrito, bowl, and broccoli variety.  Dinner here means our families that don’t have time to cook, or who have early bed times can join us for the discussion part of the gathering.  We don’t have the candles or the singing.  We don’t all load the dishwasher together afterwards.  What we do have are dinosaur toys to play with and a greater variety of food options for each person. We also have room to grow, since Sunday night dinner has been almost to capacity nearly every week since July.  It’s sort of like having 2 different worship services on a Sunday morning.  Both share a theme, but the feel and components of each is a little different.

On Sunday nights we have added a new children’s ministry.  We usually have around 8 kiddos on Sunday nights.  For the past year we’ve had a teenager keep on eye on the children while they played with games or did crafts.  Several of our folks stepped up this fall and said they would like to start a children’s ministry.  A different person will teach a lesson each week based on the dinner discussion.  This past week was our first lesson and the kids loved it.  Our somewhat reserved 4 year old was right in there with the bigger kids, learning and working together.  The kids are even raising money for UNICEF to help refugees, which they will share on Feb 14th, a day to remember love.

To facilitate the new children’s program it was clear that the space the kids were using wasn’t enough.  They were in my office and a bit cramped.  Because my space was filled with crafts and games I often didn’t use my office during the week.  Something had to change to make both the new ministry and my work time more successful.  I had a brilliant idea while working out last week, our daughter and I would switch office spaces.  She has way less stuff than I do and her things dovetail nicely with the children’s ministry things.  She and I spent this weekend moving our spaces.  The result is a cozy little nook for me off the kitchen, with only the essentials (everything else is either stored in the basement or on its way to the thrift shop.) and a big space for the kids to learn and play.  This is one of the interesting things of sharing our home with our ministry setting, adjusting the space we share.

I’m so excited about the ways our community continues to grow and change and can’t wait to see what else 2016 will bring.

-E

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