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The Oregon Conference Children’s Ministry Department exists to equip, develop and inspire volunteers to lead children and their families to follow Jesus.
Oregon Conference Children's Ministries is here to encourage, support, resource, network and train members from our churches to minister to children in their church and community.
From the Oregon Health Authority healthoregon.org/coronavirus
Helping kids get comfortable with masks
There is a lot of uncertainty about school right now. Some kids are in virtual school. Other children attend in person a few hours a week. And some are on campus full time. This uncertainty is especially difficult for young children, and focusing on what you know your kids can expect may help them adjust to our new normal.
One thing is clear: Kids will be wearing masks at school.
Oregon pediatricians at the Oregon Pediatric Society offer advice for parents on helping kids with mask wearing. Here are five tips that may help accustom your toddlers and young children to masking up:
Start early: Introduce masks well ahead of when you think your child will be required to wear them. Consider starting by simply having masks around the home and pointing out their presence. Next steps can be encouraging children to touch, explore, and play with the masks.
Make it familiar: Parents and older siblings can wear masks around the house or put them on stuffed animals and dolls to make them more familiar.
Make it fun: Provide masks with fun patterns or pictures and let your child choose the mask they wear before going out.
Be honest: Even for young children you can say something like “Okay, time to put our mask on to make sure we all stay safe.”
Be consistent: Easy places to start are everywhere outside the home (“Whenever we go inside somewhere that is not our home, we wear a mask”) or every time entering an indoor public space (“Okay, we’re going inside now, time to put on our mask.”).
The complete article is on the Oregon Pediatric Society webpage. They also have a great video on kids masking up:
You and your friends are invited. There is no charge, but you must register to receive the online link.
PIVOT will inspire and encourage you. Listen to keynote speaker Pastor Manny Cruz and dedicated breakout presenters who are passionate about ministering to children. You will be equipped to minister to the children you serve in powerful ways as the Holy Spirit leads us to pivot with Him. There will be seventeen seminar breakouts from which to choose. Four (4) seminar breakouts will be presented in Spanish.
Children are very much loved by Jesus. He is continually looking for ways to win them for the kingdom. He calls us, knowing how flawed we are, to love and reach children, first our own and then to come alongside other children and families and encourage them to do the same. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, a Sabbath School leader, an Adventurer leader, a VBS leader or a pastor this Children’s Ministry Expo will inspire you to reach this generation of children.
"See I am doing a new thing." Isaiah 43:19
Resources available to help you learn more about leading a successful Sabbath School program at your church.
We hope our newsletter will provide you with inspiration, abundant resources for your sabbath school and news and announcements. May God bless you in ministering to His kids. Click below to read the latest newsletter. Click the "Sign Up!" button to the right to receive our weekly newsletters in your email.
Lending Suspended Until Further Notice
Do to health concerns and the many surfaces that can be touched. The Children's Ministries Department will suspend lending from our Lending Vault until further notice.
Our Lending Vault is a service we provide for our churches to help offset costs for event programing. This includes VBS kits, backdrops, stuffed animals and costumes. It is $20 per borrowing trip. We rely on the careful care of those who borrow, to return them in a timely manner and to follow the care instructions for each. This is a local service and requires on site pick up and return. It is not a mailed lending service. Please fill out this form to request using our Lending Vault Resources in Children’s Ministries. This will help us to serve you better and see if we have the items you are requesting. We will contact you further once this form is fully filled out. Thank you to those who help sustain this program by donation and using the service. NOTE: during the month of July borrowing from our vault is closed the 3rd through the 5th week each year.
Request Lending Vault Resources
The Adventurer program was created to assist parents in their important responsibilities as their child’s primary teachers and evangelizers.
Welcome to Cactusville, one of the most adventurous towns in the Southwest! Cactusville is a mining town tucked away in the desert where the sun is always shining, the skies are bright blue, and the peaks of the surrounding mountains look like broken spurs. Yee-haw! Kids will experience a rip roarin’ good time while learning that they are called by God. They are called to be unconditionally loved and accepted, whoever they are. God’s calling includes a revelation of His unique purpose for each and every child. Each day your Buckaroos and Li’l Cowpokes will discover a special way in which God has called them. They will learn how they can accept and live out this calling while enjoying Bible treasure huntin’ Cactusville adventures!
Beginner Ages birth – 2 years old.
Kindergarten Ages 3 – 4 years old.
Primary Ages 5 – 9 years old.
Junior Ages 9 – 12 years old.
Lessons, videos, podcasts, craft ideas and more you will find in the Oregon Conference Children's Ministries Newsletter each week for all the kids sabbath school programs. View the Newsletter here or get on the mailing list to receive it in your email.
Stories For Kids
Other Resources
View the Children's Ministries coordinator job description. (PDF)
Get the Sabbath School app on iTunes or the Google Play store.
These self-guided courses provide solid, practical and creative preparation for immediate implementation in your local Sabbath School.
By Dan Linrud DMin
President Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
I grew up in a home that was filled with conflict and a lot of words that were not particularly loving. In fact, I was called a lot of unsavory names by my parents, this high tension environment induced a lot of squabbling and fighting among me and my brothers and with our parents. Home wasn’t a place that I felt very good about nor about myself. I don’t think I could say that my home was a place where I loved my self or where there was love for God.
But, my Adventist grandmother was exactly opposite. She loved the Lord and lavished her love on her family—especially us grandkids. I loved going to Grandma’s house. And the good thing was, she lived next door, up the road or across the field on the other side of our small farm, so I was able to go there often.
She was a calming presence and her love was enveloping. She had a joyful personality and a loving spirit that made you feel like you were truly significant and mattered. Whether it was playing games with us at her kitchen table or on the sofa, or reading Primary Treasure or Junior Guide or some other stories to us while we sprawled on the floor, or eating her fresh baked goodies, everything was better with Grandma. It is where I felt truly loved. And I imagined that if God were real, and I believed he was, then he must be a lot like Grandma (or she like him).
Every Sabbath Grandma would take me to church with her. I discovered that my grandma was also the church grandma. She treated everybody the way she treated me and my family. She was a Sabbath School leader, church storyteller, kids’ craft organizer, cookie baker, and so much more. But, I also realized that she wasn’t the only person like that. There were other people who were also reflections of what I believed God must be like. From my earliest memories my Sabbath School teachers in Cradle Roll, then Kindergarten to Primary to Juniors to Earliteen to Youth class were warm and caring and love poured from them, just like Grandma. Besides Grandma’s place the children’s ministries volunteers in my church were Jesus to me. And I loved it!
The children's ministries volunteers were like Jesus to me. Because they loved and accepted me I came to realize that this was how Jesus felt about me, only more. Because I experienced what love is through them, I came to feel that there was value and something lovable in me. And when that happened, I loved Jesus and others, too. Never underestimate the impact that loving a child can have in providing a path for them to feel loved by Jesus, love themselves and love him and others. It’s transformative love!
View the videos in the window below or go direct to the showcase of these 50 videos on Vimeo.
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