The Lodge

A new experience is coming to Central Kids called “The Lodge.” The goal of the The Lodge is to help better disciple our preteens. Our goal is to have each student come through The Lodge once a month. This experience will last for a little less than two hours and focus in three areas.

FUN - Church is meant to be a joy to us, so laughter and food will be very important.

FELLOWSHIP - We want every preteen involved to build relationships with each other and ministry leaders. The hope is that this time will in turn help them to better connect to their spiritual leaders at home.

JESUS - We want to hear what the kids think about Jesus, the Bible, and more. We want this to be a time where students can think deeper about the teaching from the weekend and apply the truths of Jesus directly to their lives.

Each time The Lodge is open, we will aim to have a maximum of 15 kids. As such, we will begin by limiting the attendance to once per month per student. If you would like more details about this experience check out The Lodge brochure, which will be available this coming weekend.

Sign-Ups will be available each weekend at The Summit or by calling me at 688-4400. So pick an available Thursday each month and give your preteen a chance to be encouraged by this community. The first available dates will be March 14^th and 21^st, both Thursday nights. Please keep in mind that this is not a ministry that will be aimed at visitors, but rather at our regularly attending families.

We are really looking forward to this new aspect of ministry and hope that it will bring us all closer to each other and to our Creator.

In His Majesty’s Service,

Josh Reed – (Speed)

”The Lodge” is a ministry geared to create more tightly knit relationships for preteens between each other and with God. We hope to create an environment and attitude of relaxation, focus on God, and joy.

Why The Lodge?

Lodges are often places of warmth, escape, relaxation and comfort. We hope that The Lodge will have this feel with a focus on discipleship and Jesus.

What is The Lodge?

The Lodge is a ministry to supplement The Summit’s weekend gatherings. We aim to have most preteens from The Summit come to The Lodge once a month.

What would typical a “stay” at The Lodge look like?

5:00-5:15: Arrival, Welcome

5:15-5:30: Intro Game

5:30-6:00: Pizza, Game Room

6:00-6:30: Jesus

6:30-7:00: Go Home

What should I know about The Lodge?

1. We want to launch slowly in order to into to make it the best experience for everyone involved. We of Central Kids are excited about this new ministry, and want to make sure do it with excellence. Thus, we will begin it slowly to both generate interest and gauge its value.

2. We will begin with a preteen approach. We hope to one day include parents in this ministry, yet at the beginning, in the interest of learning how to best serve the families, we will begin with our preteens.

3. We will see how the leadership of the church can be involved outside of the Central Kids staff and volunteers. To have elders and leadership involved would be a keen and favorable state indeed.

What is the difference between The Summit and The Lodge?

In The Summit, the preteens will experience these aspects:

Kids their age. On an average weekend, about 70 preteens come to The Summit. On most weekends, they will be in groups of 4-10 after the lesson time for discussion and prayer.

Teaching. Every week, we teach simple, strong lessons from the Bible to the preteens of Central. We hope that these things can be enhanced by a number of different aspects, from the big group lesson to the small groups they break up into to discuss and pray.

Fun. We hope the kids can go away saying they enjoyed being here. From funny videos to Mario Kart to random jokes that make no sense, laughter is a big part of any ministry, especially when kids are involved.

Singing. Every Sunday service the kids get to sing songs together. We hope they can jump around, dance, and laugh. We hope, also, that they can find a little more truth about our God through the songs we choose.

Real-Life Application. We try to make our lessons applicable to where the kids are in their lives today. We regularly emphasize that Jesus has a purpose for them now and today, including that he loves them very much.

Visitors. During our weekend services we strive to make every visitor feel at home in The Summit. Our hope is that they will become a part of this local church.

In The Lodge, the preteens will experience these aspects:

Kids their age. The Lodge will have significantly less kids than The Summit, with no more than 15 in attendance.

Teaching and Discipleship. The teaching will be more discussion based, with the kids encouraged to do more talking than listening. Hopefully, the kids can end up teaching as well.

The teaching and discipleship each meeting will focus on the weekend’s lesson and the overall theme of each month. That way, kids do not have another thing to pile up in their learning process, but a way to become stronger in what we are teaching.

Fun. Kids like to have fun and we hope to be part of that. Specific and intentional games will be provided, as well as time for girls to be girls and for boys to be boys. Laughter is too important to leave out of discipleship, especially at this age.

Encouragement. Preteens need to hear that they are valued. We hope to instill in them not only that we see their value, but that above all Jesus has value for them. We believe preteens have a lot to say about Jesus and if we don’t tap into their brains, we have missed out on something very precious.

Community. It is quite the challenge on the weekends to connect on a solid level with every preteen that comes to The Summit. The Lodge will help us all to be more community-minded. The preteens will know each other more, as well as their leaders. Hopefully those who come will then be more inclined to welcoming visiting preteens to the weekend portion of this ministry. That way, they become leaders and contributors to this ministry, rather than simple attendees.

Visitors. This ministry is designed for preteens who are already committed to regularly be a part of our weekend services. We ask that those would like to bring a visitor start with visiting during a weekend service.

Our goal is to deepen preteens’ understanding and faith in Jesus by discipleship, relationship, and an emphasis on family. We seek to actively live out what Paul writes in Colossians 1:1-14, emphasizing Jesus, as Paul does in verses 15-23.