LOGOS. Trinity s Wednesday Night Ministry. 5:30 8:15pm PARENT HANDBOOK

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1 LOGOS Trinity s Wednesday Night Ministry 5:30 8:15pm PARENT HANDBOOK Welcome to LOGOS! Trinity s Commitment to Children, Youth, and Family

2 LOGOS System of Christian Nurture Trinity Lutheran Church Vision Statement: Our vision to be a welcoming place of God s grace where everyone is living passionately for Jesus Christ. Dear Friends in Christ, Trinity Lutheran Church Mission Statement: Awakened by the transforming power of God, our mission is to engage the curious, encourage the convinced, and empower the committed to be fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. Welcome to Trinity s LOGOS ministry! We are thrilled that this new ministry is launching this fall. As a faith community we are committed to nurturing people to a mature faith in Jesus Christ. Our hope and prayer is that people of all ages will become fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. One of the primary ways that we grow in Christ and become all that God has created us to be is through sharing in spiritual friendships, praying with each other, playing together, eating together, and dwelling in the scriptures together. In this way LOGOS is all about living like the first generation of believers who followed Jesus. They devoted themselves to the apostle s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42) Thank you for making LOGOS a mid-week blessing in your life. We are confident that Wednesday nights at Trinity will be the place to be in North Branch, MN. As the year unfolds be sure to tell others what God is doing in your life. Grace and Peace, Pastor Loren Mellum LOGOS means The Word In biblical Greek LOGOS is equivalent to word. The meaning of word in the New Testament is used as a title for Christ (John 1:1; Revelation 19:13; John 1:1-14). God s word was revealed to us through Christ. We begin with our relationship with Christ and through that relationship we learn how God wants us to live with each other. The word is not a formula, but something living and dynamic (Hebrew 4:12). Therefore, all that we do in LOGOS brings us closer to God by building and enhancing our relationship with Him and others. LOGOS is designed to help build an environment in which community of His followers can learn and teach others on how to live as God intends. Everyone is to treat everyone else as a child of God.

3 LOGOS System of Christian Nurture The LOGOS program is Trinity s Wednesday night ministry of Christian nurture for all ages. An outline of the elements that nurtured the first century church into such powerful life and witness is given to us in Acts 2:42: They devoted themselves to the apostle s teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Bible Study Recreation Play Family Time Worship Skills (Apostle s teaching) (Fellowship) (Breaking of bread) (Prayers) The four parts are interdependent and essential for experiencing a full range of fellowship. Together they are the LOGOS system of nurture. These four elements combine to provide a contemporary spiritual context within which to nurture youth, children, and adults into the theology and practice of Christian relationships. The beauty is that the learning and nurturing of our faith by children, youth, and adults occur under the same environment producing a cohesive community which is not divided by age! We grow together in our faith and commitment to God. LOGOS is about Relationships! Christians recognize that for God, relationships are everything. Relationships form the frame of reference for everything in this life and the next. Obviously then, whatever else is involved in the mission of every Christian church, its primary responsibility is to become a community within which the kind and quality of relationships which incarnate the mind and spirit of Christ are initiated, nurtured, matured, and given to others. The LOGOS system of nurture and its program is designed to enable children and youth, especially, the experience such relationships, and through them, come to know who God is, who Christ is, who we are, and why we have been created. We lift others up and never put them down. No one is ever deliberately embarrassed, humiliated, spoken to with sarcasm, or rejected from a relationship. We learn to enhance others, to win with them, not over them. We take others and their worth very seriously, and ourselves not too seriously. We forgive. We restore. We seek to express the mind of Christ. We reveal ourselves in such ways to be in the image of God. Every person working with the LOGOS program is responsible, first and foremost, to implement the only rule of LOGOS, in word and deed, in every LOGOS session. The only rule of LOGOS is: Everyone is to treat everyone else as a child of God. No one has the right to treat anyone else as if they do not matter. If we can practice this God-like way of being, creating such a Kingdom of God quality of relationships, in such a setting, at least once or twice a week, perhaps we can grow to be able to practice the reality of it wherever else we are all week!

4 Trinity Lutheran Church LOGOS Calendar September: 5 th : High School Youth Only (6:00-8:30pm Dinner/Bonfire) 12 th : LOGOS Parent Meeting/Danny Ray Program for Students (6:30-8:00pm) No Dinner 19 th : LOGOS 26 th : LOGOS (Sept. Birthdays Celebration) October: 3 rd : LOGOS 10 th : LOGOS (Fall Fest) 17 th : No LOGOS (MEA) 24 th : LOGOS (Oct. Birthdays Celebration) 31 st : No LOGOS (Fall Festival) April: 2 nd : LOGOS (Noah s Ark) 9 th : LOGOS 16 th : LOGOS (Western Night) 23 rd : LOGOS 30 th : LOGOS (Apr. & May Birthdays Celebration) May: 7 th : LOGOS (Last day Peder Eide Concert) 14 th : High School Confirmation (6:30-8:15pm) 21 st : High School &Confirmation end of the year parties (6:00-8:15pm) November: 7 th : LOGOS 14 th : LOGOS (Thanksgiving Theme) 21 st : No LOGOS (Thanksgiving) 28 th : LOGOS (Nov., Dec. & June Birthdays Celebration) December: 5 th : LOGOS 12 th : LOGOS (Christmas Theme) 19 th : No LOGOS (Confirmation & High School Christmas Parties) 26 th : No LOGOS January: 2 nd : No LOGOS 9 th : LOGOS 16 th : LOGOS (Beach Night) 30 th : LOGOS (Jan. & July Birthdays) February: 6 th : No LOGOS (Ash Wednesday) 13 th : LOGOS (Valentine s Theme) 20 th : LOGOS (Winter Wonderland) 27 th : LOGOS (Feb. & Aug. Birthdays) March: 5 th : LOGOS 12 th : LOGOS (Fiesta) 19 th : No LOGOS (Holy Week) 26 th : LOGOS ( March Birthdays Celebration)

5 Please contact one of the LOGOS coordinators or the church office if you cannot make it LOGOS WORSHIP SKILLS The goal of worship skills is to teach young people to worship God. Worship must be learned through experience. Worship skills in a weekly LOGOS ministry nurtures, encourages, prepares and equips young people to meet and praise their God in the service of worship. Our LOGOS youth will have the opportunity to become active participants and leaders in worship. Below is a schedule which allows an opportunity for our youth to experience the joy of offering praise and thanksgiving to our God. We ask that you have your child at church 15 minutes before the worship service begins and meet in the music office located on the North end of the building just past the nursery. LOGOS Sunday Morning Worship Skills Schedule October: February: 7 th 4-6 th 10:45 3 rd 4-6 th 10:45 14 th 1-3 rd 8:00 24 th 1-3 rd 9:15 21 st MEA weekend 28 th 9:15 March: November: 2 nd 4-6 th 8:00 4 th 4-6 th 9:15 9 th 1-3 rd 10:45 10:45 16 th Palm Sunday 11 th 1-3 rd 10:45 All 10:45

6 18 th JIVE Youth Service 9:15 25 th 8:00 30 th December: April: 2 nd 4-6 th 8:00 6 th 4-6 th 9:15 9 th 1-3 rd 9:15 10:45 24 th - Christmas Eve 4:00 p.m. 13 th 1-3 rd 8:00 All LOGOS groups 20 th 10:45 January: May: 13 th 4-6 th 10:45 4 th 4-6 th 9:15 20 th 1-3 rd 8:00 27 th 9:15 Other Information Dinner Guidelines Tuition includes meal costs for registrants. All adults must purchase & pick up a meal ticket at the Welcome Center. Please bring meal tickets to your table and give it to your table server. LOGOS style family dining is offered at: 5:30-6:15pm for 3 year olds to 6 th graders (and adults) and 6:20-7:05pm for 7 th 12 th grades and adults. Cost of meal tickets Adults and Guests: 10 tickets for $20 or $2.50 for 1 ticket. (Meal costs are included for those children and youth who are registered to attend LOGOS.) Behavior Covenant Procedure At LOGOS there is a Covenant that is used as a code of conduct. Each LOGOS participant is responsible to adhere to that Covenant. Each youth will get 2 warnings in the session. If the behavior is not corrected and the Covenant is broken, the child is removed from the room. Covenant Coaches will talk with the participant and help to resolve the situation. If the problem persists, a parent will be notified. Primarily, our goal is to love. The LOGOS system of nurture calls us to discipline ourselves and to call others to behave like who they are children of God. Guests & Visitors Everyone is welcome at LOGOS! We encourage visitors to our Wednesday night ministry. All visitors must check in at the welcome center where they will be given a brief orientation and a buddy for the evening. We will try to keep friends together. The host can purchase a meal ticket for their guest at the time of check-in. After the LOGOS evening, each visitor will receive information about the program. A visitor is able to visit the program 3 times and then will be expected to register for LOGOS if they want to continue coming on Wednesday nights. Guests will not be permitted to remain guests

7 for the long haul since LOGOS is about building relationships and commitment is an integral component to that process. The LOGOS Nursery LOGOS provides a nursery for those parents who are scheduled to work in the LOGOS ministry and also for those wanting to partake in Adult Bible Study. Please call the church to reserve a spot in the nursery. Please sign your child in the nursery each night and follow the safety procedures of the nursery. Help in the nursery is always appreciated! Registration and Tuition The costs associated with LOGOS tuition helps to cover curriculum, activity, meals, and scholarships. If you cannot meet the tuition costs or is interested in partial need-based scholarships, please contact Barb Peterson at (651) Please register your child as soon as possible. This helps the coordinators plan accordingly and decreases the level of stress associated with last minute changes. Everyone is to treat everyone else as a child of God. Tuition Early bird rates (before August 15 th ): $80 for the 1 st child $75 for the 2 nd child $65 for each additional child Total tuition cost for the entire family will not exceed $250. Regular rates (by September 12 th ): $90 for the 1 st child $85 for the 2 nd child $75 for each additional child Total tuition cost for the entire family will not exceed $280. After September 12 th, contact Barb Peterson for in-progress tuition rates. (Tuition costs do not include the $11 LOGOS Bible for Grades 1-5. Only 1 Bible is needed per family). Tuition payment can either be made in full or in two installments. Full payment is expected by November 15 th. Student Attendance Due to the way LOGOS is designed, all participants are encouraged to attend all four components of the evening. Each LOGOS participant is required to check in at the appropriate location so that we are aware of who is in the building. 3 year olds 6 th graders will check in by the kitchen entrance to the Fellowship Hall, 7-8 graders will

8 check in the narthex, and 9-12 th graders in the JIVE room. Each person will receive a nametag that they must wear for the evening. Parent Involvement The key to your child s faith journey. Children learn and acquire their values through watching the commitments made by their parents. A parent can do nothing more profound or affirming than being present at LOGOS to show their commitment to a ministry which seek to build and enhance our relationship with Christ, but also seek to redeem family life. The cornerstone of LOGOS is parent involvement. If a child is registered for LOGOS, their registration means that the parent is also registered to be involved in the program. We cannot stress the importance of parental participation enough. LOGOS provide a great way for you to get involved with your child and to get to meet other members at Trinity. There are opportunities on all levels of service in which you can get involved. We will contact parents not signed up in order to fill tasks that have not previously been filled. Adult training is provided on September 12 th from 6:30-8:00pm at Trinity Lutheran Church. Additional support will be provided throughout the year. Everyone is to treat everyone else as a child of God. Why High School is a Priority? The high school group in the LOGOS program makes a strategic contribution to the effectiveness of the entire LOGOS system. Establishing a strong high school presence within the LOGOS program provides a sense of consistency, long term, progressive, intergenerational system of nurture for children to grow. Children admire and seek to emulate high school youths they see in the community. The role model effects of teenagers on younger children are hard to over emphasize. Also, this age group is hungry for relationships, stability, and love that adults and other youth in the LOGOS program can provide. The experience of the LOGOS program provides just the arena in which young people can gain self-esteem, and learn to make the right decisions in the face of the world which can equip them with the necessary tools to achieve success. Due to the unique significance of the high school age youths in impacting the younger children, their participation is a priority in LOGOS. Volunteer Attendance We count on ALL of our parents and adults to lift the LOGOS ministry. If you have a scheduling conflict that would prevent you from attending LOGOS on a given evening, ideally it is your responsibility to find someone to cover your task. If you cannot find a replacement, contact the leadership person in your area.

9 Last minute calls from adult participants puts undo stress on the entire ministry and affects the quality of the program. In the event of a scheduling conflict, please contact either the church office or one of the leadership persons as soon as possible. Arrival and Departure It is important that an adult brings all children into the building. The parking lot will be very busy during drop-off and pick-up times and unsafe for children to be going outside alone. It is also important for the church to be certain that a child is being brought home by the correct person. Please bring your child to the appropriate area for sign-in (kitchen entrance to the fellowship hall for ages 3 year olds 6 th graders). Confirmation youth will check in by the main sanctuary doors, and JIVE youth by the JIVE room (208/210). 3 year olds kindergarteners can be picked up in room 14, 1 st 3 rd graders in 204, and 4 th 6 th graders in 206. Please do not send older siblings to pick up children, unless the older sibling is driving the children home. If you are concerned about someone trying to pick up your child who cannot or should not please contact Barb Peterson Early Arrival Due to the safety concerns for the LOGOS participants, we ask that LOGOS participants arrive on time. Please refrain from arriving early to the church! Late Arrivals and Early Pick Ups If a student will be arriving late or leaving early, parents must notify the church at and the child must check in and out at the welcome center. Adult Education Adult education will be integrated into the LOGOS ministry and offered at different times during Wednesday nights. The purpose of adult education will be to enhance our relationship with Christ through Bible study and discussion. (Specific information on Bible study topics and learning formats will be introduced at the Parent Meeting on September 12 th at 6:30 to 8:00pm.) LOGOS will provide a graceful space of learning and growth for all adults in every stage of their spiritual journey! Please come and join us.

10 Service Opportunities The success of the LOGOS program depends on adult involvement. Listed below are ways in which parents are encouraged to participate in LOGOS. Everyone s primary task is to love one another. Training and support is provided for all participants. Training for adult participants is scheduled for September 12 th from 6:30-8:00pm. If you are unable to attend this session, please contact Barb Peterson. BIBLE STUDY The goal of Bible study in the LOGOS program is to nurture youth and children into intelligent, obedient, Biblically informed discipleship. Our young people will learn what the Bible says to them about who God is and who they are as children of God. They will be taught to put that into practice as they live together in the 4 parts of the LOGOS Program. Bible Hour for children in Preschool to Kindergarten (7:10-7:40)

11 Bible Hour for Grades 1-3 (6:20-7:05) Bible Hour for Grades 4-6 (6:20-7:05) Confirmation Small Group Guides Bible Study for JIVE (7:30-8:15pm) WORSHIP SKILLS The goal of Worship Skills is to develop responsibility for and practice in worship skills. Worship is our primary service to God as disciples. LOGOS participants will learn about worship and prepare to lead in Sunday morning worship services. This will often be done through singing, hand bells and drama. Worship Skills Preschool to Kindergarten (6:20-7:05) Worship Skills 1-3 (7:10-7:40) Worship Skills 4-6 (7:45-8:15) RECREATION PLAY The goal of Recreation Play is to experience great fun at the expense of no one. LOGOS youth and children will participate in active play, crafts or special interest shared by a member of the congregation. Activities for Preschool to Kindergarten (7:45-8:15) Activities for Grades 1-3 (7:56-8:15) Activities for Grades 4-6 (7:10-7:40) Activities for Grades 7-12 (5:30-6:00) Share an Interest, Hobby, or Talent (introduce and discuss your gift to a small or large group). FAMILY TIME The aim of Family Time is to provide a joyous, intergenerational celebration of personhood over a shared meal as we experience being part of God s family. Each evening includes a delicious dinner, with meal selections related to the themes.

12 Our young people will be assigned to tables along with one or two adults who act as table parents. We will work on building a table family who cares about and ministers to one another. Kitchen Assistance In Shift of 4-6 Primary duties: Assist in food preparation, set up dining room area, serve food, and clean up. Shift 1: 2-4 Shift 2: 4-6 Shift 3: 6-8 Bakers Primary duties: To prepare desserts (at home) for LOGOS. This area of service is reserved for those who love to bake and are unable to serve in other areas on Wednesday nights. Dinner Theme Team Primary duties: Plan and set up dinner themes throughout the year. Other Opportunities Nursery Team Primary duties: To care for children from birth to preschool. 5:15-6:30, 6:30-7:30, 7:30-8:15 Welcome Center Greeters Primary duties: To check in LOGOS participants, collecting fees for meal tickets, assist with any questions. Post-LOGOS Clean up Team Primary duties: To ensure that the building is clean for the next day. Hallway and Door Monitors Primary duties: Monitor hallways during transition time to guide and reinforce Christian behavior. Monitor church entrances throughout the evening. Monitor those entering and leaving the building. Children are not to leave the building without an adult!

13 Please contact the church or anyone of the leadership persons with questions! LOGOS Leadership Team: Director: Ken Paschke ( ) Publicity Coordinator: Sheila Sung ( ) Bible Study Coordinator: pending Hospitality/Recordkeeping Coordinator: Barb Peterson ( ) Worship Skills Coordinator: Barb Mork ( ) Recreation Play Coordinator: Krystal Modine ( ) Kitchen Coordinator: Judy Weiss ( ) Dining Room Coordinators: Jim and Deb Nagle ( ) Staff Liaison: Krista Anderson ( )