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| Tuesday, June 24, 2008 |
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Kid's Place Celebrates 25 Years
Church of God Ministries, Church of God - General
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By Kathleen D. Buehler
 For the past twenty-five years, Kid’s Place has been helping children experience other cultures and come to realize that God is at work all over the world. The children have been able to meet missionaries and learn about people from such places as Egypt, Lebanon, Brazil, India, Russia, Africa, Japan, the Caribbean, and others.
This year, the children at Kid’s Place are visiting China. After the children arrive each morning at Hartung Hall, they meet with their family groups (carrying family names such as Shu, Guah, and Ma) and move to Byrum for a large group worship time led by Duane Parker of Mississippi and Mark Hawkins of Michigan and their guitars.
Then it’s back to Hartung Hall and the various rooms set up for storytelling, games, and other activities about life in China. An Olympic Village gives opportunities for painting lanterns, making kites, creating panda wall hangings, trying on clothing, playing Chinese checkers and a Chinese shuttlecock game over a net, participating in a jumping game, using chopsticks, putting together tangram puzzles. Always underlying the learning of culture is the goal of knowing better these people whom God loves. The activities help flesh out this affirmation: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.…” (John 3:16), the memory verse for the week. The children of Kid’s Place are also being encouraged to become friends of children in China by giving their offerings to buy school supplies for them.
Meanwhile at Little Kid’s Place, located in Park Place Church, children ages three to five are learning about China in a simplified version that suits their developmental level. Using chopsticks with Chinese noodles, counting in Chinese, listening to Chinese music, decorating lanterns and paper fans, and making panda puppets and dragon masks are some of the ways these little ones are experiencing China.
To mark the twenty-five years of Kid’s Place commitment to hands-on missions education, a reception was held at the Anderson University president’s home on Tuesday evening for all those who have ever been involved in Kid’s Place. The event was hosted by AU’s first lady Deanna Edwards, one of the early and ongoing designers of Kid’s Place and for many years a director of the program. As part of the celebration, DVDs containing pictures and video footage from the twenty-five years and a printed book of picture memories have been produced for purchase.
The convention crowd celebrated with Kid’s Place during the Tuesday evening service as children from the program helped lead worship. Kid’s Place is directed by Michelle Parker of Laurel, Mississippi, while Jodi Novak of Roanoke, Virginia, directs Little Kid’s Place.
A version of this article appears in the Wednesday, June 25, 2008, edition of the NAC roundup/08 newsletter. To view the newsletter in its entirety, click here (1.98 MB). The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat in order to read and/or print it. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader here.
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