Children’s Ministry

Natalie Adkinson, Director | nadkinson@germantownumc.org

Callie

Beaver, Assoc. Director, Elem. | cbeaver@germantownumc.org

Janelle Crist, Assoc. Director, Nursery | jcrist@germantownumc.org

Prayer Support for our Children in July

Summer Mission Project Project Transformation

The children of GUMC are collecting individually packaged healthy snacks for Project Transformation, as our summer mission project.

Donation bins are outside of the Huddle, at the Nursery check-in desk, and at the OLEC. Cash & Venmo also accepted!

(@GermantownUMC)

Children from our church will participate in two camps during the month of July Mission Camp and Lakeshore Camp.

Mission Camp is a GUMC camp designed for students entering fifth and sixth grade that allows kids to get a taste for different types of mission work and begin deciding where they feel most led to serve. It is a very fulfilling week for all involved!

Lakeshore Camp is a United Methodist “sleep away” camp in Eva, Tennessee. This camp gives our kids a chance to experience all the wonders of summer camp from creek stomping to night-time worship. We will be taking many kids plus GUMC youth counselors to this camp for a week of fun and exploration.

Please wrap our kids in your prayers this month as they step outside their comfort zone and share God’s love with others. Pray for their safety. Pray that the Spirit will touch them in ways that brings them closer to God. Pray that doors will be opened for them to develop new friendships and nurture old ones. Thank you! Your prayers are precious to us!

Promotion Sunday - Aug 6

All children and youth will promote to the next grade on Sunday, August 6. At this time, those children entering kindergarten will begin meeting in the Huddle on Sunday mornings. The rising sixth graders will move to Confirmation class at the OLEC. Other students will remain in their current area but move to the next grade level.

Volunteer Opportunities

We are planning for the fall months already. Of course, that means we are searching for those adults who feel led to mentor our kids, particularly on Sunday mornings.

If you would like more information or are interested, contact Natalie Adkinson (nadkinson@germantownumc.org) or Callie Beaver (cbeaver@germantownumc.org).

Chloe Granberry, Director of Youth Ministries | cgranberry@germantownumc.org

This past month has been very busy for the Youth Ministry. As the school year concluded, so did our weekly programming. For our final Wednesday night small group, middle and high schoolers met together for a kickball night. This game was extremely competitive and ended with a score of 9 - 8, but all involved had a great time. After the game, we returned back to the church to have a nutritious dinner of Chick-fil-a and ice cream. To cap the night off, we played 9 square in the parking lot. This semester has been filled with learning, fun, community, and love, and the youth ministry staff and volunteers are absolutely blessed to have been a part of it!

Although we are sad to see it go, the end of the school year has ushered in the beginning of our summer programming. We started the summer off strong with Vacation Bible School. Dozens of youth volunteered at both nighttime and daytime VBS to give the children the best week possible. The youth helped with both pre-school and elementary students by leading games, songs, crafts, story time, and serving as group leaders. This year’s theme was STELLAR, and much like the theme, the youth’s help was out-of-this-world!

Our first mission trip of the summer was Service Over Self, which is an urban home repair ministry located here in Memphis. During the week, our students worked in the blazing heat to repair roofs for those in need. Though the work is certainly arduous, the week still managed to be great fun. Trips to Sonic for late-night slushies, music and worship at night, and various shenanigans on the work site are just some of the many things that makes SOS such a special experience. We also got to spend time with our good friend Brian Richards! This week was a great experience in fostering both our local GUMC community as well as our wider faith community. What a wonderful start to our summer missions!

The summer is just getting started! In the coming weeks we have so much planned. We will soon be departing to Panama City, where we will be attending BigStuf, a five-day summer beach camp for middle and high schoolers. In the week following, we will be working 901 mission camp, a local GUMC service camp that seeks to address the needs of our community right here at home. Finally, we will be going to Mountain T.O.P, which is a rural home repair mission in Cumberland, Tennessee. There is still so much in store for GUMC Youth, and we can’t wait to get out and serve!