Marvin's Place » Christian Education

Gumaoc Meets Chummy Chum

marvin — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:32:24 +0000

Last Sunday, May 23, 2010, we had one of our biggest event (as far as my tenure as a Christian Education Director) for children in our church. More that 200 children from our baranggay (Gumaoc East, Central and West) ranging from ages 5 up to 16 came to our church to have a fun filled activity. We were not really sure how to call this event but we called the event based on the sponsor and the mascot – the Chummy Chum Event.

Preparations

We were planning for an activity for our Community Sunday School class (children that are not from the church) and we decided to have a program with games and food. We delegated the task to who shall do the program, games and all. Then the wife of our pastor who works in a children’s center in Manila came into contact with an organization that conducts activities for the children. They will take care of the gifts, food (popcorn and cotton candy), give aways (colors and coloring books), and the mascot. They were asked if they do go to churches and they said yes and we invited them to our church. That organization is the Chummy Chum Foundation Philippines.

Our initial target were just the attendees of the Community Sunday School class (around 60 children). However, we were informed that they usually handle 200 – 300 children in one event, so we opened the event to the whole Sunday School department and encouraged everyone to invite their friend to attend the activity.

So in short, we were saved from the trouble of preparing food, gifts etc, for the activity.

Chummy Chum

The Chummy Chum Foundation isn’t actually a Christian organization, but they have a very wonderful mission, to give joy, laughter and fun to unprivileged children in the country. They started their ministry on September 2007 and had been to many hospitals, children’s center, churches, orphanages and more, usually serving more than 200 children. They provide gifts, toys, and their trademark is the Gummy Cotton Candy Factory and Chummy Popcorn Maker. They also provide their center of attraction – Chummy Chum. For more info about their work and their organization, visit their website at http://chummychum.org. If you want to invite them, you can also sign up on their website.

They are mostly volunteers and their job is not easy so you really see that these people want to bring smile to these children’s faces.

The Big Event

The Chummy Mobile cam around 11:30 in the morning (our worship service isn’t finished yet) and the start of the program is 2pm (but we said to the children that it’ll start at 1pm). So they were able to rest in preparation for the program.

Children started coming in at 1pm. At first, we thought that we won’t reach the 200 children. But by 2pm, the church is already filled with children from all over the barangay. The program started with songs, games, and a special number. The Chummy Chum volunteers and our teachers really had a hard time ‘controlling’ the 200+ children inside the building. But despite of the heat and noise, everybody is having fun. The cotton candy maker and popcorn maker started running at 1pm and those will be given at the end of the program.

Everybody is curious what Chummy Chum look like and when the time came for him to show up, everybody was rushing to him, chanting “Chummy Chum, Chummy Chum” and wants to hold him. Chummy Chum danced for the children and had time for some picture taking before bidding farewell. If not for the intense heat that afternoon, probably he could stay longer (and we want him to stay longer but we also don’t want the person inside Chummy to suffer from heat stroke ).

After the event, we gave a certificate of appreciation to the Chummy Chum Foundation that was received by Ms. Rowena Bula, General Manager of Chummy Chum Foundation Philippines.

Popcorns, Cotton Candy, colors and coloring books were given to the children as they leave the place.

200+ children, 200+ smiles and laughter.

Soli Deo Gloria!

[View with PicLens]

Updates on http://sundayschooldirector.co.cc blog

marvin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:46:56 +0000

I wasn’t able to update this blog. However, I made a post on my Sunday School Director blog. The blog was about some update on what happened in the last few months. What we did in our church and what we are expecting to happen this following months.

Soli Deo Gloria.

The Sunday School Director Blog

marvin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:43:03 +0000

Yes, I created a new blog dedicated on my experiences as a Christian Education Deparment (commonly known as Sunday School) Director of our church.

The purpose of that blog is not to give ideas or tips etc., but merely to blog about what we are currently doing in our department. Of course I hope and pray that people might get some ideas from my posts here, but I also hope that other experts could comment, or share what they are doing in their own churches.

So, please do check it out at http://thesundayschooldirector.marvincruz.com (sorry for the long URL, I’m planning to purchase a domain for this one soon – donations accepted ) http://sundayschooldirector.co.cc.

God bless..

Soli Deo Gloria

Update: Due to some functionalities I need, I moved the blog from blogger to my selfhosted WordPress blog.

Children's Camp 2009 planning…

marvin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:27:34 +0000

For the last two Sundays, our C.E. department was discussing the upcoming Children’s Camp 2009 in our Church. We have agreed to make this “limited” by selecting children that will attend. This is due to some factor: (1) limited manpower – some of our teachers are not available during the camp so we’re short handed; (2) focus – we want to focus on the individual participant, creating better result; (3) funding – actually, we’re planning to create zero (0) expenses for the department (how we’re going to that will be explained later).

The camp’s theme (no final phrasing yet) is about exposing this children in the ministry. Showing them that they are already part of the church and some of the things that they are currently doing (distributing and collecting hymn books, stacking up chairs after service, etc.) are already part of their ministry and that there other ministries that they can be involved. We will also impart to them the importance of discipline and commitment.

It’s a big task actually. We’re preparing future leaders of the church. And it will not end at camp closing. This will be a continous discipleship, something this church haven’t done for a while.

This camp will be a replacement of the traditional “Vacation Bible School” that almost all of the churches in the whole Philippines are conducting every summer. As for me, this VBS is very popular, churches spend money on it, but there were no proper follow up. I am not saying that VBS is useless. I believe that, still, many children and families are presented at God’s feet during this event, but our church want to focus more on the current members of the church. Training them and enabling them for the ministry.

As I’ve said earlier, we plan zero (0) amount to spend on this event. How? We have delegated the expenses to our members. Each family were assigned a specific meal, some families were assigned for the materials that are needed. We lack funds. But this church went from one activity to one activity without that much of funding. Church families are willing to give their time in preparing foods for church activities (we sometimes call this bayanihan).

Camp will start on April 24 in the afternoon up till April 25 noon. Activities include film showing, some community work, group activities and discussion.

Prayers are very much welcome for this event. We still have a lot of things to prepare.

Soli Deo Gloria