GLOW (God’s Love on Wednesdays)

GLOW is all about giving kids a place to grow their faith! We love to partner with parents to lead children to become fully devoted followers of Christ. GLOW does that through age-specific teaching, activities, and groups!

GLOW is Hope’s children's ministry discipleship pathway designed for kids from pre-kindergarten to 6th grade. GLOW takes place on Wednesday evenings, beginning with a meal for the whole family at 5:30pm, and focuses on teaching children about God's love through various engaging activities. Here are some key components and features of our GLOW ministry:

Biblical Teaching: The core of GLOW is Bible-based lessons that are age-appropriate. These lessons aim to instill foundational Christian values and knowledge about God, Jesus, and the Bible.

Interactive Activities: To make learning fun and memorable, GLOW incorporates interactive activities such as games, crafts, and music. These activities help reinforce the biblical lessons and keep the children engaged.

Worship Time: Music and singing are often integral parts of GLOW. Children participate in worship through songs that are easy to learn and enjoyable to sing. Once per month, we have a family-friendly, Contemporary worship service.

Parental Involvement: Parental involvement, either through take-home materials that allow parents to continue the conversation at home or through events that include the whole family is a part of GLOW.

Special Events: Throughout the year, GLOW hosts special events such as holiday celebrations, service projects, and community outreach activities. These events provide additional opportunities for children to experience and share God's love.

GLOW aims to create a fun, safe, and spiritually enriching environment where children can learn about God's love, build a strong foundation of faith, and form lasting friendships.

GLOW, IGNITE & TEEN POWER NEWS

Hello!

1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 4 says, "In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus!"

We’re so EXCITED for this year and what is to come! We have over 90 kids signed up for our youth program and this number grows every day. Every Wednesday that school is in session, our congregation’s youth meets in Hope Lutheran’s fellowship hall and classrooms, where they study God’s word and grow in faith together- and they get a fantastic meal as well! THIS IS OUR 10th YEAR OF GLOW!

Our GLOW curriculum this year is focused on the power of prayer. For 12 weeks the GLOW leaders will be teaching “The Power of Prayer,” from True Way Kids (https://truewaykids.com/power-of-prayer/). This is our second year utilizing this website’s curriculum and we find it to be leader and student friendly. The website states “ The Power of Prayer is more than just a program; it’s an adventure into the heart of God through prayer.” This sums up this program up perfectly! This is a cost friendly curriculum as it is FREE! The only cost to our leaders is their print costs. Amie Ascheman and Angie Borstad have taken the lead to help with the curriculum calendar and share with our other GLOW leaders.

Our GLOW leaders this year are as follows: Pre-k/Kindergarten: Amie and Trevor Ascheman; 1st Grade: Kathy and Tony Opdahl; 2nd Grade: Jessica Horner and Sara Myhre; 3rd Grade: Rachel Bednarek and Angie Borstad; 4th Grade: Tiffany Gronke; 5th/6th Grade: Matt Myhre. We also have a few others to mention as our youth programs do not end in 6th grade. Music Coordinator: Katheryn Myhre (she works with children pre-k thru 12th grade)

Ignite Leaders: Angie DeVos and Barb Knutson led by Pastor Jon; Teen Power: Roberta Josephson;

Mission Trip Leaders: Emily and Andy Hennen; Youth of Hope Leaders: Kathy and Tony Opdahl

Wednesday Night Food Coordinators: Terri Myhre and Linda Nuytten

A special thanks goes to the individuals above, without your dedication to our youth we couldn’t navigate the different opportunities for the students and their families! Thank you!

We are currently looking for a First Communion leader to take on 8-9 weeks of curriculum after the Christmas break to work with this year’s 5th grade class. The curriculum is easy to follow! We are also looking for a sub list to call on if the above leaders for GLOW have any conflicts with Wednesday evenings. Along with these individuals we would love to see one or more individuals to step up and help with the Christmas program (practice starts the week after MEA). If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please let Erin or Jess know.

GLOW operates as a self-funded entity with little funds from the Hope Lutheran Church general fund. As previously stated, GLOW provides a meal each Wednesday evening, and with the consistent cost increases for groceries we are asking for help in any way you can. Donations for GLOW are always welcome - if you'd like to purchase paper products, donate vegetables, fruits, meat (hamburger, roast beef, pork, turkey, etc.), canned goods (spaghetti sauce, salsa, etc.) or volunteer to provide desserts, please let Linda or Terri know!

Something to think about: In doing some research, we have found that the largest demographic of individuals not attending church on Sundays are the ones that were born from 1981 thru the early 2000’s. Both Erin and I fall into this category. These families find a hard time attending due to working weekend jobs, sports obligations or the mere lack of time they get to spend with their families outside of their busy lives. One can argue that they should make it a priority. We understand this entirely, however we have a wonderful opportunity at Hope Lutheran for individuals to come to church and that is through our Wednesday evening youth program. GLOW! On Wednesday evenings the fellowship hall and classrooms are overflowing with children and their families. GLOW has helped these young families have a relationship with Jesus. That is pretty amazing! We incorporate things like our Let it Shine service, Christmas program, bible distribution, First Communion, Confirmation and other chapters of our children’s faith journey into the traditional Sunday morning church services. These special Sunday morning services usually end up being a largely attended services and it’s AMAZING to see all the families there! Pastor Jon is incorporating “FUEL” program which is going to consist of a contemporary church service once a month on Wednesday evenings starting at 6:00 P.M. This will take the place of our GLOW lessons for the evening! We invite everyone who is able to attend these services. We will have a schedule posted on our GLOW Facebook page, in the Sunday morning bulletins, as well as on the church website!

Psalm 133:1 says, “How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!” This is the bible quote we will leave you with. Remembering the word unity, making our congregation one! We would like to invite individuals/couples that do not have children to come on Wednesday evenings to show support for our youth and their families, as being a Christian is so much more than Sunday morning worship. Our children/youth are the future of Hope Lutheran Church. If we can come together as one, our church will last forever, if we do not challenge ourselves to change, our church will be a memory where we once congregated to hear the message about Jesus. Let’s invest time and love into our youth and if you haven’t attended GLOW in the past, make this the year to “Come and See!” You will not be disappointed!

Thank you, Jess Gronke and Erin Roberts