Congratulations to all first through third grade Christmas outreach classes. Our school has been recognized by the Association of Christian Schools International as an "Exemplary School Program for the 2009-10 school year."
Thanks to the pastors at Calvary for leading the church to focus on outreach. Thanks to Tim Flay for having the vision to see how outreach could be accomplished by transforming the way elementary does their Christmas program. Thanks to the entire elementary team of students, parents and teachers for embracing that change and for taking one large in-house Christmas program and transforming it into 15 separate outreach events.
Our CCA objective is to share the Christmas story and the gospel with the lost in South Florida. A brief summary of our program: For years our elementary school had put on a Christmas program in the sanctuary of our church, inviting parents and guests to attend. A few years back, our church leadership had a time of getting away and seeking the Lord for direction and returned with a renewed focus on several key aspects of the ministry, one of which was outreach. As a ministry of the church, the school was encouraged to look for ways to get beyond the four walls of the church to take the gospel to the lost. One key phrase of Jesus that was focused upon was how he told the disciples in the great commission to “Go” and make disciples, rather than ask the lost to come to you.
A few summers ago, our Fine Arts Director sensed a leading from the Lord that our school should take the in-house elementary Christmas program and transform it into an outreach event. Instead of hundreds of parents coming to see their child play a small part in one large in-house Christmas program, each of our individual 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classes would perform the traditional Christmas story in a venue outside of the four walls of the church, somewhere off-site. The children learned the traditional Christmas music and their speaking parts from their music, movement, and drama teachers while in those “specials” classes while homeroom teachers focused on choosing the venue in which the class would perform. Teachers were asked to prayerfully consider where God might lead them to take their class. Some would choose nursing homes, others would choose to visit homes for foster children, others performed in downtown Miami for a homeless ministry while others might bring the light of the gospel to a neighborhood park or shopping mall.
Among the three grade levels this year we have 15 classes, each taking the Christmas story and the gospel to unique locations off-site sharing the gospel with the lost. This is our third year of outreach this way. Often a parent or teacher would share the gospel at the end of the Christmas performance and many would commit their lives to Christ. Many parents and teachers went so far as to schedule follow-up communication so that the impact could be that much greater.
We are excited and proud about this change in the Christmas program for three key reasons. First, we were taking the gospel to the streets, meeting the lost where they are. Through this new way of doing the Christmas program so many more people hear the gospel and the awesome story of what God has done for us. Second, we moved from doing modernized Christmas programs to instead acting out the biblical Christmas story and singing the traditional Christmas songs which are such a beautiful part of our Christian heritage and which so poetically share God’s glorious grace towards man. Thirdly, I know that parents enjoy seeing their children in a single class production in which each of them have a chance to play a more meaningful part of the program.
Students and parents are blessed and the gospel is going forth. Instead of asking the lost to come to us, our students will go out to them.
Please check the CCA Elementary web page for class dates and venues.
For further information please e-mail kimberlya@ccaeagles.org
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'Tis the season of giving, and the elementary students learned this first hand. The Christmas Outreach was a time of sacrifice for parents and students. The students spent hours making Christmas cards and books for the children at Jack and Jill's. Many of the mothers from the class brought in cookies for children at Jack and Jill’s. Other families juggled the schedules of all the other members in the family to be at the Second Grade performance.
I think the families would agree that the children performed beautifully, and we were blessed by their time fellowship with people outside the walls of Calvary Christian Academy. Our class and their siblings especially enjoyed time of gift giving the very young children in the audience.
Thank you, Mr. Schattinger for the choreography and Mrs. Adkins for the music preparation. We were all blessed by the singing and telling of the Christmas story.
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