Transcript Workshop Rotation Method of Sunday School (a.k.a. WoRM)

Workshop Rotation Method
of Sunday School
(a.k.a. WoRM)
How it works…the children ROTATE…you
STAY PUT!!!
October Rotation Sensation
Rules on Rocks: The Ten Commandments
Rotation #1
October 5th
Rotation #2
October 12th
Rotation #3
October 19th
Rotation #4
October 26th
Pre-K and
Kindergarten
Video
Teacher: Cindy
Burnham
Art
Teacher: Allison
Garth
Drama
Teacher: Dylan
Brennan and John
Sparling
Cooking
Teacher: Gloria
and Jack Miller
1st and 2nd Grades
Art
Teacher: Allison
Garth
Drama
Teacher: Dylan
Brennan and John
Sparling
Cooking
Teacher: Gloria
and Jack Miller
Computers
Teacher: Paige
Metzger
3rd and 4th Grades
Computers
Teacher: Paige
Metzger
Video
Teacher: Cindy
Burnham
Art
Teacher: Allison
Garth
Drama
Teacher: Dylan
Brennan and John
Sparling
5th and 6th Grades
Drama
Teacher: Dylan
Brennan and John
Sparling
Computers
Teacher: Paige
Metzger
Video
Teacher: Cindy
Burnham
Art
Teacher: Allison
Garth
7th and 8th Grades
Cooking
Teacher: Gloria
and Jack Miller
Art
Teacher: Allison
Garth
Computers
Teacher: Paige
Metzger
Video
Teacher: Cindy
Burnham
Note: You will see that our 7th and 8th Graders have Art on the same Sunday as the PreK/ Kindergarten class. The art project
for this month is difficult for the younger children, so they will be partnered up with an older child to help them and will create
their art project together. On that Sunday there is NO cooking rotation and the cooking teachers will move down to the art
room to help out with this rotation.
Why WoRM?????
That is why it was called
Babel,
because there the LORD
confused
the language of the whole
world.
From there the LORD
scattered
them over the face of the
whole
earth. Genesis 11:9
Our kids speak a NEW
language. If we want to
reach them with Christ’s
message, we have to
speak
THEIR language, engage
Whoever welcomes one child in my
name, welcomes me. Matthew
18:5
If we aren’t welcoming our children,
creating a place they want to be,
then what are we doing here
anyway?
Let no one despise your youth, but
set the believers an example in
speech and conduct, in love, in
faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12
WE have to set the example for our kids
of what church can be. They will
leave if it is not multi-faceted and
engaging on their level. Too much
curriculum today does this, because
most curriculum by its nature is
generalized, and not personalized to
YOUR church, YOUR ministry, and
Does this sound like your WoRMless education
program???
• Bored kids (they look sad when they arrive to church)
• Difficulty recruiting teachers (they don’t return your phone calls or hide from you
during coffee hour)
• Expensive denominational curriculum that is too hard for your teachers and doesn’t
engage your kids
• Dropping attendance
• Dull and drabby classrooms (and that haven’t been remodeled in a long, long time)
• YOU (the educator or parent volunteer)
are bored and burned out
• Lack of Biblical knowledge (among both kids and adults, even though they come
frequently)
• Tired of the “same old, same old”
• Lack of excitement and enthusiasm
Why should your church get a
WoRM?????
•
Amanda Sanger from: Willard Mt. Zion Presbyterian,
Willard, Missouri “We are one of the only Presbyterian
Churches in the area with a growing attendance with
our children and youth. Many of us saw that the
children were getting bored and asking not to go to
Sunday School anymore, the teachers were getting burnt
out too. Then we heard about the website. Now kids
cry to their parents when they are not able to go. When
they know they are going out of town and will miss the
craft or game room they are literally devastated.”
•
Carll's Corner Community Fellowship-CCCF,
Bridgeton, NJ
“Praise God for answered prayer in the form of viable
curriculum in today's world!”
•
“As I was catching my breath one Sunday morning, a
family came running in late, dripping from the storm
outside. The mother jokingly said to me, "I was
hoping to sleep in this morning and stay out this
awful weather. However, my kids dragged me in
because they didn’t want to miss Sunday school." I felt
like someone had just handed me a check for a million
dollars! It was thrilling to know that her children were
excited about coming to church. What a blessing it is
to have the opportunity to teach and minister to
children about God’s love for them. And what a
greater blessing that they are receptive and have the
desire to learn.” --Ashley Parr Henderson, Grace
Community, Raleigh NC.
Other benefits of
WoRMing….
• Your kids RETAIN (there’s a word you haven’t heard in a while!)
Biblical knowledge and spiritual disciplines!
• The adults actually want to teach (they call YOU!)
• Attendance and enthusiasm will GROW!
• You (the educator) will enjoy working with God’s children again!
• You don’t buy curriculum from the denomination (but you keep
the money in your budget, so you can get those fun toys to teach
with you never got before, and that kids LOVE and RESPOND
to!)
• There are over 1,700 lessons plans (and growing every day) on
rotation.org
• You get to be a part of CHANGE in our church education culture
(something that it desperately needs)! And in the process you
teach your congregants that YES!...they too can leave the “old
molds” of doing church. It’s a REVOLUTION!!!!
A Brief History of the WoRM
• Began in 1990 by two educators, Neil MacQueen and Melissa Hanasche who were serving at the time at
a Presbyterian Church in Barrington, IL (suburb of Chicago)
• Neil and Melissa found out about two other area churches doing similar stuff and so a Chicago-group
started in the early 1990’s, to share curriculum, and the group grew within the Chicago area
• The first WoRM handbook was produced by this group and “debuted” at the 1996 APCE meeting,
where the first seminar on WoRM was held
• From the 1996 APCE meeting, WoRM churches started to grow. By the next APCE meeting in 1997,
there were many new WoRM churches, training each other, spreading the Gospel of the WoRM
It is estimated that today
there are thousands
of WoRM churches worldwide
The Invasion of the WoRMs goes
International (and ecumenical)!
• There are WoRM churches throughout
the United States and Canada (hotspots
of the invasion)…just look at Ontario!!!
• But…there are also WoRM churches all
over the world. WoRMs have been
spotted in faraway places such as England,
Egypt, Scotland, the Netherlands, and
South Africa.
• WoRM churches are across the Christian spectrum
(Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, UCC, Church of
the Nazarene, Salvation Army, Baptist, Episcopalian, and on
and on….
• Are they coming to your spot on the globe????
Different Types of Church Schools, and
how they can make a WoRM work for
them!
• Shared Space (with a daycare, school,
etc)
• You have your own rooms…and don’t
have to share with anyone! (you are a
lucky few and we are jealous)
• Small classrooms
• Big churches
• Tiny churches
• You see…you can do it no matter who
you are!!!!
Are WoRMs
expensive???
YES!
NO!
If your church has the means,
you can spend a lot of
money getting your WoRM.
A computer lab done really
well with about 8 computers,
printers, and networking can
run about $12K, and good
supplies for other things are
pricey too. But, they last for
many years at a time. So, if
you have money to burn,
you can do it, and do it well!
If your church does not have the
means to spend tons of
money, you can phase in a
new room each year,
spreading the cost out over a
couple years. You can get
donations from members of
the congregation. You can
use donated computers (but
your functionality is limited).
You can share resources
with another local
congregation, shouldering
the cost together. You can
also get a donation, or find a
benefactor (who knows who
that could be?!?!?) There are
many ways to make it work!
Types of WoRM Classrooms
Art Drama Cooking Computers
Puppets Movie Newsroom
Storytelling Science Games
Bible Study Music Agriculture
Geography Seasonal Journaling
Mission Culture-Sharing
And any others you think of…
Examples of WoRM
Classrooms
Examples of WoRM
Classrooms
Examples of WoRM
Classrooms
Before and After the
WoRM ……
Before and After the
WoRM …..
Where in the WoRM
do I go now????
All you need are two websites (see how easy this
is!):
www.rotation.org
The official WoRM website and home of over 1700 and counting ….
(no, that is not a typo!) lesson plans, chat rooms with other WoRMers,
web links to lots of other WoRM pages, and tons of useful information.
The photos/graphics, and lots of the info for this presentation came from
this website and the shared files on it!
www.sundaysoftware.com
Run by Rev. Neil MacQueen, a Presbyterian minister and a founding
WoRMer.
He now owns and runs this Christian software company as his ministry.
Even if you aren’t doing computers yet, this site has tons of more useful