I cooked these up for our church, where I lead on the kids ministry team, to ask parents to support their kids during a few weeks of “mission” at our sunday school.
We’re really fortunate to have taken stacks of good photos of our kids that we can use for things like this, and, in part, fortunate to have geeks like myself with some design skills around.
That’s not everyone’s church. We’re not better Christians because we can design some funky cards to ask parents to support us, but our communication is probably more effective for it.
The thing is, churches aren’t operating in isolation — we shouldn’t be constrained by our normal (often geographical) context. Local churches are fantastic things, but they don’t need to be the only places we can serve. Church communication is a pretty universal need, though the exact application will vary depending on numerical size and the range and depth of ministry any given church is involved in.
So when I say we have lots of good photos that enables good design, I’m not just boasting about the things we do (though there is probably some of that), but remarking on the potential resources we’ve been given and the need that exists beyond our own ministry context.
CYIADA has potential to help here. Initially, we were only considering it a product for teenaged ministry, but God is making it increasingly obvious that the potential applications of a community that shares documents of all kinds (yes, including artwork and graphics! This has always been a part of what we are trying to achieve!) extend beyond that, and particularly into children’s ministry.
Kids learn in various ways that span all of the senses, and leaders of our children need to be aware of this. This isn’t just something for those with kids with learning disabilities to be aware of (our sunday school has had one child with autism), but a necessity for all leaders due to the different learning styles of children. A resource for sharing all manner of resources could aid in the development of sunday school curriculums that are clearer to more children.
