Question of the Month-August

Why Isn’t Genesis Offered Twice?

A few people ask this question each year and we thought we’d try and answer it openly.  The simple answer is… resources.  Too few leaders AND too few students.  When Genesis started about six years ago we already had a much smaller number of students attending the earlier hour (10 vs 30).  Three years later the number fell to 2-3 kids at the earlier hour and 30 in attendance at the second hour.  Leaders didn’t feel it was worth it and clearly families didn’t like the earlier time either.  The simple answer is we would love to offer Genesis at both hours!  Unfortunately with so many great parents helping with Thrive and too many kids wanting to sleep in… it just doesn’t make sense – the needed resources aren’t there.  

We think iWORD is a great compromise offering the only detailed Bible study for 6-8th graders at St. John’s. iWORD itself is a small group which suggests that a 9:15am option will always be a much smaller choice for junior highers.  iWORD has no homework other than reading some scripture passages before you come to iWORD (and you sometimes have a month to do it).  The main reason iWORD is only offered twice a month is to allow both students and leaders to worship at the other 2-3 Sundays per month. 

Other Things We Have Had To Consider (in varying degrees of importance)

• Our first priority is WORSHIP!
• Since 97% of iWORD/Genesis attendees are Thrive students, we feel Sundays are best for community worship.  Worship should come first on weekends.
• The Junior High Team is committed to the iWORD program for 2010-2011 and families repeatedly gave rave reviews of the Bible study for those that stayed committed to the iWORD program.
• Genesis still needs adults for this Fall at 10:30am!  We are worried about offering Genesis at one hour alone.
• As a program, Genesis needs 10+ kids to be effective.  3-5 kids just isn’t enough to provide the same experience that it is designed for (15+ students).
• We want Mr. Rob to worship too!  Rob leads both Sunday programs (with help from other leaders) and with two weekly programs each Sunday, plus setup, would=Rob doesn’t worship.  Rob could worship on Saturdays but that would mean being at work six days a week and we feel that’s asking too much.  It’s important for our staff and leaders to worship!  It’s key to a healthy spiritual life for us all! 
• Genesis is more expensive to the budget than iWORD and budget cuts and concerns would raise questions about the ability to offer it twice.
• Joy Zone is the only program offered identically at both hours.  Adult Disicpleship classes and Sr. High Extreme Faith Bible Study are not offered at both hours.  Different classes for adults will be offered at both hours and the Sr. High program is only offered at 9:15am. 
• Two hours for Joy Zone was initially created NOT as an attractive options for families but because we didn’t have room.  One hour of Joy Zone won’t fit in our building and requires us to offer two different hours.   The two options are merely an added benefit to families.
• Many churches offer junior high programming on Sundays, Sunday evenings OR midweek.  Many churches do not even offer two options each week.
• Sleep… as kids get older within a family, parents often find it more difficult to get their family (or junior higher) to church before 10:00am.  If you have older kids in your family you know what we mean!

We apologize for this explanation running a little long but wanted to share where our thoughts and decisions have been over the past several years.  Appealing to everyone is… not possible.  We strive to offer as much as we can without decreasing the quality of programming or over-extending our leaders and Jr. High families.  We believe all our Jr. High programs together provide a well-rounded and awesome mix of faith-filled options!

We encourage you to talk with Rob Gieraltowski or any member of the Jr. High Team if you have further questions, concerns, or ideas.  Thanks for asking!

CLICK HERE to visit our Sundays Page for details about Genesis or iWORD.