Area youth learn interactively at Victory Church in Balaton about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus
Most kids’ Easter events these days are all about the eggs — hiding them, finding them, painting them.
This past Saturday, however, Victory Church in Balaton went in a different direction and chose to focus not on eggs and candy, but on the meaning of the season.
The church welcomed in dozens of children to learn about the Easter story. The kids went station to station, learning about everything from the origin of Palm Sunday and the Last Supper before the crucifixion of Jesus, to the story of his resurrection. And each station got the kids involved in interactive fashion, whether it was learning about the story of communion or creating their own tomb out of dirt, moss and rocks.
“The ‘Grow With God’ experience is something that is written in our Grow curriculum that we use on Sunday mornings here at victory,” said Kelli Hanson, a congregation member and leader of Saturday’s holiday event. “I took a little bit of the foundation of that for how I wanted to tell the Easter story. And we chose to do it as more of a family event where they got to go through stations and see the Easter story come to life.”
Hanson said while it’s important for the youngsters to learn the story behind the story, doing so in hands-on fashion helps them better understand Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
“It’s one thing to read it in the Word, but it’s another to see it come to life,” she said. “I thought a resurrection garden would be something they could watch during Holy Week. They can watch it grow as they remember what they learned trough this walkthrough. And we’re sending home a devotional, too, that families can do at home as well. There’s nothing sweeter than the kids being able to physically see it with their own eyes.”
Hanson said by moving the kids through a number of different stations allows the kids to reset every few minutes and get ready to learn another aspect of the meaning of Easter.
“If you move them a little bit, then they’re recaptivated,” she said. “It’s an exciting way for the kids to learn.”
Each station inside the church was decorated and was led by adult members of the church, Odessa Knochenmus, Julie Williams, Gloria Johnson and Deb Saxton and at the end were able to play some games, go on an Easter egg hunt and enjoy a snack.
“Kelli is the vision behind it all, and when she came to me and said she wanted to bring the story of Easter alive, I was all in,” said Knochenmus, who is a teacher and the preschool director at True Light in Marshall. “I think that this is something that’s really needed and is a cool experience for the kids not only being told about it, but are also able to experience it. It makes it more real to them. That’s just how kids learn best.”
Hanson said Saturday’s event is one example of how she wants to implement more of this type of learning throughout the year.
“We did a Christmas event, and our plan is to do four family events a year,” she said. “We’d love to see it as an opportunity to bring the community together. There will be a Christmas, an Easter and a summer and a fall event. The fall will be kind of like a carnival, and in the summer, we’re going to have a picnic. Just opportunities to continue to grow as a community.”
