A Typical CIA/ETM night

 I thought you might like to know what goes on Tuesday nights when our grade 7 - 12's meet.  That would be our CIA/ETM group.  Early Teen ministry is our grade 7 - 8's, and CIA is our grade 9 - 12's.  Every other Tuesday all of them get together, and the opposite Tuesday's only CIA meets. The group has grown this year for a number of reasons. 

First, our grade 9 group is 10 large ish......

Second, we have some imports from Kanata this year.  

The group has renamed themselves, Calvata : )  

We are about 35 - 38 when all the kids are there.  I thought you might like to see a typical night as we do CIA/ETM.  We are trying to start something new now.  Singing at the beginning of our time together.   Hannah's great idea and the group seems to be liking it.  

 Here are Hannah and Sarah and Madii (got that right this time didn't I Madii) praising it up.  : )  

 Chris and Jacob doing the same.  

 Some of the songs require actions, and the group is more than willing to incorporate them.  

 We also have a short Q & A at the beginning of our time together (during CIA meetings as well)  where I ask two YP some questions about themselves so we can get to know them better.  Seems to be going ok.  It also seems that some of the YP want to ask the questions, which is a stretch for a Lion, but good to have.  : )  


We have games as part of our evening too.  The otters in the group head that part up.  : )  Did I ever tell you that games never showed up on my Spiritual Gifting Survey....???  Yeah, I think I did  (tee, hee).  

This game involved lots of moving around.  Getting rid of all that energy just before getting more sugar......

Another element of our evening involves breaking down into smaller groups and doing some sort of Bible discussion.  The leaders are really enjoying getting to know their group of kids, as we keep the groups the same each time we meet.  

I think it's important to build those relationships with our kids, and with a group this size, this is the best way to accomplish that.  

We end our evening with some prayer, which varies in type and style, and then we have snack and social time.  Parents slowly meander into the space as 9:00 pm approaches.  Many just watch from a distance and wonder how we can put up with all that noise....I love it......but I'm a Lion....maybe many of our parents are Ants or Golden Retrievers.....hmmmmmmm

Well,  just another evening in the life of our CIA/ETM group. When CIA meets -  only - , we do a bit less games and a bit more discussion, and don't have worship time as the sanctuary is being used by our Friendship Group.  

If you have any questions/comments about CIA/ETM, by all means contact me or any of our GREAT youth leaders...and they are all GREAT, even if they aren't all Lion's like me  (a very good thing actually).  :  )