Mililani, Hawaii
2020
To develop age-appropriate preschool chapel worship and classroom faith formation by exploring how children worship and connecting little ones' lives to God.
Provide a brief summary of the purpose and goal of your grant.
The purposes of our grant were to bring the church and preschool closer together, to determine how best to teach very young children about God, and to intertwine the Hawaiian culture into our religious curriculum through music and dance.
What are two questions that have generated reflection on worship and helped shape your project?
1. How do very young children learn about God?
2. How can culture be intertwined with religious education using music and dance?
What impact has your project had on the worship life and habits of the congregation?
Right now, we have still not been able to work together with the congregation due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, we are planning on sharing what the preschoolers have learned through Hawaiian dance and music by sharing a video presentation at a Sunday worship service soon.
What have been your greatest challenges (or challenging opportunities)?
I would have to say that the pandemic was and still is our greatest challenge. It has completely changed the way we are able to interact, and therefore has changed some of our major plans for use of our grant. We were not able to bring in speakers from the mainland, which was a major expense in our budget. We were, however, able to get a great local speaker, who came to do our Professional Development Day with the teachers.
What would you like to share with other Project Directors?
This project has been a wonderful faith journey for me. It has reaffirmed my belief in my motto: "His will, not mine, be done!" I know that God always has His own plan, and we must be calm and patient when His plan is not the same as ours. I am very thankful that we were given this opportunity, although we were not able to fulfill all of our goals. We did still find the answers to our questions for the most part. I pray that you were all able to, as well.