115: HOPE in Motion - Beyond "Cringe": Designing Church Spaces That Kids Actually Want

Hope Church's Family Ministry team shares their vision for two reimagined classrooms as part of the Hope in Motion capital campaign, addressing crucial gaps for children with special needs and fourth/fifth graders in transition between children's and youth ministries.

If you'd like to support the Hope in Motion campaign to fund these classroom transformations along with other initiatives, visit meethope.org/motion and consider increasing your annual giving by 10% toward this initiative to help us reach our goal of $125,000.

Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch.  Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.  

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Transcript

Meet the Family Ministry Team

Intro 0:03

Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others.

Jeff Bills 0:22

Welcome to Hope our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope. Hey, how you doing everybody? This is Jeff Bills and welcome to this episode of the Meet Hope podcast, and I am really excited to be joined today by members of our family ministry team, and so let me just go around and introduce who's in the room. I've got Kasey Cornforth to my left. How you doing, Kasey?

Kasey Cornforth 0:54

Good Jeff, how are you?

Jeff Bills 0:55

I'm doing great. Next to Kasey, we have Jason Shinn, who is our director of youth ministry. How you doing, jay?

Jason Shinn 1:03

I'm

Jeff Bills 1:06

my right is Amanda Cavaliere, who has two roles she is our Preschool Director and Marriage and Parenting Coordinator.

Amanda Cavaliere 1:16

You got it Lots of words.

Jeff Bills 1:17

That's a lot. Your business card I want to see your business card. It's very full. So, as we get started, we're going to be talking about part of the Hope in Motion priority. But before we do that, just if you're new to Hope or you're not really engaged in family life ministry, I want you to know what each of these folks do here at Hope. So, Kasey, tell us a little bit about how do you spend your time here at Hope?

Kasey Cornforth 1:48

Hi everyone. I am the Hope Kids director, so I'm usually in the kids wing with kids ages preschool through fifth grade, and I'm here Sunday mornings. We do two services and we do family events throughout the week or kids' choir different things like that, yeah.

Jeff Bills 2:08

Yeah, all right, jason, tell us about what you guys do.

Jason Shinn 2:13

I corral 6th to 12th graders. We have Sunday nights is our big focus. We have an hour and a half program with games and teaching and small groups, and then Sunday morning we have a Sunday school class for middle schoolers. And then we do events, especially a lot during the summer, and we do mission trips and retreats and stuff like that.

Jeff Bills 2:34

So you're on the move a lot.

Jason Shinn 2:36

A lot yeah.

Jeff Bills 2:38

Fantastic, all right, and Amanda, you've got these two roles. Tell us about each one.

Amanda Cavaliere 2:44

So during the week I'm always a Tomorrow's Hope preschool director, but during the week I'm with our two and a half year olds through kindergarteners in the preschool wing, and then I also work with parents, with children of all ages and couples, through small groups and date nights and workshops and such. With the other role Great.

Jeff Bills 3:05

How many children are in the preschool these days?

Amanda Cavaliere 3:08

We have almost 80.

Two Special Classrooms for Hope in Motion

Jeff Bills 3:09

Okay, yep, it's a big group of kids. Yes, and this is not the full team. In fact, the person who heads this up is Pastor Heather. She is currently on leave, otherwise she'd probably be doing this interview, but I'm the lucky one who gets to do this Part of our hope in motion goal. We've got three priorities for this capital campaign we have an LED wall for our worship space, we're investing in Langezu University in Malawi, and then we're talking about these two classrooms. Somebody asked me if we're building new rooms. We're not actually building new rooms. We're outfitting two existing rooms for two very special priorities. So, Kasey, give us an idea of what these two rooms are going to be. What are we envisioning here?

Kasey Cornforth 4:07

Okay, so we are. It's basically, I like to say, a redeveloping of the room. So we have a small office space that's in the kids' wing, that's right outside of the preschool, that we use often on Sunday mornings and that's become our buddy's room. So when we have a child who has special needs or just needs that are different from the rest, we usually take them into that space. It's calming, it's quiet, it's secure, it's a great space for kids who need a break from the large group, who need a quiet place to go, and so we would like to redevelop that into a sensory room.

Kasey Cornforth 4:44

Our special needs population is growing here at Hope. We have a lot of new families, a lot of kids at different ages, from preschool through fifth grade, with different needs, and we have a lot of great ideas of what we can do with that space to make it more accommodating and great for the leaders as well as the kids, because it gives the leaders more of a purpose in what they're doing with the kids. And the other space that we want to redevelop is room 10, which is kind of over in Jason's wing, over by Jason's office, by the activity space. Youth uses that wing a lot.

Jason Shinn 5:17

I have a wing.

Kasey Cornforth 5:18

Yeah, a whole wing yeah a whole wing, it's Jason's wing of the building, your whole wing, it's Jason's wing of the building. So we would like to redevelop that and use that space for youth group as well as our fourth and fifth graders on a Sunday morning They've kind of outgrown the kids wing a little bit physically, but also, I think, mentally, spiritually and using that space in a new way to make Sunday mornings more exciting, offer them new ways to connect with each other, with their leaders, and just bring new tools into the room, and the tools that we want to bring in need a space to be Okay.

The Gap for Fourth and Fifth Graders

Jeff Bills 5:58

So when we were putting together the Hope in Motion, these priorities, and I was asking the family ministry department to highlight some priorities, these were the two that came up. Why these two? Why are these two specifically the things that have been highlighted, would you say?

Jason Shinn 6:18

Well, I could speak to one of them. The fourth and fifth grade I mean that's not quite my area but as someone who's worked in multiple churches, like this is a hole at a lot of churches is fourth and fifth graders kind of get they're too old to be in the kids ministry but they're too young to be in the youth ministry and there's a lot of times where curriculum kind of fails them and you know, facilities kind of fail them. They feel they don't want to come to church anymore because they feel it's too childish. So there's an opportunity here.

Jason Shinn 6:49

I love the passion that Kasey and Heather and Amanda and Family Ministries team have for this Because this is a space where fourth and fifth graders can have their own kind of little space. Room 10 is not the biggest room but it's a good size room but it's where they can feel like they belong and like we can tailor stuff specifically for this age group in a way that I think it helps build youth ministry up. You know, if we can hold on to fifth graders, it only enhances what we do with our sixth graders. But more importantly, there's kids that just they're ready for bigger things in their faith and they're just we're swinging and missing, and this is not a, this is a multi. I've seen this in multiple churches and to have a church see the need and address it is really a powerful thing.

Amanda Cavaliere 7:40

And you know, as a parent of two kids have gone through Hope Kids and now are in Hope Youth. I noticed this when my son was in middle school Sunday school doing all these fun, interactive things. My daughter was in fifth grade. She outgrew what they were doing in Hope Kids. It felt too babyish, but she was not old enough to be doing what the bigger kids were doing, and so a lot of times she ended up in church with me, which isn't bad, it's fine, but it's not also appropriate for her needs either in her own spiritual development.

Amanda Cavaliere 8:11

So I would have loved for her to have had this opportunity Would you say second semester.

Amanda Cavaliere 8:13

she was chomping at the bit to get to. She was every week begging to get into that class with her brother.

Amanda Cavaliere 8:20

And he held it over her head too, this room 10 might be the coolest classroom. You know the way we've designed it might be the coolest classroom in the cave.

Amanda Cavaliere 8:31

Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I definitely can say as a parent, I would have loved for her to have had that opportunity, both of them.

Jeff Bills 8:39

Yeah, so one of the things we're talking about is this hope in motion is an investment for now, but it's also an investment in the future, and so we're not talking about just future, like years from now. We're talking about the future of the church, and these kids certainly represent the future of the church. So this is a transition time, it sounds like, and so we want them to feel like the church. So this is a transition time. It sounds like Um and uh. So we want them to feel like the church is for them and uh, and then they'll go through this next transition when they come, uh, become sixth graders, and then, uh, oh, what a transition it is oh boy.

Amanda Cavaliere 9:19

It's a tough age in general. These are kids that are pre-teen. They're going through changes, they're awkward, they don't feel like they fit in anywhere, and then they come to church and they feel like well, where's my space?

Kasey Cornforth 9:32

Our wing is so bright, but it's so kid-focused, like the graphics. We use the videos and even the music at times. I think you know it's too cringy for the preteens?

Amanda Cavaliere 9:44

Yes, the word that comes up weekly is cringe, everything is cringe.

Kasey Cornforth 9:49

So yeah, to have a space with different graphics or different things on the walls, or, you know, a couch. You know, for some reason, a couch is just so appealing.

Amanda Cavaliere 9:58

And across the hall for the big kids.

Creating a Sensory Room for Special Needs

Jeff Bills 9:59

Yes, you know, the big kids are across the hall when we're headed, yeah, so let's let's talk some details for a moment. Talk about this sensory room. What? What will be in there? What will that room look like, would you say?

Kasey Cornforth 10:18

We have a lot of great ideas for the sensory room and it's definitely something I feel we're kind of lacking right now with the right tools for these children and for you know, things that help create the calming environment, like the lamp. There's a certain lamp with different features that you can, or different what's the?

Kasey Cornforth 10:39

word. I'm looking for Settings lighting Settings yes. Different mood lighting and colors yes exactly.

Kasey Cornforth 10:43

You can change the color, you can set the mood.

Jason Shinn 10:45

It's frequencies, isn't it?

Kasey Cornforth 10:46

It's something to do with light frequencies help calm the brain.

Jason Shinn 10:49

There's different frequencies that calm the brain, which is a crazy cool science.

Kasey Cornforth 10:53

Yeah, it is, it's really and it makes nonverbal and needs a way to communicate. But it's getting worked up because they don't know how. You know if we're, if a leader's trying to work with them and and trying to, you know, get them to just be calm and see what the need is, um, I think that space is just going to be, it's going to be really powerful. And there's other things like a sensory wall. Um, there's stuff that we can actually add to the walls that are. It's almost like an activity center that you kind of Mount on the wall that has different sensory features for kids.

Kasey Cornforth 11:27

And that can be calming, that can help kids who are nonverbal, and just a way to communicate and get them to listen. There's definitely chairs. I know the chairs we have now in the preschool and, amanda, you might be able to add to this. Some of our friends the chairs go have now in the preschool and, amanda, you might be able to add to this. Some of our friends the chairs get flipped or get pushed. It could be a safety hazard. So there's certain chairs that we're looking into getting. I think they're called fidget chairs.

Kasey Cornforth 11:53

Is that right?

Kasey Cornforth 11:53

Amanda, yeah, so a fidget chair is something where, if a child is bouncing around or moving or just a little bit clumsy in a moment, that chair would be safer for that child to be on. So I know that's definitely at the top of our list.

Amanda Cavaliere 12:07

And I'm excited because the preschool wing is going to benefit from that too during the week. So we have little guys who have big emotions and sometimes aren't sure how to manage those. So in the preschool classrooms we have what we call calm down corners, which is really just a little space with maybe a bin of fidgets or sensory toys to help calm down but to be able to let's go into another room for a few minutes to just if we're feeling dysregulated, to help them bring down those emotions, so that they can reenter the classroom calm and ready to learn. Because oftentimes if a kid is having a tantrum or struggling, everybody down the hallway knows that it's happening and so now no one is learning or focusing because someone's just having a tough moment. So giving them a little space to work it out and calm down and then reenter.

Jason Shinn 13:00

Kasey

Jason Shinn 13:00

, would you say that there's also the added gift to the parents when they see a sensory room and they see a church that is going out of its way to make sure that their child is feeling safe and that allows them to go worship, and there's a gift in that too, I think.

Kasey Cornforth 13:19

I really feel we have so many new families coming to hope and so many existing families who are, you know, their kids are getting to a certain age where they're realizing certain you know, um, you know developmental needs. Right, the needs are shifting and changing for their own children, whether they're an existing family or new, and I think when they see that we're not just welcoming to their child but that we're supportive and that we're able to kind of walk with them, I think it adds to that like village mentality that I know we try to create in Hope Kids, where we're in this with you. You know you, the parent, can come here on a Sunday morning, can leave their children in safe and keepable hands, as well as a safe and keepable environment, and then they can go worship and breathe for 45 minutes and know that their child is being safe and attended to but also still developing a faith and a spiritual connection in a way that reaches them, because not every kid learns the same.

Kasey Cornforth 14:15

My oldest has auditory processing so he hears things differently. So loud spaces, big rooms are really hard for him. Auditory processing, so he hears things differently. So it takes him, you know, so loud, loud, you know spaces, big rooms are really hard for him because he can't retain what's going on. So he would do great in a calm, you know quieter space where he can talk maybe one-on-one with a leader about God or pray one-on-one versus in a large group. So there's definitely I think.

Amanda Cavaliere 14:39

I think you know you used the word supportive. I feel like Hope has developed an environment of support. We're equipped now I think this whole campaign is about taking this next level to be equipped, whether it be the fourth and fifth grade room is equipped to reach the fourth and fifth grade at a very specific spot in their development. And then also this sensory room is we are equipped to support a child who may need a next level care. And it's not just hey, we have this side room with a couple of toys in it. This room is specifically designed and specifically equipped to handle, to work and have this kid have a great experience at church. And that also goes like I said to the parents that they have a great experience at church and that leads to people connecting and sticking at hope, which is a mission of hope. Connection is a huge mission for hope. So these are two amazing campaigns.

Kasey Cornforth 15:36

It's like planting the seeds and letting the roots dig in and building it up.

Kasey Cornforth 15:41

And helping the leaders and volunteers who work with these kids of any age of having an appropriate space for them.

Kasey Cornforth 15:47

Yeah, and I really also feel, when we're given the right resources, I think that will help develop and attract leaders who want to come work with these children, because they know that they'll be able to do maybe what they're trained to do. Like I don't have a special needs background. I've kind of learned as I have gone and as a parent I'm learning. But I know there are people that come here that are trained and that are specialized in certain areas and would benefit from resources because they'd be able to jump in and use their gifts to help kids develop.

Designing a Space for Preteens

Jeff Bills 16:19

Wow, kids develop, wow, and so that's a great space, it sounds like, and really important for all of the reasons that you guys have just articulated. Thanks for that. Now we've got the second space For the fourth and fifth graders. We've talked about why this is a priority and how this is going to serve in the ministry, but give us a vision of what. What do we, what are we talking about doing in this room? What, what, what's some of the equipment, I guess?

Jason Shinn 16:46

Can I speak to the cool factor?

Kasey Cornforth 16:47

Absolutely, you are cool, so please take. I'm cringe. It's in your wing, jason. It's in my wing.

Kasey Cornforth 16:52

Miss Kasey is cringe.

Jason Shinn 16:54

Mr Jason is cool. We want to have an open environment and so we want to kind of collapse the tables and we want to have, like case you mentioned, a couch kind of environment kind of a lounge feel.

Jason Shinn 17:07

Yes, absolutely, we want to put in some video games so when kids get there and it's something I can use on sunday nights, it's one of the things we do on sunday nights is we have we have games going, but we don't force kids to play games. We have a kind of a craft hangout room and a lot of the girls like it, but I know some of the guys are, hey, can we have a space for our own? And that would be really beneficial. It's also we also use it for. We would also use it for small groups and our breakouts and on Sunday nights, but having an environment where you know they can come in and we can use the term chill.

Jason Shinn 17:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but where I?

Jason Shinn 17:47

I think one of the things that fourth and fifth graders are looking for is conversation, and they're looking to be heard, and so creating an environment where the the teacher, is not necessarily in a lecture position but is in a hangout in front of the, you know, like sitting with the students as they do their lesson together, and so we've talked about a number of different ways to design that, but a couple of big things is the couch kind of, you know, kind of changing the colors of the room, kind of throwing some rugs down to make it feel more like a living room as opposed to another classroom.

Jason Shinn 18:17

They're in classrooms Monday through Friday, and then we kind of throw them in a classroom and they they're not responding well to that, and so that's one of the things they're looking for is a place where they can be on the same level as the teacher, they can be heard by the teacher, they can share their ideas. Fourth and fifth graders have big ideas and they're thinking about big things, and so they need a space where they can process with a safe person, and so we want to give them that space. So true, and they want to they want to help too.

Kasey Cornforth 18:44

like I know there's been a lot of fifth graders that, because they feel like they've outgrown hope kids, they're like, what can we do? Like, like, give us something to do, can we help? Can we sit with a little so we try to repurpose them as much as we can in our wing, um, but I think this opportunity will just just with the music alone too, because our music is more tuned for, honestly, probably even like kindergarten, it's very cringy Kasey.

Kasey Cornforth 19:07

Yeah, it's just not. I mean the motions are not cool.

Kasey Cornforth 19:09

They don't want to dance but to be able to put a speaker in a room and put on, you know, music proofed by Mr Jason and Mr Andrew, who are much cooler, you know, like they could give us some good song racks and we could play.

Jeff Bills 19:22

I know good songs. All right, Pastor Jeff.

Kasey Cornforth 19:24

We'll get you in there too.

Jeff Bills 19:26

The Beatles. We'll do a.

Kasey Cornforth 19:27

Pastor Jeff playlist I like that.

Jeff Bills 19:30

That will empty the room.

Kasey Cornforth 19:32

But to give them their own songs that are more of, maybe, adult worship songs, not like the kid ones. I think those little touches make a huge difference and then they can have, like Jason said, those conversations where they're learning okay, what can I do? Where's, what's my role here at Hope? You know now that I can be more involved in different ways and they learn differently.

Jeff Bills 19:53

So we're talking about um. One of one of the values we try to bring to ministry is make it better. We do, what we're doing now is good and fine, and so forth. How can we make it better? And so we're talking about these two specific areas to make it better. What's going on right now? So we do have kids in both of these groups that are currently involved in the ministry. So what is going on right now for these kids with special needs, as well as our fourth and fifth graders? What's happening?

Jason Shinn 20:33

I think the term is I think the overarching term is outgrow. Both are outgrowing what we have now. We need to create more space for them.

Jeff Bills 20:47

So we want to catch up to where we already are. Yes, yeah.

Amanda Cavaliere 20:51

And then with an eye on having space to grow, yeah, absolutely yeah, I would agree.

Meeting Current Needs and Making Room for Growth

Kasey Cornforth 20:59

I feel like we already have such a community built up in these areas. I feel like we already have such a community built up in these areas. We already have a small population of kids with needs that we're trying our best to get through each week. How can we serve them and serve the parent and keep the parent coming back and feeling welcomed and supported? And definitely with the fourth and fifth graders, like right now, we have such a boy-heavy fifth grade class, so we have a lot of boys in fifth grade, Um, and you know we're just looking at what can we, what can we do to help? You know, keep connecting with them and and, um, keep giving them a space where they want to come to on Sunday by making these spaces available, we're making room for more kids on the younger end too.

Jason Shinn 21:43

So pulling out the fourth and fifth grade, giving them their own space, gives us more opportunity to serve those K through three kids. You know who might be in there.

Kasey Cornforth 21:52

Well, especially too that's a good point Like we have the, the we call them the bigs and hope kids. So it's usually third, fourth and fifth, usually more fourth and fifth, cause our third grade population right now is a little bit smaller, but we keep them in room 100, which is back in the kids wing, which is like right next to where we're hoping to do the sensory room, and that's our probably our biggest room, because we use also use the preschool classrooms and if we're able to shift fourth and fifth grade out of that room into a different room, that allows, because our, our younger, our littles population is huge, right now.

Kasey Cornforth 22:26

And that keeps growing when a lot of our new families that are coming have small children and that does create more physical space for the numbers that are growing in other age groups as well.

Kasey Cornforth 22:37

Got it, I think, with the sensory room. That allows us to be successful Like right now it's we're kind of getting by.

Kasey Cornforth 22:44

we're getting by, yeah.

Amanda Cavaliere 22:45

But by having the sensory room, there are a lot of tools that we will be able to use which could hopefully calm kids down quicker and giving them a better experience, which with the hope of reconnecting them with the other groups. But these tools are necessary and needed because there are so many families coming and that is a big priority for families Like can you help me with my kid? Can this church come alongside to help me, as I am just barely making it through this week.

Kasey Cornforth 23:18

Yeah.

Amanda Cavaliere 23:18

And so to have a room like a sensory room. So a parent sees all the stuff on the wall, they see the fidget chairs, they see all these tools and they're like, oh my gosh, this church gets me.

Kasey Cornforth 23:29

That's huge, yeah, and I think parents, when you have a child who's special needs and mine is very high functioning, so I know he can go somewhere and he can get through, but some aren't, some kids aren't high functioning and you don't want to leave, you know you don't want to even leave your house, let alone leave your child right, so I think it keeps parents from coming to church Isolated.

Amanda Cavaliere 23:50

Yes, it keeps all just, and that's the gift that the whole church can give.

Kasey Cornforth 23:53

Yeah, I'll just stay home or I'll listen online, and online's great, but there is a benefit to having that in-person connection that these parents really need, as well as the children.

Hope in Motion Campaign and Call to Action

Jeff Bills 24:03

Yeah, exactly yeah. So what we're talking about is resourcing, right, and the church this church has some wonderful resources. I hope what I'm feeling in this room you're feeling, as you're hearing this podcast, this room you're feeling, as you're hearing this podcast, the passion of these three members of our staff for kids and families who are a part of the church, and both those who are here and those who are yet to come, and so Hope in Motion is all about that. It's about creating new opportunities, new spaces, new creative outlets across our ministry, as you can go there directly, to our Today page, and look for Hope in Motion, and there will be a breakdown of each of the priorities and more details about that. You can, of course, always talk to me, or you can talk to Kasey, jason, amanda about these projects.

Jeff Bills 25:22

We'd love to tell you more. Most of all, I would encourage you to support it as you are able. One of the things that we're suggesting is, if you're thinking about how much you should give, if you look at what your annual giving is to hope, if you can increase that by 10% and direct that toward this hope and motion, that would get us to our goal of $125,000. Not everybody can do that. Some can do more. We're asking everybody to do their best so we can continue to resource this church, to reach kids, to reach adults and to reach people beyond our campus. Thanks a lot for tuning in to this episode of the Meet Hope podcast and we'll see you next week.

Intro 26:17

Thanks for being a part of the Hope community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at Meet Hope Church.