The Meet Hope Podcast

99: Inside Out: Bridging Emotions and Spirituality for Kids

HOPE Church

Join us on the Meet Hope podcast for this week's fun conversation with Kasey Cornforth, HOPE Kids Director! Ever wondered how you can connect emotions with spirituality for kids? Kasey introduces an innovative small group initiative inspired by the Inside Out movies called "Turning the Bible Inside Out." This creative approach helps children, especially third to fifth graders, navigate their feelings by making stories in scripture relevant to their young lives. We explore how understanding the complex emotions of these characters can provide children with a relatable framework for managing their own feelings, fostering a deeper connection with their faith. Our discussion highlights the importance of making church a welcoming space where kids can truly be themselves and parents can find solace in shared experiences. Tune in to discover how engaging activities  can inspire community support and a sense of belonging. 

NOTES & RESOURCES:

  • Inside Out Movies: 
    • https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/
    • https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22022452/
  • Inside Out Bible Verse Examples: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BTwRICtejWk?app=desktop
  • Contact Kasey! Kasey@meethope.org

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Speaker 1:

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. Welcome to Hope. Our world for the sake of others. Welcome to.

Speaker 2:

Hope. Hey everyone, welcome to the Meet Hope podcast. My name is Ashley Black and I am your host today. I am excited to be here with you and today we have Casey Kornforth joining us. Hi, casey, hi, ashley, thanks for having me. Oh, we're glad that you're here, so you've been on the podcast a couple of times.

Speaker 3:

I think, yeah, it's been a while right, yeah, it has, but we're glad to have you here.

Speaker 2:

Can you remind our listeners if they're new to you? Tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do here, your family, anything you want us to know, Sure.

Speaker 3:

Hi everyone, my name is Casey, I am the Hope Kids director. I also coordinate family events here at Hope Church and I am married to Joe and I have three kids William, who is in fifth grade, meredith, who's in third and Lucas, who's in second.

Speaker 2:

And how long have you been with Hope Kids here, do you know?

Speaker 3:

I have been here just about three years. Yeah, that's exciting. Officially as staff. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, very cool. Yes, so, Casey, tell us some, tell us some things that you're excited about when it comes to Hope Kids right now.

Speaker 3:

Okay, so what comes to mind is we are focusing on our third, fourth and fifth graders and really trying to pour some extra love into how we can make Hope Kids still exciting for them.

Speaker 3:

They're on that older end, you know where they're not quite ready for Hope Youth, but they're looking for other things. They're mature, maturing, you know, compared to the little preschoolers. So they just need in my opinion they just needed a little bit extra. You know, love from us and you know attention. What can we do? That's fun and you know, in their terms, not cringey, because they always like to tell us when we're being a little too cringe yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 2:

Like they're hitting a different like emotional, social, physical stage where they're shifting, like they're more into peer relationships and all of that is different they're experiencing a lot of things.

Speaker 3:

You know like they're. They're still so young, but they're on that cusp of you. You know, pre puberty, pre middle school. You know there's a lot that they're seeing and hearing and dealing with and their bodies change. Their minds are growing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So there's a lot to address there.

Speaker 2:

I love that you said you said they're still so young Cause my first thought when you said that was like they are and to them they're not like. I feel like that's the age where they're like. They don't want to be seen as like young quote, unquote, like they're like. I'm getting older, I want to be more independent, you know Like, and that was a huge focus for us with you know how are we going to approach this.

Speaker 3:

There's still hope, kids. They're still little they're still young, but they don't want to be seen as babies and they don't want to do the same things that our preschoolers and kindergartners are doing. And the curriculum? I think at times, while our curriculum is great we use orange, it's wonderful but it's still sometimes some of the activities didn't necessarily fit.

Speaker 3:

And our leaders have been wonderful at adapting games and activities to kind of meet more of that older kid need for them, and that was really what led me to want to do a more targeted small group for that age range. You know what can I do for them? That is, helping them address things that they're dealing with with emotions and peers and school issues you know, like getting like conflict resolution with friends, and how do we speak?

Speaker 1:

to each other.

Speaker 3:

How do we speak to our parents? Because they are at that age, they're starting to have that communication struggle with their own parents, but also staying true to guiding, walking along with the families, having that support with the parents and the kids and offering them something new.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I love that desire to kind of differentiate for them because you're saying, hey, we see you guys, you guys are still a part of Hope Kids, even as you're getting bigger, and we don't want to like lose the momentum of having fun with you, and so I love that like desire to like meet them where they are. That's awesome. So you recently just finished doing a small group with Hope Kids. Do you want to tell us about? Tell us what the small group was, what was it called or what was it about?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so it was called Turning the Bible Inside Out and it was based on the Inside Out movies. There's two of them Inside Out and Inside Out 2. And I love those movies, you know, with my children. They have been very helpful and my kids love them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, With my children they have been very helpful and my kids love them. Yeah, they're some of my favorites.

Speaker 3:

Yes, it's taught my children things and I thought what a great idea. It's still kid-friendly, kid-oriented, but it does have some touches of emotion which can relate to those children on the older end, especially the fourth and the fifth graders. And so I had seen back in June online a friend had shared they had taken each emotion from the movie joy, anger, sadness, fear and they attached it to a Bible scripture and I was like, wow, this is so powerful. And for my own children, I screenshotted them and I put them on their iPad so that they could relate to that and if you're having a hard day, if you're feeling angry today and you just need something to refocus, on or redirect your feelings.

Speaker 3:

You know, read this and I know, especially for my daughter, it really meant a lot to her to be able to see that, wow, okay, this is, this is okay. You know, this is God, is is there and he's helping me through this, and it gave her, like just almost like a source of support.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. I love there's so many things going through my head. I love that because one it is like hey, we all have these emotions, like these are emotions they're, they're named, like they have names to them. There are things that everyone in the whole world, we all go through every day. So that's okay that you're angry or you're sad or you're joyful or you're anxious or whatever. But then I also love like that you like you said that that it had a piece of scripture attached to it, because I feel like that's just such a lovely way of helping your kids start to know like, hey, this is a tool like that you can turn to when you're experiencing these things. So it made me think in. Mikael is my son. He's four and in his room we have like a little corner where he has some like things on the wall. His mom really likes emotional language, so like he's got it, whether he wants it or not.

Speaker 2:

But he has, like you know, like for his age, like it's like pictures of faces with different feelings, and it's been great because he can, when he's having a hard time, he can look at it and tell me like this is me right now, mommy, I'm feeling, you know this, I'm feeling frustrated. That's his favorite. You know, anyway, but to then go a step further and say and here are some words that God tells us when we're feeling that way, like to know that we're not alone.

Speaker 2:

I love that as an extra like tool for them. Yeah, so this is what you did the whole small group on. Yeah, so.

Speaker 3:

I did a four week small group and we did it on a Sunday morning at the nine o'clock service and I took just, you know, third, fourth and fifth graders at the nine o'clock service and I took just, you know, third, fourth and fifth graders.

Speaker 3:

One of my goals in doing it was to pick stories in the Bible and to take some.

Speaker 3:

You know I call them characters because growing up they seemed, you know, the people in the Bible almost seemed like fictional characters to me, you know, and I wanted to remind kids and connect, connect the kids to these people in the Bible and to let them know that they're real people and that they felt like the stories that you're reading that involve joy and anger and you know all the whole spectrum of emotion.

Speaker 3:

You know it was real, it was really felt, you know, and the one I started with was King David and you know King David ran into, you know, some issues. Things didn't go the way he wanted, you know, at times and how he dealt with that and how that impacted how he viewed God and his relationship with God and he went from, you know, in the one story, from being angry to, at the end, being joyful and dancing before the Lord and I thought that was a beautiful way to show the kids like you can have a bad day and be angry and you can still be happy later, like something good can come. You know, the emotions can exist together and that's also pointed out in the movie.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that was when Casey and I were planning, before this conversation, I shared with you my favorite part of the first movie and this is a spoiler if you've never seen it, so, but it's at the end. They discover complex emotions, right? So it goes from just being angry or just being sad or just being joy to to um, that they have like a. They have these spheres that represent the emotions and the sphere is suddenly multiple colors, so it's like you can have joy and anger at the same time, or you can be sad and and feel happy, or you know, like that, that week weeks. It's a continuum that we're always experiencing all of these things and that's part of the human experience. And I love what you said to me before we started this conversation. Was you wanting your kids to know that you are good and you are worthy and you are loved by God? And that is not dependent on the emotion that you're putting out or experiencing.

Speaker 3:

Yes totally.

Speaker 2:

I love that yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know I had. May and June were a real learning experience for myself and my daughter Mary. We just she experienced all the emotions at once and that was a really big part of our conversation and that I wanted to bring into the group and and connect with the other children about like you can feel it all at the same time, you can process it and that you're not alone in it.

Speaker 3:

And that even you know, one of the things Mary had said to me was you know, it feels like you don't understand, Like, so she, I think, was having a hard time connecting that Like I did understand, like whether she didn't want to cause I'm mom and I'm cringy you know like and but. So I think giving her the Bible verses like she really felt okay, god is there. God has me. You know cause they don't always want to relate to mom or dad.

Speaker 2:

Especially at that age.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and that's why I think what we do here at hope is so important. When we have, you know, leaders and small group leaders and and and I know that in Hope youth you know, the leaders mean so much to those kids at that age because they're not mom and dad and they're not cringy Like they, they can connect with them, they can say things to them, and I wanted to really take that from what I've learned that Hope youth does so well and kind of bring that a little bit into Hope Kids for the older kids and it'll prep them too for when they go off to youth.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that, that desire for you all in Hope Kids to create a bridge for these students from one ministry into another, because that can feel like such a like when they go from fifth grade to sixth grade. So in our area most students go from fifth grade into sixth grade into, like, a middle school. Not everywhere, everywhere is a little bit different, but that's kind of like the dividing, like social, emotional line and and they're experiencing so many new things at once. Some of for some of them it's new schools and new classrooms and new friends and also new questions about like, who am I and do people care who I am? And so I love your desire to, at least in this space, bridge as much of that for them as you can so that it continues to be a welcoming and safe and fun space that they keep want to be coming back to. Yes, absolutely welcoming and safe and fun space that they keep want to come, keep want to come be coming back to. Yes, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

Beautiful, yeah, I, you know, from the moment I came here to hope, you know, 70 years ago, I always felt so connected to people and understood and I felt like I, it was a safe space. So I know for hope kids. That's always our goal to have families and parents feel that their kids are safe, their kids are loved on and that we're really doing this with them. We're walking alongside, in faith, with these parents trying to raise their children to know God, to love God and to want to be around God. And the best advice I think I was given was by Jason and he told me you need more games. After the first small group session the first week I was like, oh, I went in like so prepped to teach.

Speaker 3:

And I was and I'm a wordy person when I talk, when I write, and I was just chit chatting, chit chatting and these kids were like a little bored and I was like I think I lost them, and Jason's like you need a game. He's like put a game in there.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 3:

Wrap your curriculum around the game. Talk to them as they're playing. Like you could like and he really helped me, which was awesome. And that's again like our family ministry team is is just great. I love it.

Speaker 3:

Like we we help each other out. We're really trying to bridge, like you said, like make those connections and create bridges into, you know, from preschool to hope kids, to hope youth, um, and and that you know it keeps the kids wanting to come back and then they'll look forward to going to youth in a year or two when they're ready for it.

Speaker 2:

I love that and I love like. There are things that you're saying that I know you're talking about as family ministry leaders, but when you do that with them, I feel like it also helps us as parents. It creates this example of like oh, if you're trying to talk to your kid about something, if you talk about there's this, like, there's this thing and I don't have the notes in front of me but there is something about like. It's like for every age they are, there's so many minutes that they can stay engaged and I don't know like what that?

Speaker 2:

breakdown is, but it makes me think about like what a beautiful reminder that, like my kid, really loves to play right and so when I want to just be wordy and talk and talk at them, maybe I need to like get them to play a game with me, or maybe I need to engage with them in a different way yeah um, like bye.

Speaker 2:

So I just wanted to say you know, in gratitude to you all, that you know your desire to meet these kids, where they are also like, reflects out to all of us as parents of like. Oh, they're having so much fun there, what are they doing? How can we be doing that at home too? Yeah, so what? What would you say to parents who maybe have kids in this age bracket third through fifth grade and they're wanting to help their children navigate all the big emotions they're starting to feel, navigate, starting to toss around this idea of a personal faith, just all the things? How would you encourage them?

Speaker 3:

I would say, to look for that outside resource. For me it was that Instagram story, seeing those Bible verses, with an emotion that I'm like, oh wait, I don't have to have the answer for this, I can look somewhere else. And it was great to be able to look to the Bible and to be able to point there for my daughter and, I think, creating these small group opportunities. And I know, in the future, heather and I have so many ideas of other stuff we want to do and themes and we want to offer things where parents can come and kids can come at the same time you know, do a small group where parents can go be fed and then the kids can go be fed and we want it to feel like they're.

Speaker 3:

you know parents? I would say to a parent like you, don't have to do this alone and you're not alone. You know, you do have God guiding you and pointing you in the right place where you can get those resources and connect with those people.

Speaker 2:

That's really beautiful. No, I love that I was thinking about when you were talking that often. So I used to work in youth ministry and something often I would hear from parents who are a little bit older than the age group we're talking about, but that, like the older the kids got, the easier it was to feel more isolated as a parent, because when they're like sweet babies, like it's like you're around, typically you're around a lot more parents like with little like, because yeah like it's just like you're all, they're all kind of doing the same thing, like you do the play date, you do the baby's group, you do the they all go to preschool.

Speaker 3:

Like there's not a yeah, like yeah, there's the milestones, right yeah?

Speaker 2:

yes and for some reason, like I've just heard a lot of parents say, like those conversations for some reason are more natural, like are they walking, yet are they talking, yet how are they? How are you, how are you potty training, like things like that. But then, as they start to get bigger, for some reason like the emotional milestones, we don't talk about as much and then you start to feel yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then you start to feel like oh, I must be the only one whose kid is like going through x, y and z, and then we don't. And then. But then you like hear from another parent oh, yours is going through that too. Oh, how are you handling it?

Speaker 3:

and so it becomes more private when they hit, you know, the early ages of elementary age, I think, like definitely starting around second to third grade.

Speaker 3:

Like parents either, don't want to share because you want to protect your child and their, their privacy and their right to that, which I love, and but I'm such an open book and I'm kind of raising my children to be that way too and I just you know I'll, I'll talk to people about it and I'll say, yeah, my daughter had a rough day, like she was angry, she had a meltdown, and then afterwards you kind of think, oh, should I have shared that? But then what you get out of that is someone else saying, no, my daughter did this. Or you know even some of the older women that I speak with here at church and they're like, oh, when my daughter was that age, we went through something similar and it's so comforting to know that, like you're not a bad parent because you do, parents get stuck in that Like I must be doing something wrong, like, and then you feel bad, like it's on you, and then that's kind of like showing your child to take it inward Right. So I think, like, especially with this emotions and you know, what I said to the kids a couple of the weeks was you know, it's not just you. Like, you know, parents feel that way and we have to process it and we make mistakes and you're going to process it and make mistakes.

Speaker 3:

So I just think, when you put conversation to it and you remove the stigma around talking about your emotions, you realize that everybody, no matter what your age is, you deal with it. You know, and it's definitely a conversation Joe and I have all the time Like what are we modeling right now? That's being picked up on and our kids are seeing, you know, and if we can remain calm, maybe it'll show them how to remain calm or if we can spin anger into joy. You know, and I I always try to lead with joy and my kids are always like anxiety and anger, running around, frazzled, and you know, and then it's really bad when I'm that way you know, yeah, yeah, well, I love that.

Speaker 2:

I feel like so much of what you just said is so encouraging to parents that you know, basically, if you're listening to this and you're feeling alone, you aren't alone, and if you need somebody to talk to. They should reach out to you at Hope.

Speaker 2:

Kids, your email is Casey's email is Casey at meethopeorg or just like come by on a Sunday and you guys, I know I have tons of resources for parents who are looking for them and within the church space and beyond, and so we're just so grateful for everything that you do and beyond, and so we're just so grateful for everything that you do. And, yeah, I just love that you had also said to me before we started you have this desire for church to be relatable for this age group. Yes, I do?

Speaker 3:

I do Because you know I have my oldest struggles with feeling connected to church and he's in fifth grade. He's in fifth grade and he, you know, he for him, he hasn't found, I think, what that connection is. I think he's going to be a kid that goes to Hope Youth and hopefully finds it. But it, you know, I want kids to feel that they can come here, they can be who they are and if they're having a bad day they can have that bad day and we're, you know, we still love them and we still want to see them again next week and we want the parents to have that time to go to church and know that their kids being loved on. And yeah, just, you know I'm trying to make it not cringy you know, and I got great feedback.

Speaker 3:

This past Sunday was our last session for this small group and I asked them. I was like I want to know what you thought like how how did Miss Casey do? And I got a decent rating and they gave me ideas, me ideas they wanted. I loved that they all want to do another one yeah and they all were like picking Disney movies. Can we do a Lilo and Stitch small group? I was like I don't know how I'm going to relate that to the Bible, but let me you'll figure it out.

Speaker 2:

I bet there's something out there. Yeah, I love that you also desire to give them permission to share with their voice and what they yes, to tell you what they need, what they related to you know, like that is just just that belief, that like they are a part of the church and the church community and that they have a voice too, in there and they deserve a right to share what they feel about it, Even if it's not always what we want to hear.

Speaker 3:

Or you can take it and be like yeah okay, I use part of it.

Speaker 2:

I won't use part of it, you know, but just to again that that that goes back to your desire for for whole kids to be a safe place that they can come and be seen and feel known and every kid anything you read about kids, especially starting around this age, is that's what they need, right. They need adults who know who they are, who know their name, who see them, who want to know them, and they need adults outside of mom and dad. Yes, and so important and address them on their level.

Speaker 3:

You know they say it with little kids, like get down.

Speaker 2:

You know on your knees or, like you'll see, our preschool teachers here they get down, yeah, yeah but.

Speaker 3:

I think with the older kids it's not more of a physical eye to eye, it's more of a emotional, relational, like you have to meet them, you know, in a different way it's not physical, but if they, if they see that you're doing that and you're making those steps, then they're, they'll want to be here, yeah.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Yeah, well, casey, thank you so much for sharing all of this with us we're excited to see what other small groups are coming.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and if anybody, like I said, if anybody has any questions or is interested in what you heard Casey talk about, or you want some resources, or you want to feel less alone all of those things you can reach out to Casey. Her email is Casey at meet hopeorg. And other than that, we would love to say that if you listen to this episode and you feel like you know someone who could also be encouraged by it to please share it with them. If you're listening and you have not subscribed to our podcast, we'd love for you to subscribe, so that way, we make sure you don't miss any new episodes.

Speaker 1:

And that's pretty much it for today. So we hope that you have a really great week 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 meethopechurch.