Welcome to Stone Soup, a part of the Redeemer Fellowship family in partnership with Judson Baptist Church. Stone Soup was started as a way for families with children of all abilities to fellowship together around a high-quality, learning focused approach to life.
Lynn McGary, our director, had the vision for Stone Soup as a result of her own experiences in working with children, students, and their families in the context of home, school, church and the community. Her five children have been an inspiration as several have faced medical challenges and learned to excel with their abilities.
“We want to share life together, celebrate accomplishments, encourage one another to share our ideas, and to respect one another. God cares about the details of our lives and we want to convey that to each student. Our present fellowship includes people with all levels of abilities and ages. We are a growing team of people committed to knowing Christ and to sharing his love among ourselves and with others. I want to welcome you and your family to Stone Soup!" - Lynn Hatcher McGary
Stone
Soup is a high-quality, carefully paced, and activity centered Bible discovery
time.
The activities include: gym games, exploration, art, drama, conversation,
and music. Each week the Bible content is presented with illustrations
including works of the participants.
Stone
Soup encourages people of different ages and abilities to relate to each
other.
The learning formats are designed to be effective with students from age
4 to18. Teams work together in varying combinations to maximize each participant’s
learning and enjoyment. We seek to communicate in each person’s best modality.
The team works on listening, reading body language, and communicates with
pictures, words, and signing.
Children,
parents and grandparents feel welcome at the fellowship.
If preferred, parents may attend an adult Bible study fellowship (called
Life Groups) or the main church service during the same time as Stone
Soup on Sunday. However, Stone Soup is a quality way for entire families
to have the opportunity to experience church together.
“I learned more today about the Bible than I normally do and had a great
time too.” – Grandfather, Stockbroker
The
approach we use is often referred to as Reverse Mainstreaming.
When students of various ages and abilities learn together it prevents
students with special needs from being isolated with only other students
like themselves or, on the other hand, overwhelmed as they would be in
a group where they are the very small minority in a larger class, thus
causing them to be singled out and often unable to relate to the content.
Students without special needs enjoy Stone Soup as much as anyone!
Instead of designing ministry that functions best for peer groups with the least variation, Stone Soup is designed to pull people of all abilities together in ways that are rarely experienced. This approach makes Stone Soup somewhat unique.
Where did the name Stone Soup come from?
The name Stone Soup is taken from an old French children's tale about a village that comes together for a common cause out of unlikely circumstances. In the story many people in the village contribute - some more than others, but they all benefit! This tale was made most famous by an award-winning 1947 version written and illustrated by Marcia Brown entitled Stone Soup.Ross McGary (spouse of our director) has written an American version of this old tale.
NOTE: For additional
information on Stone Soup call either Donna Blair at (615) 376-9777 or Lynn
McGary at (615) 599-3326