Ages 4-14 · Lonoke County, AR county · Book 6, Faith

Methodist Churches — Lonoke County, AR

The shared ground between traditions in Lonoke County, AR is narrower than people claim and wider than they fear: children, character, and the choice to keep going. Lonoke County is one of 75 counties in Arkansas.

Methodist Churches looking for children's material that carries a value without carrying a doctrinal position. Ellis Abel is a character series — faith as the choice to keep going — so the story does the human work and your church does its own teaching.

The book behind it

Ellis Abel and the Disciple

“Difference isn't weakness. It's a gift.”

Difference can be a strength.
Faith is choosing to move forward.
Hard moments can reveal unique gifts.

Ellis Abel is a character series. Volume 6 carries the value faith — not certainty, not confidence, but the decision to keep moving while it is still hard. It does not teach a denominational position, which is why the same book is used in Lonoke County, AR by parishes, independent congregations, homeschool co-ops and school chapels alongside their own teaching.

Read about Ellis Abel and the Disciple · The whole series

Five sessions in Lonoke County

Session 1
Open with the story, not the lesson — the lesson lands after
Session 2
Small groups: what does moving forward scared look like at school
Session 3
Leaders model it first, with a real time they were the different one
Session 4
Each child writes the one step they will take before next week
Session 5
Follow up by name the following week and ask what happened

What Lonoke County, AR leaders ask first

Does methodist churches in Lonoke County, AR teach a particular denomination?

No. Ellis Abel is a character series built on named values — belonging, courage, accountability, self-mastery, empathy and faith. Book six treats faith as the choice to move forward while it is still hard. The story carries the value; your church supplies the doctrine. That is why the same material is used across traditions.

What ages does this work for?

Ages 4-14. The story is read aloud, so a child who cannot read yet is still fully in it, and the discussion questions are written in two bands so one leader can hold a mixed-age room.

Will this conflict with what we already teach in Lonoke County, AR?

It is not written to. The material stays on character and on faith as perseverance, and stops where doctrine begins, so it runs alongside your own catechism, confirmation material or curriculum rather than competing with it.

Can we use it alongside the curriculum we already have?

Yes, and most churches do. It is most often used as the story spine for a term, with your existing teaching material doing the rest.

How a session actually runs in Lonoke County

Step 1
Start with the story, not the lesson
Children in Lonoke County, AR arrive at different reading levels and different Sundays. The story is read aloud, so every child is in it from the first minute — the one who reads early, the one who does not read yet, and the one who came because somebody made them.
Step 2
Stop at the hard moment
Book six turns on a moment where Ellis Abel is the different one and has to decide whether to keep going. That is the moment the session lives in. Faith here is not certainty and it is not confidence — it is movement while it is still hard.
Step 3
Name the difference, then name the gift
Every child names one thing that makes them the odd one out, and one way that same thing is useful. Difference isn't weakness. It's a gift — said by the child about themselves, not said at them by an adult.
Step 4
One step, before they leave the room
Nobody goes home with a feeling. Each child says one specific thing they will do before the next session, and the leader asks them about it by name the following week. That follow-up is the part that makes it stick.

Lonoke County is one of 75 counties in Arkansas. Every one of them has congregations, co-ops and schools running children’s programs off whatever they could find, and almost none of them have compared notes.

Every child in the room, in Lonoke County

The reason book six sits at the centre of this campaign is the sentence on its cover. A child who cannot sit still, cannot speak, cannot read yet, or cannot cope with the noise is not a problem the hour has to survive — the hour is what has to change. Families in Lonoke County who left a children’s program rarely left in a temper. They left quietly after the third hard Sunday and assumed it was their fault.

Special needs ministry in Lonoke County · Sensory-friendly services · Start a buddy program

The rules that make it work

The story carries the value, the church supplies the doctrine

Ellis Abel is a character series. It teaches faith as perseverance and stops where doctrine begins, so a parish, a Baptist club and a co-op can all run it beside their own teaching.

Difference isn't weakness

The line on the cover of book six is the operating policy, not a slogan. A child whose participation looks different is participating.

Faith is a decision, not a mood

Children are told to feel confident and cannot make themselves. They can decide to take one more step, and that is teachable, repeatable and honest.

Volunteers are the constraint

Every session is written for an adult who was handed it the night before. Questions written out, timing in the margin, and a note for when nobody answers.