Getting our Bearings, Coordinates and Course Heading for Kids

Deuteronomy 6:5-7



"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."



Bringing our faith, prayer and practice to our children within the church will impact their lives as well as the lives of others. But how we do this has certainly changed over the years. We now have the best technology along with the best teaching strategies based on children's learning styles than we have ever had in the past. Yet, there might be something missing.



Who really should be leading the children spiritually on a daily basis? A new (but probably very old) shift in children's ministry could very well impact the lives of every child and every family touched by a children's ministry based on feeding our children's hungry hearts each day at home with their families. Brian Haynes talks about this in his new book "Shift" where he speaks about bringing families together to spiritually equip this next generation. We could do this with our children in our families today.



"God Sightings" is one way. They can be easily explained by encouraging family members to develop a sense of God's loving presence in our every day lives. Examples may be looking for God's love at a sporting event or simply placing a fun treat and a note on a family member's pillow.





Also, planning time for intentional "Faith Talks" where a time is set aside for weekly conversations based on Scripture. It may be "family devotions" around the fireplace or a walk in the snowy woods, or other creative times...even a trip to Walmart. You can talk about your God Sightings on these journeys and pray and praise God for what He has done.



Through our Sunday evening programs, and studies, I hope to provide scripture and guidelines based on our evening Bible studies that will provide a plan and outline for God Sightings and Faith Talks.



Other events, such as our Fun Fest Survivor Night and Easter Caroling will provide many opportunities to have material for leading weekly Faith Talks with the family.



Our bearings-Scripture, our coordinates-God Sightings, and our Course-Faith Talks with prayer can be possible.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/user/FaithInkubators#p/u/1/IPk0x3DzJnA

Song "Keep These Words" from Deuteronomy 6 Oh yeah! The kids will like this and you will also.

God Provides Every Day

God does provide for us every day. As I was reading my Bible study, I also picked up The Upper Room to read their devotional. The “The Thought For the Day” will help us as we worship in our homes today because of our church cancelation. The thought “If we pay attention, moments in every day will call us to worship.” We can use such a devotional, which is available to us to pick up at the church or online.
On a kid’s level, we can use this devotional to emphasize that we need to stop and see God ‘s presence every day. Our joy and enthusiasm for worshipping God can be seen every day.
The scripture is from Exodus 33:10 and the devotional from The Upper Room (can be your devotional).

God Sighting Activity that could last through your week.
1. At lunch or dinner, give every other, or just one family member an extra cookie, extra large helping of the “favorite food”, piece of candy, etc. Look up Timothy 6:18 and read aloud. How can we live out this verse at dinner this evening? When one shares their portion, talk about how God is working through us in generosity. When we see generosity, it is a true God Sighting and way to worship God through our generosity. Just as the Israelites recognized God’s presence and celebrated in worship. We can do the same.

This did not take any preparation, only a daily Bible Reading, a Bible, prayer and your time at a meal. (could be McDonalds, Burger King, or at your dinner table.)

http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/email/


If you want to save a tree, you can subscribe to the devotions online (takes 10 seconds) at this address. I’ll provide the Adult-Child Connection on the Blog. This seems to be a possible way to tie adult and child focus together. If you have another idea-send it on! I’m soooo open to doing whatever will work for busy families today.

http://kids4jesus.biz/Sign-Language.php

Great site with a cool song with sign language for kids. Check it out.