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.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Fire and Bread

(Read for your personal devotion the Upper Room Daily Devotional for February 2)Another day of cleansing snow for many of us. Just think, Mountain Lake might actually look like a lake this summer!!! I remember in the 60s when we would be out of school for two weeks at a time because of the wild and wonderful "Nor-Easters" that came our way. Loving that time at home, I would make sure my best friend was "snowed in" at my house. She lived in Dublin on a farm and it was very difficult to travel in that area with the deep snows. We had a blast, sleigh riding on the hill behind our house, making snow forts, and playing Rook and Monopoly in our basement next to a warm fire for hours. It was fantastic!! We always had enough bread and milk,cookies and snacks to sustain all our family and our "surprise guest" (later in life I found out that my parents knew all about our secret plans).
For us, it was not a "wilderness" as the Israelites, but time to enjoy God providing for our every need. The fire and the "manna" kept us comfortable and warm. God gives us that comfort and provisions for our journey in life.

God Sightings for the Kids
1. Light a candle at the dinner table and talk about how God led the Israelites through the wilderness with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.
2. As you snack and eat bread during the day, talk about how God has provided our needs (not necessarily our wants)for the journey through this winter.
3. Play a board game or card game by the fireplace, or with a candle on the table as a reminder of God's warmth and His comfort.
Have a great day!!
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)