Faithful Families Resources January 15 2012

Weekly Inspiration

Fathers (parents) do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6.4

It is easy to become overly authoritarian with children telling them to do what we say without explaining why. This can be a source of exasperation, frustration or anger for them, even if they don’t express it. As parents we must remember that our role is to equip our children to be able to discipline themselves. This means we must train and instruct them in how to live so that they will have the understanding to make the right choices. Part of this involves explaining why we make certain decisions about what they can and can’t do.

Family Closeness

Game:

Actionometer

 One person is chosen to be "it" and asked to leave the room so they can't hear or see what is going on in the room. Family members make up an action for "it" to do when he/she returns.  To begin with it shouldn’t be too complicated (flapping like a bird, running on the spot) but as people get good at the game more difficult actions might be introduced.

Tell "it" to return to the room, he/she has to guess what he/she is supposed to do by performing random actions. The group will clap louder and faster the closer "it" gets to doing the right actions.

  

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

(In the next few weeks we are going to have a focus on parents answering some questions. No doubt when the weekly question is answered, children will have more questions. The question is asked of the child but the parent might need to answer.)

• Do you know the story of how your mother and father met?
• Do you know some of the lessons your parents learnt from good and bad experiences they had during their childhood?

 Story:

With your family read: Mark 1.14-20

Questions for Discussion:

• What are the four things Jesus was saying as he preached?
• What do you think Jesus meant by: “I will make you fish for people” or “I will make you fishers of men”?
• What did the disciples have to leave behind to follow Jesus?
• What might people today need to leave behind to follow Jesus?

 Journey through the Bible

Journey through the Bible will provide five readings each week you can use in order to get a good overview of the full sweep of the story of God and His people. There are a variety of ways you might use these readings. As a parent you might read them to get a better understanding of how the divine drama unfolds. You could read them to your children and discuss them. Some are longer than others and might need to be broken up. It is important that you read them first as some readings you may feel need to be read in a children’s version of the Bible.

Judges 6.1-27                          Call of Gideon

Judges 6.36-7.25                     Gideon defeats Midian          

Judges 13.1-24                        Birth of Samson

Judges 14.1-20                        Samson’s Marriage

Judges 15.1-20                        Samson defeats the Philistines

Prayer and Celebration

12 Types of Prayer

In his book ‘The hour that changes the world’, Dick Eastman outlines twelve different types of prayer . In this miniseries explore the many different types of prayer with your children.

Petition

Matthew 6.11 Give us today our daily bread.

While intercession is asking for others, petition is asking for ourselves. Everything we have comes from God, so it makes sense that we ask God for all the things we need. It might be helpful to discuss with children the difference between the things we want and the things we need. While it is okay to ask God for things we want and don’t need it is wise to remember that God knows what is best for each of us. Remind children that it is not only physical things we might pray for but also the needs we have inside ourselves or help with the problems we are having in daily life.

Service

Sometime it can be hard to know what service activities your families might do in your community. A good place to start asking is those organisations in your area that are already helping those in need. This should include your church but shouldn’t stop there. Many churches have unfortunately become disconnected from the needy in their neighbourhood. Asking people in local service agencies what you might do can be very helpful. In particular you might find something that needs to be done that no one else is doing.

Family Time

An Amazing Food Night

Have a special food night where you either cook all the food that your family members love or try some exotic foods that your family may never have tried before.

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning