Faithful Families Resources November 4 2012

Weekly Inspiration

Let no Christian parents fall into the delusion that Sunday School is intended to ease them of their personal duties. The first and most natural condition of things is for Christian parents to train up their own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Family Closeness

Game:

Table Olympics – Part 3

The Olympics finished in London earlier this year but I always have my best ideas…or at least ideas, three months after the event. So over the next few weeks I bring the Olympics to your table with some simple Table Olympics Games. If you have any ideas I would love to see them.

Table Volleyball

All you need for this game is a blown up balloon. How you play depends on how many people you have in your family. If it is only a few then work as team to see how many times you can hit the balloon to keep it in the air without hopping off your seat. No person is allowed to hit it twice in a row. Alternatively play volleyball across the table. Each side of the table is its own team.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family. 

• How do you think your friends would describe you?
• How do you think your family would describe you?
• How would you like to be described?

 Story

With your family read Mark 12.38-44

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/widows_mite.htm

Questions for Discussion:

• What does Jesus say about people who like to show off and have special treatment?
• Why was what the widow put in to the treasury worth more than the rich people?

Prayer and Celebration

 This week learn a new prayer off by heart, together. Write or find a prayer that you can use with your family every night at mealtimes and family sharing times. The prayer does not have to be complicated, but simple enough for everyone to remember. It might include some lines of thanks or praise or asking. Here is on prayer you might learn together.

Lord, behold our family here assembled.

We thank you for this place in which we dwell,

For the love that unites us,

For the peace accorded to us this day,

For the hope with which we expect the morrow;

For the health, the work, the food and the bright skies

That make our lives delightful;

For our friends in all parts of the earth.

Amen.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Family Time

Show and Tell Night

Get each of your family members to share something. It could be a picture they like, a hobby or interest, something they have learned, a joke or story, something they have made or made up, a game or something they found in the back yard.

(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