8-14-20 This Week in Faith
/This is a little bit longer Welcome Back to School edition…
Pray for Me 2020 Campaign
In September, we will begin year 2 of the Pray for Me Campaign. This is a great way for our church to pray for our young people, and connect our young people to the adults in our church. Prayer is a powerful means by which God works in the hearts of our kids. And research shows that relationships with multiple adults in the church are one of the strongest indicators of whether or not students will hold on to their faith after high school. Our goal through this campaign is to have every young person, kindergarten through 12 grade, prayed for by someone in our church. Our hope is that you will participate by praying for someone also. Not only is it a privilege for us to pray but an opportunity to fulfill our vows to help each other raise the kids of our church in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You can sign up to continue to pray for your prayer partner from last year, get partnered with someone new, or join the campaign for the first time by CLICKING HERE.
August Memory for Kids
Even though we are not doing Sunday school right now, we want to continue offering monthly memory verses and catechisms for you to work on as a family. We have been choosing our memory verses from different CD’s produced by Seeds Family Worship. The music is a great way for kids [and parents] to get Scripture stuck in their heads. Getting God’s Word into the heads and hearts of our kids is one of the most valuable things we can do for them. This year, we are using their CD I Believe. They are also producing an online family devotional for these verses that you can find HERE. If you don’t already do family devotions, this might be a great place to start.
John 3:36- Click here for the song.
New City Catechism Question 21 and Question 22
Student Ministry Schedule
We are meeting for small groups in the month of August and will reevaluate around Labor Day. The session voted to cancel the church’s retreats for the fall so we will not be going on our annual End of Summer Retreat but we are working on what we might be able to do in town for some extra connection with students.
Middle School- Wednesdays from 6:00-7:00PM at Herman C. Michael Park
High School- Sundays from 6:00-7:00 at Harris Shoals Park
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The Most Important Lesson Parents Teach
“What do you think is the most important thing I want for you in your life?” This is the question this article has inspired me to ask each of my kids this week. I’ll be honest, I’m nervous about their responses. As much as I hope they will answer “To know and follow Jesus for the rest of my life”, I also realize that my desire to communicate so many things to my kids might, sometimes, dilute the most important message I want them to get. What an important admonition to daily, in the midst of all the other things we want to encourage in our kids, keep our greatest desire for them front and center- that we want their lives to be forever changed by the grace and mercy of Jesus for them through the cross.
Click here to read the article by Melissa Kruger.
10 Things to Pray for…
As we begin another school year, Rooted Ministry is producing prayer lists that can help us focus as we pray for students, teachers & schools, and more. There’s also 10 things to pray for Youth workers and I know myself, Madison and the rest of our student ministry leaders would appreciate those too!
Ten Things to Pray for Students
Ten Things to Pray for Teachers, Schools and Leaders
Ten Things to Pray for Youth Ministers
The Blessings of Parenting
Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the stage our kids are in. We long for when they will be more capable of certain things or look back at the way they used to be. But God gives us the opportunity each day to value our kids for who they are right now, even in their limitations. While this article focuses mostly on younger kids, it reminds us of a principle important for parents with kids of all ages. What is God teaching you about your kids, and yourself, through this current season of parenting?
Click here to read the article by Rob and Stephanie Green.
Understanding Teen Anxiety and Depression
As our kids head back to school, anxiety and depression may spike. The statistics are startling for what teenagers are dealing with today. And this article helps us as parents to understand what our teenagers might be facing, while giving us some basic tools for how to respond. Listening with compassion to what they are going through, assuring them they are not alone in these struggles, and working together to find the best treatment are all ways we can respond to help them know we are for them as we face these challenges with them, together.
Click here to read the article by David Murray.
PODCAST: How to Prioritize Family Discipleship, an Interview with Matt Chandler
This is a great interview with some helpful thoughts on parenting in general, and discipling your family in particular. One of the things I’ve thought the most about from this interview is preparing your kids to feel different in the world because of what they believe. Often, one of our greatest hopes for our kids is that they will be accepted and fit in. But the reality is they will not be able to hold to a distinctively Christian faith and practice, and fit comfortably in the mainstream of their peers. This is something that can be shocking if they are not prepared for it, when they realize the beliefs they have been raised with are in the minority within the entertainment they consume and the friends they sit with in class. Yet our hope is that they will be shaped by the gospel much more than the world around them. There are some great reminders of what we can do to pour courage into our kids for the opposition they will inevitable face for their beliefs.
