Family influence on faith development

I hope you are enjoying using faithful families resources with your family. If you found something fun, helpful or useful let us know about it in the comments section of the resource post. We would love to hear how your family is using this resource.  Any ideas for future posts would also be welcomed.

Here is a mid week post with some info on family faith development. So as not to entirely displace the weekly resources from the top of the page I have set up a sister blog for extra posts.

http://faithful-families-extra.blogspot.com/

Hope you find it helpful. God blessings to you and your family.

Stephen

Faithful Families Resources March 28th 2011

Weekly Inspiration

Children Are Like Kites

You spend years trying to get them off the ground.

You run with them until you are both breathless. They crash ... they hit the roof ... you patch, comfort and assure them that someday they will fly.

Finally, they are airborne.

They need more string, and you keep letting it out.

They tug, and with each twist of the twine, there is sadness that goes with joy.

The kite becomes more distant, and you know it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that binds you together and will soar as meant to soar ... free and alone.

Only then do you know that you have done your job.

http://www.inspirationalstories.com/5/553.html

Story

With your family read John 9.1-38: Jesus heals a man born blind.

(with younger children you might like to end the reading at verse 11)

Questions for Discussion: 

• What did the disciples think caused the man’s blindness?
• What did Jesus put on the man’s eyes before he was healed?
• Why did the Pharisee’s find it so hard to believe the man was healed?
• What do you think Jesus meant when he said “I am the light of the world?”

•  Discuss with your family what was interesting about the story or what made you think. What did the story tell us about Jesus? Try using some “ I wonders” that emerge from the story.(I wonder how the blind man felt when he was healed? I wonder what he thought about the Pharisees questions?  I wonder what it would be like to see for the first time?)

 For 51 years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn't see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see. A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had sight. He found it overwhelming. "I never would have dreamed that yellow is so...yellow," he exclaimed. "I don't have the words. I am amazed by yellow. But red is my favorite color. I just can't believe red. I can see the shape of the moon--and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail. And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is." (Max Lucado. God came near)

Prayer and Celebration

Prayer Pot

Cards are made, and on them are the names of people and things that are really important to the family.  It may just be photos of family members; it may include particular projects or things that have a focus in the family, for example a certain missionary, or World Vision child, or a major event coming up, or particular people who are in need of special prayers. These cards are placed in a special bowl or pot.  On any one night, three cards are taken out and used as prompts for conversation or prayer. Children who are learning to pray might be given sentence starters like:

• Lord Jesus, thank you for...
• Creator God, please help...
• Heavenly Father, in your hands we place...

 Service

One of the profoundest ways that we might share our love of Christ and our love of life with others is not through words but through our loving actions. Here are some suggestions for your family to share with those who live around you.

• Invite another family who you are friendly with to church followed by a BBQ.
• Bake something for your neighbours – maybe biscuits or a cake. (Do you know your neighbours? Where I live I have had six sets of neighbours on one side in the space of five years.)
• When you see people moving in why not invite them over for some food or take a cake or biscuits over to them or some cold drinks.
• If you know of an elderly or chronically ill person who is having difficulty with their garden why not get your family to adopt them. That is, regularly as a family go and mow the grass, weed, clean up and maybe plant some flowers.

Family Closeness

One way to develop family closeness is to have an intentional family night. A pattern may be used such as this: 

• Game
• Sharing
• Story with Discussion/Questions
• Activity
• Prayer 

Using the resources provided above and below would enable you to have a family night once a week.

Games:

The Theme Song Game One person hums the tune to a favourite TV show or song and everyone else has to guess what it is. Whoever guesses gets to go next.

Alphabet Soup Game. Grab a packet of alphabet soup. With your family find the letters to spell out the Lord’s Prayer together, or the names of the four gospels. Alternatively have a race to spell your names or some other words. This game works best when the alphabet soup has been soaked in water. Messy but fun. 

Sharing:

These questions are to stimulate a sense of openness, sharing and discovery about your family. The key is to listen!!

• What is your favourite time of the day? What makes it special? Do you have a favourite place to be during the day? Why do you like it? What is your favourite place in the whole world to be? What makes it special?
• Have you ever wondered how lead is put inside a pencil? How do you think it is done? Do you really care? What ordinary things have you ever wondered about?
• What is the best gift you have ever received? Who gave it to you? What was it for? Why did you like it so much? 

Write down these sentence starters and put them in a bowl. Pick one out each night and ask your family members to complete the sentence.

• If I could ask God any question it would be...
• I often wonder if God…
• If God could say something to me it would be… 

Bonus Family Fun Activity

This week why not get your children to help you cook a meal or something special like a cake or biscuits. It could be as simple as putting the toppings on a pizza or mixing something in a bowl. With older children why not get them to help you make something more complex. Make it a fun time, put some music on and don’t worry too much about mess. Enjoy eating whatever it is you cooked together.

Well, we hope you found these resources useful. Have a fantastic week as you grow in loving and sharing with your family. 


May the joy and love and peace of Christ fill your home. 


 Stephen Harrison 

(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

Faithful Families Resources March 21st 2011

Weekly Inspiration

One day an expert was speaking to a group of students on time management and he used this illustration. Firstly he took out a wide mouthed jar, then he produced about a dozen large rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes." Then he said, "Really?"  He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel.  Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he smiled and asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was onto him.  "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!"  He replied.  And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand.  He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.  Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!"  The class shouted.  Once again he said, "Good!"   Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim.  Then he looked up at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!" "No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point.  The truth this illustration teaches is this: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."

Story

With your family read John 4.5-15: The Samaritan Woman at the Well

Questions for Discussion:

• Why was the woman surprised Jesus asked her for a drink?
• Why is water so important?
• What is the living water Jesus talks about? Any ideas?
• Why is what Jesus offers us – life in the Spirit and eternal life – so important?

 [Help for parents: The living water Jesus talks about refers to all the things that flow from faith in Jesus. These include the gifts of grace and the Holy Spirit. Both these things lead to life and life everlasting. Just as water gives us physical life – the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life, dwelling within us and making us into a new creation.]

 After giving a woman a full medical examination, the doctor explained his prescription as he wrote it out. "Take the green pill with a glass of water when you get up. Take the blue pill with a glass of water after lunch. Then just before going to bed, take the red pill with another glass of water." "Exactly what is my problem, Doctor?" the woman asked.

"You're not drinking enough water."

Prayer and Celebration

This week is a continuation of last week’s prayer focus. Learn a 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. Make it an activity that you do together. 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. Supplied here are a few prayers that you could start from or use. If your family does not know the Lord’s Prayer it would be a fantastic time to learn it together.

If you have learnt a prayer ask your children to lead it this week.

Here are a few other prayers you could learn this week.

All that we have,

is all a gift.

It comes, O God, from you;

And for these we give you thanks.  Amen.

For all we eat, and all we wear,

For daily bread, and nightly care,

we give you thanks O Lord our God.  Amen.

Service

Many churches have a food pantry for people in need. When you go shopping, especially if you take your children shopping, invite them to choose an item to place in the food hamper. It doesn’t matter if they choose something that you might not think appropriate...like coco pops...even people in need like coco pops.

Family Closeness

One way to develop family closeness is to have an intentional family night. A pattern may be used such as this:

Game

Sharing

Story with Discussion/Questions

Activity

Prayer

Using the resources provided above and below would enable you to have a family night once a week.

Game:

What is it? Select 20 objects from around the house. Wrap them in cloth – any old scrap will do – and attach numbers to each. Try to figure out what each object is. (Youth Ministry Encyclopaedia. Lyman Coleman. JBCE)

Celebrity Heads. This is an easy game to play. Write the name of a  different person or place onto a piece of paper taped to the head of your family. They then have to take turns asking questions that can only be answered yes or no to find out who they are.

Sharing:

These questions are to stimulate a sense of openness, sharing and discovery about your family. The key is to listen!!

A question to discuss with your children (4-8)

• Your teacher asks who spilled juice during snack time. You did. Do you tell?

A question to discuss with your youngsters (ages 9-12)

• You find five dollars on the pavement near school. What do you do with the money?

A question to discuss with your teenagers.

• Your friend got a copy of the answers to the questions on tomorrows math test and offers them to you. Do you take them? Why? Why not? What do you say to your friend?

Write down these sentence starters and put them in a bowl. Pick one out each night and ask your family members to complete the sentence.

• I know God loves me because…
• I’m glad that God…
• I wish God would…

Bonus Family Fun Activity

The Bag that’s me. Create a paper bag collage out of newspaper or magazine cuttings. Paste on the outside of the paper bag any cuttings that symbolise how you appear on the outside. Put inside the paper bag any symbols that reveal who you are on the inside. Spend ten minutes tearing out things from a magazine – words, photographs, slogans – anything the reminds you of yourself. Then take about five minutes pasting your cuttings on the outside or inside of your paper bag. Share with your family what is on the outside and inside of your bag. Children can just use pictures of things that they like. (Youth Ministry Encyclopaedia. JBCE)

Well, we hope you found these resources useful. Have a fantastic week  as you grow in loving and sharing with your family. May the joy and love and peace of Christ fill your home.

Stephen Harrison

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning:  An Unless Ideas Production)

Faithful Families Resources March 14th 2011

Weekly Inspiration

A mother, father and their seven year old daughter were seated in a restaurant. The waitress first took the order from the adults, and then, she turned to the little girl. “What will you have?” she asked. The little girl looked timidly at her parents and then said to the waitress, “I’ll have a hot dog on a bun.” “No hot dog,” said her mother. “She’ll have a nice piece of roasted chicken.” “With mashed potatoes and vegetables,” added her father. The waitress kept looking straight at the little girl and she asked, “Would you like tomato sauce or mustard on your hot dog?” “Mustard, please,” replied the little girl. “Coming right up,” said the waitress, as she headed to the kitchen. The family sat in stunned silence. Finally the little girl looked at her parents and said, ‘You know what? She thinks that I am real!”

Story

With your family read John 3.1-17: Nicodemus Visits Jesus

Questions for Discussion:

• Why do you think Nicodemus might have visited Jesus at night?
• What do you think Jesus meant by being born anew or born from above?
• What might it mean to be changed into a child of God?
• When you are in trouble do you prefer someone to help you or tell you what you are doing wrong?

Two caterpillars were sitting on a cabbage leaf having a chat. Suddenly, they heard a loud swishing sound, and looking up, saw a beautiful butterfly flying overhead. The first caterpillar looked at the other, shook his head and said, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things.”

Prayer and Celebration

This week learn a 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. Make it an activity that you do together. 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. Supplied here are a few prayers that you could start from or use. If your family does not know the Lord’s Prayer it would be a fantastic time to learn it together. (On the right hand side of this blog is a weekly verse of scripture which you might also like to get your family to memorise together.)

Dear God,

Thank you for your love and care.

Thank you for the food we share.

Help us show your love today.

In all we do and think and say.

In Jesus name we pray.  Amen.         

For food in a world where many walk in hunger;

For faith in a world where many walk in fear;

For friends in a world where many walk alone;

We give you thanks, O Lord. Amen.

(Source: Huron Hunger Fund, Anglican Church of Canada)

Service

There are many ways to entrench patterns of compassion, thoughtfulness and care for others into our family life.  Our children should have significant memories of kindness and generous acts of faithful serving.  These should be spontaneous as well as constructed events.

Examples of this include:

• Connecting with a local service [aged care home meals on wheels, service for disabled, animal welfare league, local conservation group, rural fire brigade, S.E.S. etc etc], volunteering as a family.
• Adopting a special person in the community or neighbourhood and engaging in regular patterns of care. One organisation that helps people and families connect with others in the community is FSG. Their  community connectors and host family programs are particularly good in this area – check out their web page http://www.fsg.org.au/pages/volunteers.php

Family Closeness

One way to develop family closeness is to have an intentional family night. A pattern may be used such as this:

Game.

Sharing.

Story with Discussion/Questions.

Activity.

Prayer.

Using the resources provided above and below would enable you to have a family night once a week.

Games

Emotions. Everyone shuts their eyes and someone calls out an emotion (joy, sorrow, happiness). Everyone tries to portray this emotion through facial expression. When the caller says open, everyone must open their eyes to see each other’s expression.

My Grandmothers Trunk. Someone starts by completing this sentence with an object  that begins with the letter A, My grandmother keeps _____ in her trunk.” The next person completes the sentence repeating the A word and adding a word that starts with B. This continues around the circle, each person repeating what the others said and adding another with the next letter of the alphabet. (Youth Ministry Encyclopaedia. Lyman Coleman. JBCE)

Sharing

These questions are to stimulate a sense of openness, sharing and discovery about your family. The key is to listen!!

• What is the best thing and the worst thing that happened to you this week? 
• What is something that you need to ask God for this week?

•  If you could be any character from a book or TV who would you be? Why? What character on TV do you think you are most like? In what ways? What TV character do you think your family members are most like? 

Who is someone you admire in real life? What is it about them you like?

Bonus Family Fun Activity

Candlelight Talk: Turn off all the lights and sit with your family. Discuss what it might be like living in the dark. What might some of the problems be? Light a candle and talk about how one of the names for God is light. Ask, “What difference does lighting this candle make to our room?” Talk about the difference knowing God makes in your life. (Adventures for Growing Families. Wes & Sheryl Haystead)

  

Well, we hope you found these resources useful. Have a fantastic week

as you grow in loving and sharing with your family. May the joy and love and peace of Christ fill your home.

Stephen Harrison

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning:  An Unless Ideas Production)

Faithful Families Resources March 7th 2011

Weekly Inspiration

Appreciate every moment with your children.   Don't wish their childhood away.

One hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, or what kind of house you lived in, or how many books you wrote, or what your clothes looked like.

But the world may be a little better because you were important in the life of a child.

Anon

Story

Read Matthew 4:1–11 : The Temptation of Jesus

[You can use this website to look up Bible passages - the Contemporary English Version is particularly good for children: http://www.biblegateway.com/ 

Questions for Discussion:

• What things tempt you the most? When is it hard to resist temptation?
• What were the three things that the Devil wanted to tempt Jesus with?
• How did Jesus respond to each temptation? What can this teach us about how to respond when we are tempted?

A man was selling strawberries door to door. He knocked on one door and a woman answered. She decided to buy a kilo of strawberries and so the man gave her the basket to take into her house and weigh out a kilo. The woman said to the man: “Don’t you want to come and watch me weigh the strawberries.” “No” said the man. The woman replied “But what if I take more than a kilo” “Well” said the man “You’d be getting the worst deal” “Whatta ya mean’ asked the woman. “”I’d be getting the worst deal” “Well” said the man “ I might lose a few strawberries, but you’d become a liar and a thief.” (Golden Rules. W Dosick)

Prayer and Celebration

One way to pray is to use "squeezy prayers" Everyone holds hands in a circle. An adult will begin the prayer. When they have finished they  squeeze the persons hand next to them to show it is their turn. They  may pray out loud, or silently, or may squeeze on to the next person.  When the squeeze has reached the starting person they may say another closing prayer or just: Amen.

Here are suggestions for ways of using the squeezy prayer:

• Using a squeezy prayer ask God for something that is needed in the world…like peace,or understanding or for help in a particular problem in the world.
• Using a squeezy prayer say thank you for a good friend or friends. Say them by name and even say something you like about them.
• Using a squeezy prayer say thank you for something that you are good at. A gift God has given you.

Service

One of the most basic ways to get your family involved in serving in the world is to sponsor a child. There are a range of organisations that provide the means for sponsoring children including:

World Vision - http://www.worldvision.com.au

Compassion - http://www.compassion.com.au

This provides a great opportunity to children to think about how other children in the world live. This can provide a focal point for be thankful for all they have and for helping through giving and prayer. Children if they are given pocket money may be encouraged to give a portion of it back to parents as their contribution to sponsoring the child.

Family Closeness

One way to develop family closeness is to have an intentional family night. A pattern may be used such as this:

1. Game.
2. Sharing.
3. Story with Discussion/Questions.
4. Activity.
5. Prayer.

 Using the resources provided above and below would enable you to have a family night once a week.

Game:

Alliteration Pick a letter at random. Go around your family taking turns to say a different word beginning with that letter. Go around as many times as you can. Stop only when a word is repeated or you can’t think of any more. (New Games for Community. C Gapes)

Sharing:

These questions are to stimulate a sense of openness, sharing and discovery about your family. The key is to listen!!

• What is the best thing and the worst thing that happened to you this week. What is something that you might say thank you to God for this week? (One for the adults particularly to share: Where have you been aware of God’s presence in your life this week. What “God moments” happened to you this week?)
• What is one thing you think you are good at? Tell the members of your family something you think they are good at.

Bonus Family Fun Activity

Use an old newspapers to make costumes for your family. Have a fashion parade and take some photos. Make “formal dress” and wear them to the table for a special dinner.

[Having trouble playing?  When Jesus said we must change and become like children, he could have meant many things.  One of them surely is about playing.  Play is a serious way of being together and learning together.  This is the principle activity through which children learn and grow.  A corollary to that is laughter.  The God who brings laughter [see Sarah’s words in Genesis 21.6] speaks through Jesus and tells us to change and . . . play like children? So let go, have fun, and live life with enthusiasm]

(Living faithfully, simply - Richard Browning)

Well, we hope you found these resources useful. Have a fantastic week

as you grow in loving and sharing with your family. May the joy and love and peace of Christ fill your home.

Stephen Harrison

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning:  An Unless Ideas Production)

How to use faithful families resources

So each week a pile of different ideas and resources get dumped on this blog. The purpose is to help you be faithful in nurturing the faith life of your children and family. But how do you use these ideas? Here are three simple ideas.

Table Time

When you eat at the dinner table during the week get in the habit of praying together, reading a passage of the Bible and discussing it. You might even like to play some of the short games together at the end of the meal. Creative resources for doing each of these are provided.

Family Night

One night a week set aside some time way to have an intentional family night. A pattern may be used such as this:

1. Game.
2. Sharing.
3. Story with Discussion/Questions.
4. Activity.
5. Prayer 

Resources to do each of these things can be found in the weekly faithful families blog.

Use one idea

Each week there will be different ideas that you can integrate into your daily life to build in patterns of family faithfulness. These could be:

• Sharing questions in the car.
• Praying before school.
• Reading the Bible at bed.
• Planning a way of serving together as a family.

 Take one idea that you think your family could do and plan to do for a week or two...or longer. Once you’ve mastered one idea add a second.