Weekly Inspiration
A man should never neglect his family
for business.
~Walt
Disney
Family Closeness
Game:
No Yes or No
This is a simple but fun game that can be played
around the dinner table. One person is up and must answer questions from the
rest of the family without saying the words “yes” or “no”. It is the task of
everyone else to get them to say these words. Questions can be asked by anyone
in random order or a particular family member may be given the chance to try
and trick the one who is up.
Sharing:
Questions for
stimulating discussion in your family.
- Who are your three best friends?
- How did you first meet them?
- Did it take long for you to become friends?
- Why do you like about them?
- What does it mean to be a friend? What does it mean to be a good friend?
With your family read: John 1.43-51
Questions
for Discussion:
- Why did Philip want to find Nathanael?
- What was Nathanael’s reaction to Philip’s news?
- Does Nathanael come to believe when he meets Jesus?
- How can we introduce our friends to Jesus?
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.
Joshua 1.1-18 Joshua
succeeds Moses
Joshua 3 Israel crosses the Jordan
Joshua 4 Twelve memorial stones
Joshua 5.13-6.20 The
fall of Jericho
Judges 2.6-3.6 Israel’s disobedience.
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.
Intercession
1 Timothy
2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for all people.
The natural result of watching, and asking God what
he desires us to pray for is intercession.
This is a very simple type of prayer to teach
children. It is basically asking God for the needs of others. This might be
done is a variety of ways in the home. The various things your family has
identified as needing prayer could be written on slips of paper and placed in a
bowl. Family members then take a slip out of the bowl and pray for the thing
written on the paper. Alternatively a prayer board – either a cork board or
white board – might be created to pin up or write down the things that need
prayer as they come up during the week. This can then be used as a reference
for when the family prays.
Service
Clean up a
park or your neighbourhood
One simple way
of serving your local community is to spend some time picking up rubbish in a
local park or in your neighbourhood. This is a wonderful way to teach children
about Christian stewardship of the earth. Have a conversation about how as
followers of Jesus we are to live as
Jesus kingdom has come and this means being part of the restoration of the
earth. You might also like to talk about how we should do good even when it
cannot be seen by others.
(In some places it may not be safe for
children or adults to collect rubbish because of needles or other dangerous
items. An assessment of this needs to be made in your area and appropriate
safety precautions (gloves etc) employed or the decision to do something else.
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
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