Faithful Families Resources April 22 2012

Weekly Inspiration

There is an interconnectedness among members that bonds the family, much like mountain climbers who rope themselves together when climbing a mountain, so that if someone should slip or need support, he's held up by the others until he regains his footing.

~ Phil McGraw

Family Closeness

Game

Twenty Questions

Twenty questions is a great game to play at the dinner table and can be adjusted for all ages.

The first person thinks of an object. This could be anything including animals, foods or even TV shows. Younger family members might need easier more concrete objects to guess. Family members ask questions of the first person and they must answer "yes" or "no". The aim of the game is to guess what object the first player is thinking about within twenty questions.

  

Sharing

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

• If I could become a colour, I would be … because
• Something I’d like to do in the future is . . .
• Of my five senses, the one I would most hate to lose is . . . because  . . .

 Story

With your family read: John 10.11-18

Questions for Discussion:

• What does the shepherd do for the sheep?
• How is the good shepherd different to the hired hand?
• If Jesus is our good shepherd what does he do for us?
• What does it mean to you for Jesus to be your shepherd?

Prayer and Celebration

Praying through the Lord’s Pray

The prayer Jesus taught is a great model for how we might pray and how we might teach our children to do so. Each week  we will look at a line of the Lord’s prayer and discover what we can learn about prayer from it.

Give us this day our daily bread.

In this line we are asking God for the things we need in our life.

Discuss with your family the difference between things you want and things you need. Discuss what it means to say "God supplies us with all we need." Talk about why some people don't have what they need and how we can serve God by serving others.

Pray with your family for the things you need, both physical and spiritual. Give thanks for all that you already have.

Service (starting in your home)

Question: how can I give power to the other? One answer: Encourage.

Here are some ways to encourage.

Pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention.

Acknowledge the things that are important to them.

Compliment them on the things they do, “well done . . .”

Say “thank you”.

Seek their advice/opinion/ideas on a matter.

Imitate them. Choose one of their habits / character traits and copy them.

(Contributed by Rev Richard Browning)

Family Time

Bonus Family 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)

(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