Faithful Families Resources January 25 2015

“The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”

~John Wooden

Family Closeness

Game:

I went to the shop....

This game involves creating and remembering gestures. The person says "I went to the shop and bought a …” here instead of saying something they make up a gesture with head, face or hand (eg. head shake, nose rub, hand shake, nod of the head, frown)" Then it is the next persons turn who says: I went to the shop and bought a ...(copy the first gesture) and a (creates own gesture). The game carries on with all players repeating all of the previous players gestures and then their own.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

(In the next few weeks we are going to have a focus on parents answering some questions. No doubt when the weekly question is answered, children will have more questions. The question is asked of the child but the parent might need to answer.)

• Do you know what makes your mother and father happiest?
• Do you know what your parents first job was?
• Do you know what lessons your parents learnt from their parents?

Story

With your family read: Mark 1.21-28

Questions for Discussion:

(Some questions are best answered by parents – but older children may understand)

What amazed people about Jesus teaching in the synagogue?

What does it mean to teach with authority?

Who did the unclean spirit say Jesus was?

How did Jesus show he had authority over unclean spirits?

 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.

Song

Psalm 100:1-2 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Singing is a wonderful way to pray and allows us to give true heart to our thoughts and feelings about God. Sing a worship song from church or find a CD with wonderful worship music to play and sing to. I have found the songs from the Iona Community in Scotland to be particularly good for songs as prayer. They are easy for children to learn and can be sung around the dinner table without musical accompaniment. Christian stores sell many CD’s of children’s music and often these have wonderful songs that children will enjoy learning and singing.

Family Time

Games Night

Have a night entirely dedicated to games. Games books can be found in any book store or make up your own. You can also find a bunch of games that are easy to play in this blog. Alternatively pull out some board games to play- our favourite is Pictionary. 

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning