Faithful Families Resources August 9 2015

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 First

Family Closeness

Game:

...a few of my favourite things

Everyone  at the dinner table says five of their favourite things. This could be a  favourite colour, number, tv show, movies, animal, friend, toy, food, book. The following night you can test your memory and see if you can remember the 5 favourite things that all the family members told you the previous evening.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

•  If you could be any animal, what animal would you be? Why?
• What is the bravest thing you have ever done?
• Have you ever wanted to grow up faster? Why? What is good about the age you are now? What would be good about being older?

 Story

With your family read John 6.51-58

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/bread-of-life.html

Questions for Discussion:

• What upset the people listening to Jesus?
• What do we get from eating Jesus body and blood?

Prayer and Celebration

Intercessory Prayer

A useful image used for intercessory prayer is a stretcher.  From Mark 2.3-12, some people lowered their paralytic friend through the roof into the presence of Jesus.  This is a good image of the work of intercessory prayer.  That is, don’t labour too hard with the words  to use, simply do the hard work of placing or ‘lowering’ the person into the presence of Jesus.

Place on the stretcher, someone you know who needs help.

Silence

Lower on the stretcher someone who you can love better this week.

Silence

Put onto the stretcher a place that needs peace.

Silence

Put onto the stretcher one who needs healing.

Silence

Put on the stretcher a hope of yours for your life.

Silence

Lord in your mercy, receive our prayer.

Family Time

Family Time Line

To help your family think about good things God has  given you, work together to make a family time line. Draw a line in the centre of a long sheet of paper. Choose a starting date to write at the left end of the line. Your time line may cover a week, a one  month period, or the school holidays, or a year. To help family members think of time line events, ask questions such as: "What was something we did that we really enjoyed? How did someone help us in a special way? Who are some new friends our family made?"Display the time line on a wall or door. Allow younger children to enjoy drawing pictures to illustrate the time line. (Adventures for Growing Families. Wes & Sheryl Haystead.)

(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