Faithful Families Resources September 27 2015

Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.

~ Jim Rohn ~

Family Closeness

Game:

Feely Bag

Get two bags or two old socks. Place identical items in each of the two bags or socks. Some suggested items to use are: bottle caps, cotton balls, small sponge pieces, keys, large buttons, etc. Show your children the two bags and match each set of two items one to one. In this way, the child will see and understand that there are two identical items of each kind. Refill the two bags or socks and give one of the bags containing identical objects to the child. Take one of the objects out of the bag and show it to the child. Tell the child to feel in his bag for an object that is just like the one that you took out of your bag. Remind the child to "feel" not look.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

Opposite Sharing

Brooklyn Lindsey in Opposite Day presents the idea of talking in opposites as a way of helping young people share. In essence this means answering a question the opposite of what you really think.

Using opposites, get your family member to tell you in a few sentences what they really think and feel about:

• Making mistakes
• What makes them happy
• Their favourite hobby

Story

With your family read Mark 10.13-16

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/against_us_or_for_us.htm

Questions for Discussion:

• Why do you think people brought their children to Jesus?
• Why do you think the disciples were telling them not to come?
• What do it mean to receive the kingdom of God like a child?

 Prayer and Celebration

Praying in the moment

Praying in the moment means helping children to learn that God is with them every moment of the day. Whenever you are about to do something significant, whether it is the first day back at school or the start of a  day at a fun park, pause to thank God for all that lies before you and invite Jesus to be with you that day. If it is something hard you are about to do ask God to help you and give you the things you need to confront it.

Family Time

Story Night

Dedicate a night to telling stories. Ask each member to bring and tell a story. This could be something that happened to them, a story they have made up or the retelling of a story that they have read. Stories are not allowed to be read.

(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