Dear families,
As we all struggle to process what is happening in the World at the moment, I wanted to email to reassure you all that as a church we are trying to think creatively about how we can support you with your children at home.
As we all struggle to process what is happening in the World at the moment, I wanted to email to reassure you all that as a church we are trying to think creatively about how we can support you with your children at home.
First of all, amidst all the difficult implications of what is
happening, let me encourage you to see some of the blessings that the Lord
might bring in our families at this time:
1) More time together! I know it might seem obvious, but this extra time is a GIFT from our heavenly father that we might take time to 'train our children in the way they should go' (Proverbs 22v6). The bible is clear that as parents, our primary responsibility towards our kids is to teach them about the Lord and show them what it means to live lives that glorify Him. In order to train our kids effectively, we need to KNOW them – know their struggles, know the idols their heart is tempted towards worshipping, know their dreams and fears. Then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can seek to lead our kids to the bits of the bible they most need to understand. In the mad bustle of normal life, we often miss out on really getting to know the kids the Lord has given us… without the pressure of school, let's take the time to enjoy getting to KNOW our kids well!
1) More time together! I know it might seem obvious, but this extra time is a GIFT from our heavenly father that we might take time to 'train our children in the way they should go' (Proverbs 22v6). The bible is clear that as parents, our primary responsibility towards our kids is to teach them about the Lord and show them what it means to live lives that glorify Him. In order to train our kids effectively, we need to KNOW them – know their struggles, know the idols their heart is tempted towards worshipping, know their dreams and fears. Then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can seek to lead our kids to the bits of the bible they most need to understand. In the mad bustle of normal life, we often miss out on really getting to know the kids the Lord has given us… without the pressure of school, let's take the time to enjoy getting to KNOW our kids well!
2) More
time to store up God's word in our hearts. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9
we read:
4 Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength. 6 These
commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress
them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk
along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie
them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write
them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
This gift of time that we now have ahead of us with many of us
working from home and with our children off school is a wonderful time to put
these verses into practice – whatever activities we're doing with them, let's
talk about the Lord and all the treasures we find in His wonderful word! And
let's memorise bible verses! (see below!)
3) More
time to show love. When there are scheduled activities taking
up every free moment, we often miss the little ways we can show God's love to
others. We can't go and visit people at the moment, so we're going to have to
think creatively about how to do this as a family. Take time to skype lonely
older relatives, write cards to post through the doors of people who are having
to stay in their homes… I'm sure you'll think of other ways to train our kids
to reach out in love to those outside our immediate household!
Emmanuel Canterbury https://www.emmanuelcanterbury.org.uk/
Kids on Sundays
During this time when we are not able to meet together
physically as a church, each Sunday there will be a kids talk as part of the
zoom Sunday service (visit https://www.emmanuelcanterbury.org.uk/ for details on how to join the Sunday service - everyone is welcome!).
Each kids talk will contain a memory verse for the week.
The kids talks will be recorded and posted on this blog, so you can watch it again if you'd like to! Also, on this
new kids@Emmanuel blog, there will be a few short questions for you to discuss as a
family following on from the kids talk. There will also be some suggestions for
activities you could do to apply that verse this week and some ideas for how
you might pray together in the light of what we've learnt. I will also put some
ideas for creative ways you might learn the weekly verse together.
I also hope to put some links to other useful Christian
resources and songs that you might enjoy using at home.
I know many of you will be wondering about Sunday school
during this season.
We did investigate ways that technology might enable us to
continue with Sunday school. However, after discussion and prayer, we have
decided that this unique season in our church life provides us as families with
a unique chance to enjoy being together in a full church service. Your
microphone can be muted and your children can play lego, do some colouring or
puzzles to keep them entertained while you all listen to the service together.
This is a wonderful chance for our children to see us listening and learning
from God's word. They will see us pray. They will see us reading our bibles –
and they will get to participate too and get used to hearing the word of God
explained in detail. Obviously, much of the teaching will be too advanced for
them to take in, but they might grasp more than we anticipate! But even if they
just play and it all goes over their heads, there is still something very
beautiful about the whole family doing church together.
Kids midweek
As well as the discussion questions and activities following
from the kids talk each week, we are also going to have one midweek kids group…
On Wednesday mornings at 10:30am, we will launch Zoom Junior Jivers
that I will run from my house, with my kids! This will be a half hour singing
and dancing class that will go out using zoom technology that we can invite non
Christian and Christian friends to join. You can either join in 'live' at
10:30am on Wednesdays, or the classes will be recorded and available for you to
use at another time if you prefer (keep an eye on this blog for details on how to join!).
As many of you know, we launched a physical Junior Jivers group
a few weeks ago. This term, our theme is 'God made me'.
I plan to record the 3 initial sessions we have already done so
that those of you who have not been able to join us before can catch up (if you
don't have time to catch up before Weds, don't worry, you can do them at any
time – each session stands alone!). You will be able to play these sessions
from this blog once they have been recorded and uploaded! Keep an eye on this page!
Some weeks there might be a craft activity (this week, we're making a loo
roll shaker with this week's memory verse on it... video instructions due to be uploaded shortly!) for you to prepare before
Jivers on Wednesday!
One further thing!
I have written a short booklet for children trying to think about the
coronavirus. Once this has been edited, I will post it here for you to go
through with your children. I hope it helps you to discuss and pray through
what we're all experiencing in your families – and do feel free to share it
with anyone else you think might find it helpful too!
I hope this helps to alleviate any sense of anxiety any of you
might have had. Our God is in control of this whole situation. Let's find the
whispers of His love and delight to have this unexpected gift of more time…
let's USE this time wisely in our families and homes to the praise of His
glory!
Every blessing in our wonderful Saviour who has given us HOPE…
Nicci (Emmanuel church children and families worker)
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