| Child Discipleship Family Friday Emails
Awana’s Child Discipleship ministry offers a weekly Family Discipleship resource, Family Friday emails. These mailings provide families with a short devotion and scripture along with talking points and conversation starters. Coming right to your inbox, these emails are a great resource for families to walk through together and parents- it’s all right there provided for you! Check it out today and sign up for their emails!
Homeschool Support
Attention homeschooling families! Would you be interested in a homeschool group right here in the West Branch area? With several homeschooling families in our church and others who are considering it for the future, we want to support and provide opportunities for you. If you have any interest in homeschool support, whether navigating the “how-to’s”, attending events and field trips, or opportunities for your child to learn from professionals, please respond to this email to indicate your interest and let us know what would be helpful for you. Talk to Vicky Albert or Jordyn Skacel if you have questions!
Challenge 2026
 Challenge is a biennial youth conference hosted by our national denomination, the EFCA. Teens from around the country will gather to worship, learn, serve, and have a blast in Kansas City, MO this July 11-14. Registration is now open for all students grades 6 and up, including seniors. Talk to Cody or Holly Crumrine if interested and secure your spot by March 15th!
Egg Hunt at the Ark Park 2026
This year’s Egg Hunt at the Ark Park is Saturday, April 4th at 10:00am! We are currently accepting donations of candy for the eggs along with prizes. Drop any donations under the table in the foyer!
This Week’s Challenge: Practicing Generosity
Do you encourage your kids to practice generosity? Do you model that for them, giving them a glimpse into ways that you give generously? This week’s challenge is a simple way to help your kids (and yourself!) practice generosity. The challenge is to have your kids pick one or more items out at the grocery store and have them bring them to church and put them in the Lanse Free Fridge. This is a very practical way to teach your kids about helping those who need it, and it stocks up the fridge for use by the community!
“The Prophet Malachi” Kids Bible Class Devotional
 You have free access to a family devotional based on the curriculum our kids are studying each week in KBC! It’s called “The Gospel Project at Home.” Today’s Bible Study is “The Prophet Malachi” (Volume 6: Unit 18: Session 4), and the devotional can be found at this link.
Visit the Family Ministries page on our website for information about how to access The Gospel Project at Home for the first time.
And for Dessert…
Our recommendations for family discipleship this week are three tools for helping your kids to pray for Muslims during their religious month of Ramadan.
Around the world, Muslims are currently observing Ramadan, a holy month for their religion. This year it began around February 18th and ends around March 20th. These 30 days are a great opportunity for Christians to pray for Muslims to come to know Jesus as their Savior. And that also makes it a great opportunity to teach our kids about prayer, missions, other world religions, and loving different people with the gospel. Here are three tools we have recommended before to help you lead your kids in prayer for Muslims again this year:
1. In her helpful short article at Christian Parenting, “Helping your kids engage in Ramadan from a Biblical worldview,” Kate Stevens tells some great stories about how her family has interacted with their Muslim neighbors and also helped their kids to develop a biblical approach to relating to Muslims including meaningful prayer prompts for each of the four weeks of Ramadan:
“Week one: Pray God would give them dreams of who He truly is. Muslims take dreams very seriously, and we know God is over our minds as well.
Week two: Pray that God would build up followers of Jesus during this season. Muslims believe Jesus was real, but they deny His authority and deity.
Week three: Pray for Christians who live in Muslim countries or those who are seeking a life outside of Islam. This is a dangerous season for those who do not celebrate Ramadan but live in a Muslim country. It is always dangerous for those who are pursuing a different faith.
Week four: Pray for your own hearts toward the lost Muslims of the world. There is an estimated 1.9 billion followers of Islam—pray for their eyes to be open to Truth.”
 2. When our (Mitchells’) kids were little, we often used the resources provided by 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World. They produce a guide each year specifically for kids at the preschool and lower elementary levels. I have a copy of the basic one that your family could use.
But you don’t have to buy or use their guide. Your family could simply access their Facebook page or other social media account, look at the daily picture, and start praying away.
3. Back in 2024, I (Pastor Matt) started to utilize the resources of PrayerCast, a ministry of OneWay. PrayerCast has a trove of resources on their website including prayer plans, lessons in how to pray, and mission news from around the world. One of their most powerful offerings is an array of videos featuring different cultures from around the world. Each video focuses on a person from that culture who is a follower of Jesus from that background who leads in prayer for their own people. Check out PrayerCast’s Love Muslims initiative which has 140 free videos! You might want to show your kids some of them this month.
Remember that you don’t have to do anything big or fancy. You just have to lead your family in prayer. Kate Stevens finishes her article by saying, “…for 30 days, keep the Muslims in mind. Building a Biblical worldview of Muslims into your children now will help in not only their own faith journey but also the journey of those who believe differently.”
Imagine how the Lord might use this in our families and around the world!
Jordyn Skacel, Director of Family Ministry
Matt Mitchell, Pastor
P.S. If you, as a parent, want to learn more about Islam from an expert, Pastor Matt highly recommends this lecture series from Timothy Tennent at Biblical Training. Tennent is a seminary professor who formerly served in a Muslim country as a Christian missionary. |
