The Family Table
Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families
TFT: The Threat of Porn
October 15, 2023
Dear LEFC Parents,
Here are some items to set the table for family discipleship in your home this week:
New Website for CCEF
Pastor Matt’s favorite biblical counseling organization has just upgraded their entire website with a fresh look, more accessibility, and lots of helpful content. The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) is the group that Pastor Matt has learned the most about how to connect scripture to everyday life problems. The faculty of CCEF oversaw his doctoral study and encouraged him to publish Resisting Gossip. The new website has many good resources (blogs, videos, podcasts, articles, etc) about parenting and discipling children.
Challenge Conference – Advanced Planning
The 2024 Challenge Conference has been announced for July 1-5 in Kansas City. We’d love to send a group from LEFC as we have in past years. To do that we need interested youth (grades 7-12) and willing adult leaders. That seems like a long time from now, but it will be here before we know it. (Read more about Challenge on the official conference website.)
The Gospel Project at Home
Today’s Bible Study is “Esther Saved Her People” (Volume 6: Unit 18: Session 1). Ask your kids what they learned in Kids Bible Class this morning and/or do the family devotional you can find at this link.
Snack and Yack
When the auditorium empties after worship, girls and boys (grades 3ish-7ish) who listened to the sermon (remember to fill out a handout!) are invited to Pastor Matt’s office for a tasty treat and a brief discussion with one of the LEFC elders and their wives (and sometimes guest preachers?!) about the message. Parents, if you would like to help host the discussion by providing the snack, see Holly Crumrine to get involved.
And for dessert…
One excellent article on the new CCEF website that caught my (Pastor Matt’s) attention was by counselor and author Darby Strickland–“Shepherding Children through Exposure to Pornography.” That’s a dark subject that we don’t really want to think about, but we all know that we need to.
Strickland writes, “The Internet is providing our children with sex education, and it is the worst type.” She lists four threats of pornography and then provides insightful points of biblical teaching to open up a conversation with your child. For example, here’s the first one:
“Be honest with your child about the reality that they will someday be exposed to sexual images. They are everywhere in our digital world. Tell them that they are to do two things when they see one. Instruct them to close the window as fast as they can and then come and tell you what happened (1 Cor 6:18). Help them make sense of what they saw and offer the proper reassurances they will need to counter it. The last thing you want is your child googling to figure out what they saw or looking longer at the screen to make sense of it. You want to be their source of information and wisdom, especially about sex. We see this as the role of the parent in Proverbs, and it is one we need to lean into now more than ever. Reassure them that they are not in trouble. They were right to quickly close the screen and come tell you about it.”
I recommend reading (and re-reading) the whole thing and following her advice. Our kids are counting on us.
Matt Mitchell, Pastor
Holly Crumrine, 2023 Family Ministries Coordinator
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EXPLAINER: THE GOSPEL PROJECT AT HOME
For the last several years, our Children’s Church ministry has utilized The Gospel Project as our Bible study curriculum. The Gospel Project is really excellent–it takes our Little Learners and Bible Explorers chronologically through the whole Bible over the course of three years while always focusing on Jesus as the center of the big story. If your student was in Little Learners or Bible Explorers this morning, they received a coloring page and take-home sheet that corresponds to this lesson. You have also been given a full-color Big Picture Card that you can use to reinforce the lesson with your child, as well.
To reinforce what your kids are learning each week in Children’s Church, you can now access The Gospel Project At Home online. Each week in this email, there will be a link to follow to get this free resource which includes:
1. A guide to using the Gospel Project at Home.
2. Scripture to read and discuss with a recap video of the Bible Story (Preschool and/or Elementary).
3. Scripture memory verses and a song to sing together.
4. Prayer prompts and family activities that correspond to the lesson.
Please consider setting aside at least 10-15 minutes once a week for a family devotional time using this resource as a guide. We are hoping The Gospel Project At Home will help keep all of our LEFC kids “on the same page,” and feed their faith in Jesus.
This might be especially helpful if for some reason your child has to miss a week of Children’s Church. You can show them the Bible story video to keep them up to speed on what the other children are learning.
**Note: The first time you access the link, you will need to register a free account with Lifeway’s Ministry Grid. This will also provide you ongoing access through the “training” tab to many other discipleship resources including the Gospel Project at Home for previous weeks. Many hours of excellent things to absorb for free!