The Family Table

Trunk or Treat Table

Thank you to our sunny team for representing LEFC at the West Branch Trunk or Treat on Wednesday!
May we continue to be a light for Jesus in our community.
Pray for the many families who participated and received a glow stick and invitations to our Family Ministries.

 

Operation Christmas Child

Our church is once again participating in Operation Christmas Child. Shoeboxes can be found in the foyer. They will need to be returned to the church by Sunday November 15th. Each box costs $10 to ship. Fill up a box with your family for a child this Christmas! Donations for the postage should be marked “shoeboxes.” See Mary Beth Moslak if you have questions.

This Week’s Challenge: Praying for Loved Ones

Last month, I (Pastor Matt) got to visit Pastor Michael Strand and his delightful family in the Twin Cities when I was in Minnesota to teach a group of church leaders about resisting gossip. While feasting with Michael, Cara, and their five terrific kids, I got to participate in their family prayer time. Right before we ate, one of their daughters grabbed a little “prayer flag” from a cup on the table and prayed from the heart for the needs of a little girl and her family far away in another country. It was so simple and so encouraging!

I asked Michael about this thing they do, and he said, “Cara prints off pictures of all our family (individually), extended family (each full family together), church staff & elders, and the Compassion kids we sponsor, then she tapes the pictures onto a popsicle stick and drops them in a cup on our dining room table. We all take turns praying before dinner, and pick one of the pictures out and pray for whomever is on the picture.”

This week’s challenge is to do something like that with your kids. You wouldn’t have to go all the way and create a cup of prayer flags (but it would be really easy and good to do!). However you do it, identify a set of loved ones for your family and pray for a different one each night for a week. Before you pray, list out some needs of that loved one and/or something you are thankful for about them. Encourage your kids to pray for that person (and model that prayer for them, too).

I wondered how God would use the prayers of the Strand family that evening, and what the Lord might do with our LEFC families praying for their loved ones, too.

“Jesus Is the Way” 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 “Jesus Healed a Blind Man” (Volume 9: Unit 27: Session 1, 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 recommendation for family discipleship this week is a dessert buffet of over 200 resources curated for LEFC families.

Four years ago yesterday, we sent out the very first Family Table email. In it, I (Pastor Matt) wrote, “Dear LEFC Parents, Welcome to ‘The Family Table!’ This email newsletter is the newest initiative of Family Ministries at Lanse Free Church. For the next three months, we’re going to experiment with sending it out every Sunday at noon. Our goal is to provide you with super-helpful resources for making disciples for Jesus of the children and youth in your home. We’re trying to set the table for great discussions with your kids about what it means to follow King Jesus every day. I hope your family eats it up!”

As you can see, TFT has lasted a lot longer than 3 months! We now have over 200 of them archived (and searchable!) on our church website and keep sending them out on Sundays at noon. We continue to offer links to The Gospel Project at Home devotionals, news about Family Ministries, and now a weekly challenge for families to take on. And every TFT includes a “dessert” section still comes with a sweet recommended resource–most of which are free either online or from the church library.

Let us know if you have any questions about any of the resources we’ve curated in this delectable collection.

We hope that you read The Family Table regularly, share TFT with your friends, and (especially!) use many of the honeyed resources that we have recommended with care over the years.

As always, we hope your family gobbles it right up.

Jordyn Skacel, Director of Family Ministry
Matt Mitchell, Pastor