The Family Table
Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families
TFT: Leading Our Kids To Know and Love Jesus
December 24, 2023
Dear LEFC Parents,
Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. This week’s LEFC Advent Reading centers on John 1:14 and focuses on the miracle of the incarnation–God the Son became a human like we are!
Today is also Christmas Eve, and we have a special candlelight worship service featuring the talents of our church families at 7:00pm. We hope you can join us.
KBC Handbells – TONIGHT!
The Bible Explorers Kids Bible Class will be sharing their handbell number this evening at the candlelight worship service. All KBC Kids in grades 1-3 are welcome and encouraged to participate. Kids need to meet in the Bible Explorer Classroom at 6:45pm for a quick practice. We hope to see you there!
The Gospel Project at Home
Today’s Bible Study is “God Wants Us to Know Him” (Volume 10: Unit 28: Session 4). Ask your kids what they learned in Kids Bible Class this morning and/or do the family devotional you can find at this link.
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.)
Snack and Yack – With Donnie Rosie!
Snack and Yack resumes again next Sunday. Boys and girls 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 Pastor Matt and our guest preacher, Donnie Rosie, from Miracle Mountain Ranch about the message.
And for dessert…
Our recommended resource for family discipleship this week is an upcoming conference in our district.
Pathway Church, our sister church in Beaver Falls, is hosting their second annual Family Discipleship Conference January 13th (9:00-2:00) and all parents are invited. This is the church with the podcast we told you about last month. Pastor Ben Marshall is a friend of Pastor Matt and has issued a warm invitation for any parents at LEFC to participate. He said, “We would love to have any from your ministry come!”
The conference organizers express their hope for the conference, “This will be a day full of learning, fellowship, and encouragement as we seek to support one another in parenting and leading our kids to know and love Jesus.”
The speaker for this event is another person whose resources we’ve recommended in The Family Table, Walt Mueller from the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.
The cost is only $20 for individuals or $30 for a couple which includes lunch, and they are offering a neat childcare option: “Our youth ministry will be offering a one-day VBS childcare option as a fundraiser for their upcoming Challenge Conference trip (requested donation $10/kid).” Our Family Ministries Interim Leadership Team is offering 75% scholarships for families for whom this may be a hardship. See Holly, Jordyn, or Vicky for more information.
Watch the Conference Invitation Video.
We hope some of our church families can take advantage of this opportunity and bring some great ideas home.
May your family have a blessed Christmas tomorrow!
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!