The Family Table
Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families
TFT: The Friendship of Lewis & Tolkien
December 15, 2024
Dear LEFC Parents,
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. This year’s LEFC Family Advent Readings reflect upon Jesus’ breathtaking claim to be the Light of the World. This week’s reading is “The Light of Guidance.”
Christmas Caroling – This Afternoon!
Bring your family along for our LEFC Christmas Caroling event today at 3pm! We will gather on campus and practice a few favorite songs before caravaning throughout our community to brighten the holiday season of some of our beloved church families (older folks and shut-ins). No sign-ups necessary. Just show up! The kids that came along last two years had a great time.
Talent Night, Holy Night?
Does anyone in your family want to do something special for our Christmas Eve Candlelight service (December 24, 7:00pm)? We would love to have children, youth, and parents sing or play a special song, do a skit, read a poem or Scripture or do some other creative thing. See Pastor Matt with your ideas.
KBC Nativity Presentation
The Little Learners and Bible Explorers will be doing a Nativity Presentation on December 22nd during the worship service. We are practicing during the first 15 minutes of KBC class time. All KBC-aged kids are welcome to participate! If you have any questions, see Vicky Albert.
Family Discipleship Conference
Pathway Church writes, “Join us for our 3rd Annual Family Discipleship Conference sponsored by Geneva College. For this year’s event we’ve invited back Cornerstone Wellness, who joined us at our first ever conference! This will be a day full of practical learning, fellowship with other parents, and encouragement for you and your family as we seek to support one another in parenting and discipling our kids to know and love Jesus. The event will take place February 1st from 9am-1pm. The cost is $20/individual and $30/couple. Our youth ministry will be offering a one-day VBS childcare option as a fundraiser for their upcoming Summer Mission trips (requested donation is $10/kid, please pay in-person at registration on February 1. We will accept credit card, check or cash). Registration is now open at familyatpathway.com.”
We would love to see parents from LEFC attend this valuable event. Maybe join up with another family to carpool together, or make it a day out for mom and dad! More information can be found at the link above.
“Moses Parted the Red Sea” 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 “Moses Parted the Red Sea” (Volume 1: Unit 4: Session 3), 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.
Books as Christmas Gifts for Kids
What are you placing the under tree this year to enrich your children’s faith? Books can make great gifts. Both Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition have recently published their 2024 book awards which include books specifically for children and teens (including More to the Story by Jennifer Kvamme who some of our teens met at Challenge this Summer). Crossway is currently offering 50% off their books. It’s a great time to find something that might delight, inspire, and instruct the next generation.
And for dessert…
This week’s recommendation for family discipleship is a graphic novel that tells the story of the unique friendship between two of the most influential authors of the 20th century.
Most people (not just Christians) have heard of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien because of the tremendous reach of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. But many people do not know that these two Oxford-scholars-turned-
In The Mythmakers, New York Times bestselling, award-winning creator John Hendrix has beautifully crafted a unique way of spreading the story of their collaborative friendship. I (Pastor Matt) knew the outline of the story and had even gotten to visit some of the key locations where it all happened during my sabbatical in 2023 (The Kilns, Addison’s Walk, The Eagle and Child), but I still learned a lot, especially how all of the different parts were connected, and I thoroughly enjoyed how Hendrix wove his tale with both words and images. There is nothing quite like it.
Hendrix writes for a younger reader (perhaps as young as upper-elementary or a pre-teen), but I am 51 and a life-time devotee of comic books and enjoyed every single page. (And if you or your teen enjoyed this, you might want to check out Hendrix’s other books including The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler.).
I especially appreciated how Hendrix brought forward how Christianity shaped the friendship and writing of Lewis and Tolkien. So many lessons to be learned!
– Check out a preview of The Mythmakers at Google Books.
– Listen to John Hendrix talk about the book at – The Habit Podcast and/or The Wade Center Podcast.
– Watch John Hendrix speak about the fellowship of Lewis and Tolkien at the Wade Center on YouTube.
– Borrow The Mythmakers from Pastor Matt & Heather’s library (or buy one for yours family!).
Speaking of Lewis and Tolkien, their books make excellent Christmas gifts, as well. If your young child hasn’t heard or read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, what are you waiting for? (I encourage them to be read in the order of publication.) And if your teen hasn’t yet discovered The Fellowship of the Ring, it’s way past time. Don’t start with the movies, either. After they get the full experience of the books, the movies can be a fun way of taking the interaction further. At least, that’s my opinion!
May the Lord bless your family richly this Christmas season.
Jordyn Skacel, Director of Family Ministry
Matt Mitchell, Pastor
P.S. Don’t forget that if you love C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, you may want also to go back to where they learned their love for fantasy, George MacDonald, whom we focused on in last week’s dessert recommendation.
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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!