The Family Table
Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families
TFT: The Moon Is Always Round
November 12, 2023
Dear LEFC Parents,
Here are items to set the table for family discipleship in your home this week:
Advent Waffle Party
Family Ministries will be hosting an Advent planning waffle party on Sunday morning, November 26th. The waffle bar will open at 8:45am, with breakfast for everyone. Kids will have their own Advent craft time at 9:00. Adults will have their own time of conversation and fun, with an emphasis on looking to the Advent season as a time of setting family discipleship patterns for the holidays and beyond. RSVPs are helpful, but not required. Sign up in the foyer or on our facebook event page. Watch your inboxes for a special edition of the Family Table email with links!
Squirrel!
Have you been listening to the Family Discipleship Podcast? Their newest episode is all about attention and distraction, and they are asking good questions for parents, especially, to be talking about.
Help Deck the Halls?
Does your family like to decorate for Christmas? Maria Jackson is gathering a team of people to ready the church building for the Christmas season and is wondering what day/time works best. She is considering either Monday November 27 or Wednesday November 29th (5:30-7:00). Let Maria know in person or participate in this one question online poll to help her plan.
The Gospel Project at Home
Today’s Bible Study is “We Should Be Sorry for Sin” (Unit 18: Session 5). 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
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…
How do we teach our kids about God’s goodness when tragedy strikes our family?
In March of 2016, Jonathan and Jackie Gibson were expecting a baby girl to arrive, but sadly, she died at 39 weeks in her mother’s womb and they never got to bring her home. Their son Ben (age 3) asked questions like, “Why isn’t Leila coming home with us?”
Jonathan didn’t have comprehensive answers for all of Ben’s questions (or his own), but as a pastor and theologian he knew that God was always good, and he wanted to embed that truth in Ben’s mind. So Jonathan devised a short catechism about (of all things!) the moon:
Q: Ben, what shape is the moon tonight?
A: The moon is a crescent moon, (or a half-moon, or a gibbous moon, or a full moon).
Q: What shape is the moon always?
A: The moon is always round.
Q: What does that mean?
A: God is always good.
In the children’s picture book The Moon Is Always Round, Gibson and illustrator Joe Hox imaginatively, sensitively, and carefully retell that story and relate its truth in ways that young people can understand.
At the end of the book, there are more lessons and catechism questions for parents using the phases of the moon to explain God’s faithfulness and which connect it further to the events of Good Friday. It is a rich resource for teaching on God’s unfailing goodness.
By the way, if your family has been rocked by this kind of loss (recently or some time ago), you might also profit from reading Jackie Gibson’s book, You Are Still a Mother: Hope for Women Grieving a Stillbirth or Miscarriage which came out of the same tragedy.
These two rich resources are are now available in the church library.
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!