The Family Table
Feeding the Faith of LEFC Families
TFT: The Treasure
December 10, 2023
Dear LEFC Parents,
Today is the second Sunday of Advent, and this week’s LEFC Advent Reading centers on John 1:4-5 and reminds us that when Jesus came, the darkness lost.
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 Handbells – Christmas Eve!
The Bible Explorers Kids Bible Class will be sharing their handbell number December 24 during the 7:00PM Christmas Eve 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!
Christmas Caroling – Coming Soon
Bring your family along for our LEFC Christmas Caroling event December 17th at 3:00pm! 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 year had a great time.
The Gospel Project at Home
Today’s Bible Study is “Jesus Appeared to Thomas” (Volume 10: Unit 28: Session 2). Ask your kids what they learned in Kids Bible Class this morning and/or do the family devotional you can find at this link.
Send Pastor Matt Your Kids’ Sports Schedules
Winter sports are here! I (Pastor Matt) love to drop in to see the kids of our church family play their sports, but I need to know when and where the games are. It’s hard to keep track of who is on what team. If you could send me your kids’ sports schedules for this new season, it will help me to make it to more games and spend some quality time with your family.
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.)
No Snack Nor Yack
There will be no Snack and Yack the next two Sundays. Snack and Yack will resume on December 31st.
And for dessert…
This week’s recommended resource for family discipleship is a beautiful Bible study book that takes kids on an adventure through both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts.
We just received Marty Machowski’s newest book, The Treasure: Ancient Story Ever New of Jesus and His Church in the LEFC church library, and it looks really well done. The publisher describes it like this:
“The Treasure follows the adventures of Mira and Theos who discover a sea captain’s personal journal which offers clues to a hidden treasure. They can only solve the riddle of the treasure by studying two ancient scrolls, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Young readers will journey with the siblings as they solve their puzzle and discover the captain’s treasure—Christ!
While these New Testament books are often thought of as two separate books telling different stories, they are really two halves of one greater story recorded by Luke. Through Luke’s retelling of Jesus’s work on earth and the Spirit’s work in growing the church, we see the Father’s love on full display. The Treasure will help children grow in their knowledge and love of God.
Vivid, full-color illustrations by Flavia Sorrentino.
Written for elementary age and includes a study guide that can also be used with older children.
Encourages families to study the Bible together and develop regular family devotions.”
The Treasure might be a great next thing for your family to do together for Bible study right now and into the first of the year as it begins with the birth of Jesus and then flows into the birth of the church!
We hope your family eats it up.
Matt Mitchell, Pastor
Holly Crumrine, 2023 Family Ministries Coordinator
P.S. Both The Gospel Coalition and Christianity Today announced their book awards for this year this week, and both lists included books for kids. Do you have some good Christian literature ordered to add to the gifts under your tree this year?
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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!