Tag Archive for: Parent Connections

Parent Connections – fpKIDS

Preschool (2yrs to PreK)

This week we review all the stories we learned in September about God and how much He loves us.  Remember our goal in Preschool is to teach your kids 3 Basic Truths:

 God Made Me

God Loves Me

Jesus wants to be my friend forever 

These are simple truths yet they are foundational to what we believe about God, how we interpret His involvement in our lives and how we respond to His direction.

This week, Create a Rhythm, by talking about 3 things each day that are evidence of how much God loves and cares for you.

 

Elementary (K-3rd grade)

Our Bible story is a great example of respect—the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-13). Sometimes we need to be reminded about just Who we’re praying to—the Creator of everything and most Powerful Being there ever was or will be.

Our Bottom Line says:

What you think about God determines how you talk to Him.

Prayer is an important faith skill because it reminds us that we’re not in charge and that we need help.  Prayer isn’t trying to talk God into anything because He already knows what we need. It matters more what God thinks than what others think. And it matters what you think about God because what you think about God determines how you talk to God. And if you try to understand God’s will, then you can be a part of what God’s up to in the world around you!

Make It Personal!  How do you think about God?  How does that impact how and what you pray?

 

Club 45 (4th & 5th grade)

Forgive others the way God has forgiven us

Matthew 18:30-34 presents a pivotal story of a man who is forgiven of much but fails to forgive others.  In this story a man who owes the king 10,000 bags of gold yet he could not pay.  The man fell to his knees begging the king to forgive the debt he could not repay.  In mercy, the king forgave the debt and the man was free to go.

However, that grace and mercy did not resonate long with this man.  Shortly after leaving the king’s presence he seeks out a servant that owed him 100 silver coins.  When the servant could not repay the debt, the man had the servant thrown into prison.

The story is a great example of how forgiveness is not something that terminates on us, but is passed on through us to others.  We want to forgive as we have been forgiven.

Make It Personal by fleshing out the answer to this question:

Does it make it easier for you to forgive others knowing that Jesus has forgiven you on so many things?  Why or why not?

Parent Connection – fpKIDS

Preschool (2yrs to PreK)

God loves us more than a shepherd loves His sheep.

This week we teach your preschooler from a great story in the Luke 15:1-7 called The Parable of the Lost Sheep. 

A great story about a Shepard that goes to great lengths to find and restore one lost sheep.  In teaching your preschooler about God’s relentless love for us, this is a wonderful account of what God is willing to do in order to have a relationship with us. 

As a parent, we so desperately want our kids to know how much we love them.  But as a Christ-follower, it’s too easy to lose sight of our Heavenly Father’s love for us, as well.  We’re tempted to believe that because we’ve strayed so far, we cannot possibly return.   But according to scripture, that isn’t true.  In the story we don’t know how far or how long the Shepherd searched for the sheep, we just know that he did.  It’s a great analogy of how our Heavenly Father will go to great lengths to seek and save us.  

This week, Create a Rhythm, by praying with your preschooler each night as you tuck them into bed.  Say thank you to God for His love for your child and you.  

Elementary (K-3rd Grade)

Respect is showing others they are important by what you say and do. 

This weekend is an important principle dealing with Who’s the Boss? (Romans 13:1-5) Whether we agree or even like “the Boss”, God puts authorities in our life to protect us and to help us grow and learn. So our Bottom Line is about realizing we can respect God by respecting the people He’s put in charge.

We’ll spend most of this month looking at how we respond to those who have authority over us. When we choose to disrespect, it’s usually because we want to be our own authority. We think we know better or that our way is best. But our Memory Verse from 1 Peter reminds us that we should “show proper respect to everyone.” 1 Peter 2:17a, NIV 

This week, Make It Personal, by examining your own heart in the area of respect.  When you refer to your boss, your child’s school principal/teacher, or even your state/regional authorities… do you do it in a respectful manner?  Or disrespectful?  Our kids will emulate the level of respect we show for the authorities God placed in our lives.  Let’s fight to Respect the authorities our Heavenly Father has lovingly placed in our lives to help us grow and learn.

Club 45 (4th & 5th Grade)

When you face peer pressure, take a stand for what you know is right. 

Pulling from Daniel 3, we focus your 4th/5th graders on a topic familiar to all of us.  Peer Pressure.

In Daniel 3 we gain insight from a group of guys that chose to stand for what they knew was right.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were required by law (along with everyone around them) to bow down to an idol.  Yet these guys made a choice to stand against the pressure. While their peers were bowing down to the golden image, they chose to be faithful and obedient to God. Even when it cost them, they stood firm and did what was right.

In your child’s school, they are tempted by peer pressure. It may be a temptation to wear certain clothes in order to fit in with the “popular” crowd. It may be pressure to bully or make fun of others. It may be a temptation just to fade into the background and never let anyone know about their faith in God. When negative peer pressure comes, they will have to make a choice. A choice to go with the flow or to take a stand for what is right. 

This week, Make It Personal, by examining your own life.  As an adult, do you find that you bow to peer pressure?  Do you find yourself dressing a certain way, driving a certain type of car or living in a certain type of home in order to fit in with a certain crowd?  Do you find yourself fading into the background never letting anyone know about your faith in God?  These are tough questions to reconcile.  Tough but real.  

Passing down a real and relevant faith to our kids means living it out in a way that they can see.  When your kids see you stand against the pressure of culture and align yourself with scripture then they learn what that can look like in their own lives.

Parent Connection – fpKIDS

Preschool (2yrs-PreK)

This week your preschooler is learning how to talk to God.  As silly as that sounds, in Matthew 6:5-13, Jesus taught us how to talk to God.  We aren’t supposed to babble about nothing just so we can “check that off our list”.  We aren’t supposed to pray just so people see us and think we are spiritual or religious.  Actually, Jesus hated religion.

In the verses this week, Jesus told us to pray in a very specific way.  He said to worship (v9), surrender (v10), trust (v11), forgive (v12), and declare His power and glory (v13)!  It’s that easy.  He already knows what we need before we ask (v8).  Our prayer time is supposed to be a time of fellowship with our Father.

Create a Rhythm this week with your preschooler by helping them to pray this way.  Together, surrender to Jesus, trust Him, forgive, and declare His power in your lives.  Establish a foundation for prayer in their life and listen to them talk to God.

Elementary (K-3rd Grade)

Honor is letting someone know you see how valuable they really are.

Have you ever been to a wedding?  Have you ever noticed that when the music starts, the kids are the first ones on the dance floor?  Twirling, jumping, shaking…completely undignified and unaware of anyone else’s opinion!  They have not yet been taught that they are supposed to be “cool” which translates into being self-absorbed.

In 2 Samuel 6:12-22, your child will see that King David was so excited about bringing the ark in to his city that he danced through the streets!  Pretty much naked!  He dropped all of his kingly robes and worshipped his God, undignified and oblivious about what anyone thought.  Do you know why he was so excited about the ark?  It was the presence of God.  David ushered in the presence of God with dancing and singing and trumpet blowing!  He cared more about the presence of God than anything else.

Create a rhythm this week by putting on some worship music and get undignified with your student!  Dance before the Lord, sing to Him, usher in His presence.  Teach your student that it’s more important to experience the Living God than to look cool in front of your friends.  They need to see you doing this too!

Club 45 (4-5th grade)

Once Upon a Parable: Jesus and the Kingdom

Your student has been learning about all the ways Jesus explains and describes the Kingdom of God through stories.  He used real life scenarios to speak to the people He was ministering to.  If He was talking to fisherman, He used fishing.  If He was talking to Pharisees, He used the law and government.

Our stories can help teach the Kingdom of God to others.  These are also known as our testimonies.  Our testimonies are tangible evidence of the Kingdom of God.  It’s easy to forget how many personal stories we have!

Make It Personal this week by starting a Faith Journal or Story Book with your student.  Help your student realize times they have experienced God and write those down.  Start a habit of documenting the Kingdom of God in your lives so that you can always refer back to those stories.  They’ll come in handy when your student needs a story to share or just needs to be reminded of God’s faithfulness.