This is a 4 week guide to help kids and parents learn to pray together. Each week, there is a short lesson on a specific type of prayer as well as an exercise to actually spend some time praying together. Originally this was written for Home Groups, but it’s also useful for families on their own. We intended for groups to spend about 15 minutes at the beginning or end of their gathering with their kids praying together. It also includes suggestions for how families can try integrating each type of prayer into their life throughout the week.

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Cultivating Godly Habits: Vision Driven Parenting
How do you intentionally parent your kids amidst the business and chaos of our culture? Here are the notes from a conversation between parents as well as tools to help guide your family toward godly habits. Instead of being caught up in the constant flood of opportunities, purposefully choose who you will be as a family and what are the most valuable ways to spend your time.

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Why is this important?

Deuteronomy 6:4-8 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
[Note that it says “love,” not “teach,” “instruct” etc… Live your love for God in front of your kids. Talk all the time: standing, sitting, traveling, etc. Use visual aids (hands, foreheads, doorframes) Reminders in common places.]

So how do we do this?
4 weeks – Creating conversation starters
When? – Meals, driving in the car, whenever and wherever
How often? – as it feels natural: once a week, 3 times a week, every day…

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Spirituality of Infancy and Early Childhood: How to teach your children about God before they know how to talk.
What do infants and very young children experience of God? How can we, as parents and members of this community cultivate love for the Good Shepherd in the hearts of our children before they even learn to speak? We will look to through the scriptures to learn how infants experience God, and we will explore ways to raise our little ones to worship with even their very first words.

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Our 2010 Advent teaching series focused on John 3:16, specifically, "For God so loved..."  Each week we wanted to understand and experience God's love in new ways.  Each week includes activities designed to help you understand and respond to God's love through this Advent Season.
Week 1: For God so loved the world
Week 2: For God so loved your city
Week 3: For God so loved your family
Week 4: For God so loved YOU 

Advent 2010

Our 2009 Advent teaching series focused on different kinds of giving.  This resource will guide your family through the four weeks leading up to Christmas.  Each week includes activities to teach us how to give in new and meaningful ways and to prepare our hearts for the birth of the Baby Jesus.
Week 1: God In My Living Room: Too Close for Comfort
Week 2: Time. With You: Giving Relationally
Week 3: Giving on Empty: Giving Sacrificially
Week 4: It Is More Blessed to Give...: Giving Habitually

Advent 2009

Advent Prayers and Liturgies
 

What is Lent?
The season of Lent is the forty days (not counting Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. We set aside this time each year to reflect on our brokenness caused by sin in preparation for Good Friday and Easter when we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death.

Is it appropriate for kids to celebrate Lent?
Children are in just as much need of Christ’s saving grace as adults. Lent can be a beautiful opportunity for children to fall more deeply in love with Jesus, who loved them so much that He died to forgive the unkind things they’ve said and done. Children respond deeply to ritual and tradition. Let this become a rich, new tradition in your home. In the same way Advent creates excitement and expectation for Christmas, Lent creates anticipation and longing for the celebration of Easter.

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What? We had an honest conversation with more experienced parents about the challenges of raising preschool-age children, grade school age kids and high schoolers.

Why? One of the great things about being part of a community is that we can benefit from each other’s wisdom and experience. We want to take advantage of these opportunities as much as possible.

Sample Questions:
What is one thing you wish someone would have told you when you were a young parent?
What is one challenge you faced as a new parent, and how did you face that challenge?
How do you communicate significant instruction to your child without "freaking out" and becoming emotionally driven?

Download the full notes about 0-5 year olds

Download the full notes about 6-12 year olds

Download the full notes about teenagers