A Great Take It Home Event!

What do you get when you put 8 three year olds and their parents together in a room on a Sunday morning? A great Take It Home event! (And having a cup of coffee only helped matters.)

This month’s Take It Home was for families with 3 year olds, and we discovered the joy of having family devotions.

You might think it’s crazy to think about doing devotions with this energetic age group. The main point of starting with very young children, though, is building time with God into the rhythm of their lives at an early age. Much more important than the content of learning is simply the fact that you spend time regularly focusing on God.

Check out the Tips for Successful Devotional Times. You’ll find ideas from setting a realistic goal of how often you’ll carve out time for your family to spend with God to how to keep that time simple and fun for everyone involved.

No matter how old your kids are, start today carving out time as a family to spend time with God. We’d love to hear what your family does for devotions, and what impact that time has had on your family.

Don’t have a three year old? There’s a class for your child some time in ’09. Check out the schedule to find out when your class meets, and put the date on the calendar. We look forward to meeting you and discovering more of what God has in store for your family.

Take It Home Update

The sounds of the Entertainer are my backdrop. My son is practicing his piano lesson, and my mom and I started an interesting conversation. She teaches piano and shared how she invites the parents to listen to the lesson. The kids have more success during the week if the parents know how the piece should sound. Even though most of the parents don’t play piano, they can still help their child over the hurdles until their next lesson.

Immediately my mind went to Faith at Home. The principle is the same. It’s great that our children come to church, learn the Bible and build relationships with children of like faith. But there’s a lot that happens during the 6 days between church services when their teacher isn’t available. When parents are equipped, they can help their children get over the hurdles of life.

The question is typically where to begin? What if you don’t know how to teach your children how to grow in their faith? That’s where the partnership between church and home comes in. Christian Life Center wants to help you bring your faith home.

This year, CLC is offering Take it Home events for each age level. These interactive classes connect kids with Christ beyond the church and into the home. They support your family and empower you as the primary spiritual influence to be effective in training and teaching your children about Christ. These events promote spiritual formation for all ages. Topics include Family Devotions, My Church, My Bible, Computer Boundaries, and many more.

Full descriptions of each class, the schedule for each campus and how you can get involved are online. Here’s how to get started:

1. Go online to clctoday.org under Church Wide News and check out Take It Home.
2. When you get information about your child’s Take it Home class in the mail, make it a priority to attend.
3. Consider volunteering in your child’s Sunday class so you can reinforce the lesson throughout the week.

We look forward to sharing faith experiences with you and your children.

Sarah Dascenzo
Family Ministry Director, Christian Life Center