As you hopefully know, we’re always aiming to help you grow in your faith, personal development, and ministry leadership. If we’re honest, we would all admit that we can easily get derailed in all three of those areas if we don’t pay close and consistent attention. We live in a world that produces a type of madness that can overwhelm us. Life happens, things pile up, we feel ministry pressure, and it can all spiral out of control before we know it. In this month’s coaching video, we want to offer you and your children’s ministry volunteers some encouragement from Scripture, and practical ideas about things you can do to both maintain a healthy perspective yourself and lead the parents in your church in the same direction. Instead of marching towards the madness (see what we did there ◡̈), we have the opportunity to lead the people in our scope of care in a different direction where we live in a much more peaceful place. We encourage you and your ministry volunteers to join us as we think through what it might mean to live not “in” but “above” the madness
Click the image above to watch the video or click HERE!
Copy/ Paste this email into a browser and send it to parents.
Subject Line: The Madness of Spring
Dear Parents,
As we begin to move into spring and all that it brings, we’d like to encourage you to resist succumbing to a certain chaos that we all feel. Now sure, there’s a March Madness that you might get into (if you’re a sports fan), but we need to do everything we can to steer our kids away from developing patterns of living in a madness that will lead them to a life that is far less than the one God wants for them. You know what I mean; busy schedules, school, sports, pressure to achieve, and developing fears all have a way of taking over our kids’ thoughts. As parents, you have the opportunity to model to your kids how to live differently in the world and teach them the principles and skills that will help them build a healthy perspective on how to live. Instead of marching through the madness, we can learn to develop a peace that comes from God and will guard our hearts. If we develop this peace ourselves, we just might be able to pass it on to our kids.
During this month of March Madness, we want to provide you with some ideas, tools, resources, and a slam dunk of encouragement to equip you to help your kids build a healthy perspective on how to live outside of the madness.
To watch this month’s Online Parenting Class video, click the link below.
Thank you for allowing us to team up with you as you lead your family. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Cheering you on,
[INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE]
EMAIL 2
Copy/ Paste this email into a browser and send it to parents.
Subject Line: Marching Away from the Madness
Dear Parents,
If you had to rate how crazy your world is right now, what would you say? What about your kid’s world? Your answers likely revolve around how busy your family is, how much you pay attention to current events, and how good your relationships are. We can all point to parts of our lives that can make us believe we’re going mad, but there is hope. There is more. There is a different way of life that we can all step into if we will simply stop focusing on and joining in on all of the noise, chaos, and madness; stop letting it lead our thoughts and our actions.
Check out this month’s blog article that might just give you a different perspective on the noise you’re experiencing, as well as some tips on what you can do to decrease all the noise and distractions “dinging” for your attention. And if you haven’t watched this month’s encouraging Online Parenting Class video, you still have time. To read the blog article or watch the video, click on the links below.
We are in this together! Let us know if there is ever anything we can do for you or your family.
Praying for you as you lead at home,
[ INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE ]
M2P March KIDS Parent Video Script “Peace In The Madness”
Often when I have the chance to talk to parents, I have a couple of assumptions. Now, I know what assumptions can sometimes do to us, but we’re not gonna go there .
I assume that we all want to be great parents. We all want to do everything we can to offer our kids what they need as they grow up. I assume that we all want to have a healthy, sustainable pace of life that doesn’t overwhelm us and doesn’t suck the life out of our family. I assume that we all want for our kids to develop the skills they need to have a healthy, sustainable pace of life that doesn’t overwhelm them in the future. I assume that we all want for our kids to grow up with a real faith that makes a difference in their lives.
We’re in a month that is affectionately referred to as “March Madness” by anyone who follows college basketball. It’s a month where we get to watch this basketball tournament that often takes crazy twists and turns and can be kind of chaotic. And we love it … unless our team is supposed to win, and they don’t, but that’s another story.
We love the madness. But you see, it’s not just the tournament and the month of March that are madness … our lives can sometimes spiral into a different kind of madness that leads us away from all of the things I started our conversation with. We lose focus of being great parents and offering our kids what they really need. We develop an unhealthy pace of life that drains us and leads us, as adults, to a place of fear and worry, and anxiety. We fail to teach our kids that they don’t have to live in the madness and they don’t have to settle for a chaotic pace of life and a cluttered brain and heart.
And I think all of this madness and the noise around us all is so loud that it’s REALLY hard for our faith and our kids’ faith to take root and grow. Because I know for me, and hopefully for you, the ultimate goal is for our kids to know and love Jesus and live from a peace that only comes from Him.
If you have figured out how to live in a way that you can effectively go through life, but block out the madness, then more power to you. Keep it up, and send us some tips on how you’ve been able to do that. But if you struggle with all of the madness, we would encourage you to do a few things. First, Take some time to sit down with a piece of paper or a journal and a pen. Write down what parts of the madness are getting to you. Part of any attempt to change is identifying where you are and being honest about the current state of things. Second, find someone who you can talk to about this. Maybe it’s your spouse; maybe it needs to be a close friend or possibly a pastor or someone at your church. Whoever it is, have a conversation! We are not meant to do life alone, so just ask someone to sit with you and hear about what’s going on in your heart. They don’t have to solve anything; they can just be in it with you. And finally, spend some time asking God to show you how things can change. Prayer is powerful, and even though God doesn’t always take things away or make things smooth, He is always with us, and that matters.
Philippians 4:6-7. It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
God doesn’t want us or our kids to live in the madness. He wants us to live in the peace that He offers. And if we can learn to do that, we can step more into being the parents we all want to be and the parents our kids need us to be.
As a kid, did you ever receive a cute little Valentine’s card from someone in your class or school? Did you ever have to “check ‘yes’ or ‘no’” to answer the “Will you go with me” question? OK, maybe you didn’t have either of those experiences, but we know that you did (at some point) start thinking about this thing called “dating.” We know that ideas about this topic are coming up earlier and earlier in the lives of our kids, and as children’s ministry leaders, we have to equip the church and parents we serve to step up and engage in the conversation. Since February is the month of love, it’s also the time of the year when many ministries wade into the topic at church and try to encourage kids to move toward healthy relationships. This provides you, as a children’s ministry leader, with the perfect opportunity to engage parents and better equip them to lead their kids at home as they navigate the often awkward and sometimes comical conversations around this important topic. So, whether the topic is kissing or the cooties, this month’s M2P resources are designed to provide you (and parents) with ideas and resources that will help frame these critical relationship conversations that we all need to be having with our kids.
For more on this topic, don’t forget to check out the blog articles, coaching video, online parenting class video, toolbox item, and the latest episode of the M2P Podcast. Remember that we are here to serve you and to help you serve parents, so let us know if there is ever anything we can do for you or your ministry.
With love, some candy hearts, and a box of chocolates,
The M2P Team
WHAT IS IT?
This “Parent Guide and Conversation Starter” is designed with thoughts, definitions, Bible references, and questions that were created to help the parent(s)/guardian(s) start an age-appropriate conversation about relationships and dating with their kids. This resource provides parents with a starting point for an ongoing conversation and one that they can come back to and adjust as needed by utilizing this adaptable toolbox resource as their kids get older and the questions get harder.
HOW TO USE IT
Download the toolbox resource. Post the explanation and link to it on your website.
Email parents a copy of the toolbox resource or a link to it and encourage them to set aside some time to work through it and begin having some open age-appropriate conversations with their kids.
Print copies of the toolbox resource for parents to grab at church.
To download, click HERE for youth and HERE for kids.
Since February is the month of love, it’s also the time of the year when many ministries tip-toe into the waters of the love and relationships topic at church and try to at least acknowledge the heart-shaped elephant in the room. Valentine’s Day and all that goes with it is just another reminder of how obsessed with love, sex, and dating our culture has become. Our kids are no doubt getting a collective earful/eyeful through music, movies, social media, commercials, and even just looking around. They are laying the foundations and building upon it what they believe about relationships, dating, and relational/physical boundaries. This month’s coaching videos give you some tips on how to weigh into this important topic as a children’s ministry leader. It’s a conversation that will never go away, one that we shouldn’t shy away from as children’s ministry leaders, and one we need to be having inside the local church. The kids in our churches and families are building a dating, relational, and sexual ethic, and we have the opportunity (and the obligation) to help shape what they believe.
In this month’s Online Parenting Class, we lean in and really challenge the parent(s)/guardian(s) in your ministry to make sure they are engaging their kids in conversations about the age-old topics of relationships, dating, and relational/physical boundaries. Often, as parents, we shy away from these difficult and taboo conversations while our kids are learning and picking up their cues on these things from peers, culture, social media, and the entertainment industry. But, if we want our children to have Godly perspectives, healthy relational/physical boundaries, and make wise choices in this area of life, then we have to be the ones to speak truth to them and lead them in that direction. So, these videos will offer parents some practical suggestions on how to engage in these conversations with their kids in a good and healthy way.
During the month of February, let’s take some time as children’s ministry leaders to acknowledge this month’s elephants in the room—Love, Relationships, and Dating (and maybe even sex). Valentine’s Day and the onslaught of media, eye candy, and actual candy that comes with it tend to consume our culture. The kids we are responsible for leading are, no doubt, already soaking everything in and using that to lay a foundation for what they believe about relationships, dating (and yes, even sex one day). The parents we are responsible for equipping are often too paralyzed to enter into these conversations with their kids or too naive to think they need to yet. That’s why we are taking the opportunity with this month’s coaching video to provide you with some tips on how to handle this important topic as a children’s ministry leader. And it all starts with helping the kids in our ministries understand what healthy relationships look like. How kids learn to handle the key relationships in their lives will chart their course with relationships (even romantic ones) for years to come. We have the opportunity to help shape what they believe and to help their parents be better equipped to step into these conversations in healthy and helpful ways.
Click the image above to watch the video or click HERE!
Copy/ Paste this email into a browser and send it to parents.
Subject Line: Kids and Dating: Pay Attention
Dear Parents,
My guess is that there are a lot of things you think and worry about when it comes to your little ones. You think about their health and well-being. You are concerned with their physical, mental, and spiritual development and how they will grow in the next several years. I would also guess that you don’t spend as much time during this phase thinking about their dating life. Sure, you might be praying for their future spouse, but are you doing anything intentionally now to help set up your kids for a successful dating life? This month we want to provide you with some excellent ideas, tools, resources, and a little needed encouragement that will help you start an ongoing conversation with your kids about relationships and dating in an age-appropriate way and better equip you to navigate these conversations along the way.
To watch this month’s Online Parenting Class video, click the link below.
Thank you for allowing us to partner with you as you lead your family. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
In this alongside you,
[INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE]
EMAIL 2
Copy/ Paste this email into a browser and send it to parents.
Subject Line: More Than “The Talk”
Dear Parents,
Your little ones have a lot going on. They are growing and developing in so many ways, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. Before you know it, they’ll be taking an interest in that someone special and making decisions about relationships, boyfriends, girlfriends, and dating. I know that it seems eons away, but if you don’t open this conversation now, then you are rolling the dice on getting caught off guard with these issues and conversations later. The stakes are just too high and your kids’ futures are much too precious to risk. So, this month we want to provide you with some ideas, tools, resources, and some much-needed encouragement that we hope will help you as a parent be better equipped to navigate leading your kids through these critical areas of life.
In this month’s blog article, you’ll discover some practical tips for laying a foundation with your kids in an age-appropriate way now so that they can engage in healthy relationships in the future. Take a few minutes to check it out. You’ll be glad you did.
And don’t forget to check out this month’s Online Parenting Class video, where we give you some thoughts and ideas on why it’s never too soon to open an ongoing conversation about relationships with your kids.
Hang in there and know that we are in this together! We are always here for you if you need us.
Praying with you and for you as you lead at home.
[ INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE ]
Video Script
This month we’re talking about dating. And you’re probably wondering if you have the correct parenting video! After all, isn’t dating a teen topic? Well, yes and no. Teens are the ones going on dates, so why do we need to talk about this now while your children are young? Because it matters. One of the goals of parenting is to keep the end game in mind. Who do you want your kids to be as they grow into adulthood? What characteristics do you want to instill in them before they leave your nest? Looking ahead helps focus your perspective on how to parent along the way.
You should be prepared that some children start to take an interest in the opposite sex earlier than you’d expect. In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics said kids start dating at an average age of 12 and a half for girls and 13 and a half for boys. If that’s the average, that means kids also start dating at younger ages. Kids’ access to social media, whether on their own devices or on a friend’s, as well as television shows and movies depicting young relationships, present the idea of dating early, and it may not be what you want for your children. In my experience with middle to late elementary grades, I’ve seen kids as young as 3rd grade begin writing “love notes” and pairing off. They talk about having a boyfriend or girlfriend. These relationships are often benign, but it does indicate a need to have conversations early before their ideas about boy/girl relationships are fully developed based on what they hear and observe.
Young boyfriend/girlfriend situations are problematic. Parents respond in different ways. You can talk about what dating is, when it might be appropriate to start dating, and most importantly, how you feel about dating through a God-shaped lens. Or you can look at these relationships as cute, going so far as to meet the other child’s parents, and take the kids to movies or other activities so they can go on an actual date. However, when you encourage the relationships of younger children, you are placing them in a position they are not yet ready for. These early relationships need to be handled carefully. Younger kids are at a stage of development where they aren’t prepared for the emotional aspects of dating, especially defining self based on what a person you care about thinks and heartbreak when the relationship is over.
It’s not too soon to begin thinking about what your guidelines are going to be. It’s far easier to set expectations before you’re in the position where your child wants to date than it is to make up the rules on the spot. Sooner or later, your child will ask you about dating. It may be curiosity questions when they’re younger or an “I want to date” request later. It’s better to be prepared ahead of time and teach your kids the values and guidelines set in your family along the way than it is to put the brakes on when you’re in the thick of it.
So what should you as a parent of younger children need to consider?
Have conversations with your spouse about your beliefs and guidelines for dating. If you are a single parent, talk with parents of younger children and process this topic together. All parents can benefit from seeking out those who are in the midst of the dating years with their kids. Gather information from them about things they’re glad they decided upon and things they wish they would have done differently. It’s never too early to begin to define what dating will look like in your home and start talking with your kids about it as they grow up. You and your children will be better prepared when the time comes.
Here are a few questions for you to think about in these conversations:
Why do people date? Is it purely for the purpose of looking for a spouse, is it a rite of passage, or is it to learn about navigating relationships?
What are your guidelines going to be?
Will you set a certain age to begin dating? Or will you use your child’s developmental ability to handle the emotional and physical side of dating?
What do you think about group dating as opposed to one-on-one dates?
How will you set boundaries like curfews, what are appropriate places to go on dates, and age differences?
What should your kids look for in a boyfriend/girlfriend? What traits are important? This is a question you can actually ask your children. With younger kids, some answers may be funny, but they can also be insightful. This conversation should be a regular thing as your child grows up.
It’s hard to imagine your younger child ever dating, but the day will come. The more time you spend now preparing for the future, the more you will be glad you did when you reach that stage of parenting.
A new year offers new beginnings, new opportunities, and new perspectives. As you navigate through your faith journey and seek to lead the children and families in your span of care, there are some new tools that you can use as a children’s ministry leader. As we take our first steps into 2023, we want to encourage you, your volunteers, and the parents you lead to consider walking away from the often-ineffective practice of setting new year’s resolutions. We all know that resolutions focus not on formation but on behavior, and they often don’t stick for very long. What if there was a tool you, your volunteers, and the parents in your church could use that would help to truly change the focus of the new year? What if there was a lens you could look through that would shape you in a powerful way? We believe the practice of picking a word for the year can be just the tool to propel you forward in your faith. The resources we’ve created this month revolve around the book My One Word (www.myoneword.org), and we would encourage you to lean into this concept, pick a word yourself, and share the idea with the volunteers on your team and parents in your church. One word really can change your life.
For more on this topic, don’t forget to check out the blog articles, coaching video, online parenting class video, toolbox item, and the latest episode of the M2P Podcast. Remember that we are here to serve you and to help you serve parents, so let us know if there is ever anything we can do for you or your ministry.
Happy New Year!
The M2P Team
WHAT IS IT?
This “My One Word Worksheet” helps anyone (you, volunteers, parents, and even kids) go through a simple process of picking one word for 2023. This will be a word that will help shape your faith and how you see the world. Picking a word helps us focus on formation and development rather than behavior modification.
HOW TO USE IT
Download the “My One Word Worksheet” and post it on your website.
Email volunteers and parents a copy of the resource or a link to it and encourage them to set aside some time to work through it and even lead their kids through the process.
Print copies of the document for parents to grab at church.
Use the worksheet to pick a word for yourself.
To download, click HERE for youth, HERE , and HERE for you as a ministry leader or volunteer leader.
We are launching the new year with a focus on how we, as children’s ministry leaders, can step into 2023 in a bit of a different way. Instead of making more New Year’s resolutions that we rarely keep, we can simply pick one word to frame our year. In our coaching video, we’ve invited pastor, author, and creator of My One Word, Mike Ashcraft, to walk us through why this is a better way to grow in our faith and how we can do this ourselves.
As we step into a new year, give the parents within your children’s ministry influence the gift of a way to lose that long list of resolutions—all their sweeping promises to change—and do something about one thing this year instead of nothing about everything. We’ve invited the pastor, author, and creator of My One Word, Mike Ashcraft, to share this unique tool he’s created with parents and teach them how to use it for themselves and utilize it within their kids. When we just pick New Year’s resolutions, they often focus on changing our behaviors instead of molding our character. Picking a word for the year can help parents and kids consistently evaluate how they are being formed and changed as they navigate different circumstances in life. Mike will share how this powerful tool can impact parents and children alike as they determine who they want to be moving into this new year.
A new year always brings new possibilities. As children’s ministry leaders, we have the opportunity to grow in our own faith as we lead the volunteers, parents, kids, and families in our church to grow in theirs. It’s always great to find new tools to help us all move along our faith journey, and this month we have a new tool for you. It’s called My One Word. Pastor and author Mike Ashcraft came up with this concept over fifteen years ago and has been leading people worldwide through the process. My One Word can help you–along with the volunteers, parents, kids, and families you lead–land on a real focus for the new year. This one word focus can help provide you with the staying power you need to go beyond a new year’s resolution and instead lead to real transformation. To learn more and step into the My One Word process, check out this month’s coaching video.
Click the image above to watch the video or click HERE!
Copy/ Paste this email into a browser and send it to parents.
Subject Line: Just a Word
Dear Parents,
I think we all know that words are powerful. They set direction, chart courses, and lead us in so many ways. But, as you and your kids head into the new year, what if you didn’t struggle with failed resolutions and unchanged behavior? What if you decided to focus more on formation than behavior modification–for your kids and for yourself? This month we introduce you to a book and idea called My One Word. This process helps you and your kids determine the type of person you want to be as you move along your faith journey. In this month’s Online Parenting Class video, pastor and author Mike Ashcraft shares more about this My One Word concept and how you can utilize it in this new year with your family.
Copy/ Paste this email into a browser and send it to parents.
Subject Line: My One Word
Dear Parents,
How would you like to move into this new year with your family having a tool and a process that can truly help everyone in your home grow in their faith? We’re not talking about picking resolutions that focus on behavior modification and rarely work. Instead, we’re talking about a way to look at your life that will frame your entire year and allow God to work in you and your kids even when a failure occurs. Instead of thinking about ways to modify behavior, you could simply pick one word. In this month’s blog article, you’ll be inspired and equipped in some ways to do just that through My One Word. Take a few minutes to check it out. You’ll be glad you started the new year with this quick read.
And don’t forget to watch this month’s Online Parenting Class video, where pastor, author, and creator of My One Word, Mike Ashcraft, walks you through the process.
Thank you for the honor and privilege you give our ministry in allowing us to walk alongside you and your family in this new year.
In this alongside you,
[INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE]
Video Script
Hi parents, Chris Sasser here, and I am excited for the way we’re going to step into the new year at Ministry to Parents. You know, most years, we might pick resolutions, and we know that those never really work. Well, this year, we’re going to encourage you to step into the new year in a new way. Maybe instead of picking some resolutions, you can just pick one word to frame your entire year, and today you’re going to hear from my friend and pastor Mike Ashcraft.
Hey parents. One of the things that happens early on in our children’s lives is they begin to answer “do” questions with “be” answers. From the moment they arrive in kindergarten, they start asking, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” and we begin to answer those questions with, “I want to be a doctor” or “I want to be a teacher” or “I want to be an architect,” and very quickly we begin to sort of make synonymous our vocation with our identity. And this isn’t super harmful because it’s sort of the normal ways that things are kind of progress, but I think we have an opportunity to do something different, something that profoundly shapes not only we interact with our kids in their elementary school years, but really sets a foundation for them to consider how their vocation is going to become an expression of their identity rather than the way to define it. And what kids need, and I think the opportunity for us, years ago we began this process where we stopped picking New Year’s resolutions, we stopped making promises about the kind of changes we were going to make in our lives, and instead we begin to pick a word. We just asked a simple question, “What kind of person you want to become?” You can lead your kids through this right, “What kind of person would you like to become?” “What kind of traits would you like to see in your life and become more readily available, more seeable in your life over the course of a year?” Have them make a list of those things, is it kindness, is it goodness, do they want to become more outgoing? Whatever it might be, just help them make that list. Have those conversations with them, then narrow that list down, and then have them simply pick one word. This is a great exercise, not only kind of envisioning but actually selecting and eliminating because you’re going to have four or five words that you want. You’re going to make them, or force them, or help them pick just one because this is what focus is ultimately about. Then that word will serve as a lens through which you will see your entire life over that year, and what you will see your kid’s life and kind of watch and help them watch what’s happening in them so every time they do something right that that moves in a direction away from the kind of person they want to become, instead of it being a scolding and a, “You got to promise to do better” it becomes, “Hey, what if we realigned our vision with the kind of person that you want to become, that we want to be and experience together?” You use this process with your kids, and over time what they begin to learn and realize is that who they are becoming is far more important than what it is they’re going to do. Your kids are going to grow up with so much pressure to do things, to do more to get into the right schools, to do all the right things, and the reality is God has designed us such that those good and beautiful things come out of the good and beautiful character that He longs to form in our lives. And what we want to do is to provide a way for our kids to see that and to stay focused on that, and to experience God’s promise as he says that “he who began a good work in them is faithful to bring it to completion.” And as parents, we get to help reshape and reframe and just realign our kids to the vision of who it is that they want to become and the kind of work that God wants to do in them.
Well, parents, I know that was incredibly helpful, and I also know that as a parent over the last number of years, taking my kids through this has really given us a lot of things to talk about at home and some ways for me to encourage my kids to step into who they are becoming. So, two things I would encourage you with is, number one, go through the my one word process yourself as a parent because as you continue you to lead your kids, you need to be growing in your own faith, and I promise you this is a tool that will help you do that for the new year. And then, secondly, figure out ways to talk to your kids about this and maybe lead your kids through the My One Word process because, as they step into a new year, they need a different lens on who it is that they can become. For more information, go to myoneword.org. You’ll be glad you did.
The month of December can often be full of lots of activity both at church and at home. The chaos of the holidays can push us and the families we serve to live at a pace that will drain us if we’re not careful. We all know that we need rest, and we need a rest that focuses on God and the peace that only He can give. This month M2P is providing you with tools and resources that will help you encourage parents to lead the way in experiencing and modeling rest in their families. We are challenging you as a children’s ministry leader to take some time to step into a real rest yourself. This year let’s make the holidays about more than just decorations, events, festivities, and busyness. Let’s be intentional about slowing down, catching our breath, and carving out the time to experience Emmanuel, God with us. Let’s learn how to rest in Him.
For more on this topic, don’t forget to check out the blog articles, coaching video, online parenting class video, toolbox item, and the latest episode of the M2P Podcast. Remember that we are here to serve you and to help you serve parents, so let us know if there is ever anything we can do for you or your ministry.
Merry Christmas!
The M2P Team
WHAT IS IT?
This “A Personal Retreat” is designed to help the parents serve (and you…yes, children’s ministry leader, you need this toolbox item also) take an intentional step into rest by carving out some specific time to look back at the year, evaluate how God has worked in you, and look ahead to what God may want to do in you this next year. This retreat can be done in one session over a few hours or in smaller chunks over a few days. The week after Christmas is a great time to do this personal retreat in order to set yourself up for a great launch into 2023.
HOW TO USE IT
Download “A Personal Retreat” and post it on your website.
Email parents a copy of the resource or a link to it and encourage them to set aside some time to go through the questions and journal their thoughts.
Print copies of the document for parents to grab at church.
Do the personal retreat yourself. Trust us; you need it, and you deserve it!
To download, click HERE for youth and HERE for kids.
In this month’s coaching video, we focus on Psalm 46:10, where we are encouraged to go in a direction we don’t often go. “He says, ‘Be still and know that I am God.'” The God of the universe is directing us to stop and acknowledge Him for who He is. If we’re honest, stopping and resting are hard for children’s workers. We have so much to do and so many kids, families, and volunteers to tend to that we often miss the very essence of what God wants us to do. He simply wants us to learn how to be in His presence and lead from that place. Take a few minutes this month to watch the video and honestly reflect on whether you have learned how to live from a place of rest.
Talk to a parent about their life, and they will almost always say some version of, “We’re really busy.” They are busy with work, busy with their kids’ activities, and busy with their own social life. Heck, we can often pile on and give them things to be busy with at church. Rarely do they take quality time to slow down and truly rest in God. This month’s Online Parenting Class video challenges parents to take some time to evaluate their pace of life and take some time this holiday season to just rest. How can they slow down a bit and enjoy the gift and presence of God in their lives? Then we encourage them to make resting in God a normal and natural part of life so they can lead their kids and families towards experiencing this same rest.
So, how are you feeling? More and more, it seems that people are responding to that question with “I’m tired.” Parents are saying it. Kids are saying it. And children’s workers are certainly responding in that way. Well, we want to encourage and challenge you this month to take some time to rest. More specifically, we want to encourage and challenge you to be intentional about resting IN God as you celebrate the birth of the Lord into the world. As a children’s worker, you need a consistent rhythm of rest in order to be the best leader you can be. In this month’s coaching video, we give you a few easy, specific ideas for how you can develop a pattern of rest, and we give you a chance to do it. So, take a few moments to check out the video and think through how you can better incorporate real, restorative rest into your life. Trust us; you need it, and you deserve it!
Click the image above to watch the video or click HERE!
