December, 2016 | Gospel-Centred Parenting

Guest Post: How to do a Family Devotion

Scott and Cathy Free Printables, Guest Posts December 27, 2016August 6, 2020 2 Comments

Here’s a guest post written by close friends and fellow church planters, Michael and Lisa Hall. We’ve asked them to tell us a bit about how they structure their family devotions, and we think you’ll find it both inspiring and achievable. Here’s what they had to say…

Our greatest desire for our three boys is that they would grow up to love Jesus. To help that process we wanted to think through a family devotional plan. Don’t let that sentence put you off! It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to look like something suitable for pinterest or instagram. Our aim is simple: We want to read the Bible with our children and talk about it.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

– Deuteronomy 6:4-8

This section from Deuteronomy reminds us that learning about God and growing in faith is not restricted to the hour that they spend in the kids’ club at church. It needs to be a regular part of family life, which is what these verses describe – talking about God’s words when you’re at home, when you’re out and about, at night-time and in the morning.

Introducing children to Jesus isn’t done in the one off big events, it’s done in the countless everyday moments. We’ve tried to do this in structured and unstructured ways. From before they were able to understand it, we have read the Bible with the boys every night before bedtime (going through the Jesus Storybook Bible *, The Beginner’s Bible * and The Big Picture Story Bible * multiple times). They love routines and would not let us forget to do this! It’s a small but incredibly important investment. It takes 5-10 minutes and our 5 year old twins have heard God’s word for most of the 1825 days they’ve been here.

In a more unstructured way we have loved learning the bible through singing. We always have a Colin Buchanan CD on the go in the car and, due to the fact that the songs are incredibly catchy, we’ve found the boys and ourselves memorising parts of the Bible without trying!

As well as the everyday bible reading and singing in the car, we have recently started to try a more planned time to help the boys engage with what they are hearing and learning. So, once a week after we finish eating, we have the catchily-titled Hall family bible time. We choose some verses from Colin Buchanan’s Baa Baa Doo Baa Baa * album (which is just Bible verses as songs) to learn and talk about. We choose verses to help us think about the big sweep of the gospel story from creation, through the fall, redemption and then looking forward to new creation.

We sing the bible verse through a couple of times and ask the boys a few simple questions (see examples below). It doesn’t matter when they get it wrong, it’s an opportunity to talk about what the words mean and help them think through what the verse says. We often give sweets out to encourage participation with these questions and sometimes we include a small craft activity. We spent a couple of weeks in each verse which helped them to learn and remember the questions we had been asking.

Here are the first 4 verses we used with examples of the sort of questions we asked.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God (He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.)

We spent some time looking at pictures and youtube videos of the universe
What does beginning mean?
Who is the word?
Who made x/y/z?
Who made you?
Why did God make you?

Isaiah 53:6

We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has gone his own way, but the Lord has laid on him, the iniquity of us all

We made some sheep by sticking cotton wool on paper plates
What does it mean if a sheep goes astray?
What does it mean for us to go astray/our own way?
What does iniquity mean?
Who has it been laid on?

Titus 3:5

He saved us, not because of the righteous things we’ve done, by his mercy, through Jesus Christ his son

Who saved us?
What does righteous mean?
What does mercy mean?
Why has he saved us?

John 14:1-4

Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God trust also in me, in my Father’s house there are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you. I’m going to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come back to take you to be with me, so you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.

What does it mean if your heart is troubled?
What does Jesus say you should do if your heart is troubled?
Where is Jesus going and what is he doing?
What is the way to the place he is going?

Don’t picture in your mind that this is a perfectly executed miniature church service. Sometimes they engage with the questions, sometimes they don’t. It’s often chaotic and the songs and questions are regularly interrupted so we can break up fights and clear up spillages! That doesn’t matter – it’s the long-term cumulative effect of exposure to God’s word that we’re aiming for.
Why not try it this year? It doesn’t have to be the same as us, but take some time to think about how you will expose your children to God’s word. We can’t change our children’s hearts, only God can do that, but we think of what we are doing as gathering kindling (to borrow a phrase from Matt Chandler) and praying for the Holy Spirit to set it alight.

Michael and Lisa are parents to three boys, twins Timothy and Ezekiel (5) and Simeon (2). They spend their time teaching Physics, clearing up Lego and helping to plant Grace Church Hartlepool. Michael blogs at justworshipgod.com and would love you to follow him on snapchat (justworshipgod) for a daily dose of the good news of Jesus.

The Halls have kindly given us access to their Spotify List of all the Colin Buchanan Memory verses songs.

You can also download printable Bible verses to go with the songs by subscribing to our mailing list by following this link.

Christmas GIVEAWAY: Bake Through The Bible At Christmas

Scott and Cathy Giveaways December 19, 2016December 27, 2016 2 Comments

It’s time for another giveaway!

Our dear friend and author, Bekah Moore, has kindly donated a signed copy of her brilliant new book, Bake through the Bible at Christmas *, which she co-authored with Susie Bentley-Taylor.

Here at Gospel-Centred Parenting, we love thinking about how to share the gospel in the everyday situations of life with our children. This is a great book to help us do this at Christmas, through baking different delicious things that create opportunities to chat with our children about the wonder of the incarnation.

We asked Bekah to tell us a little about the inspiration behind the book…

What inspired you to write Bake through the Bible?

“Back in 2012, my dear friend Susie and I were chatting about how to teach our little boys, Simeon and Joshua, the truths of the Bible. We had both recently read Treasuring God In Our Traditions * by Noël Piper and John Yount’s Everyday Talk *. Both books encouraged us to keep talking about and pointing to Christ in our parenting everyday. Life already felt chaotic (and that was when we had only one child each!) and so we were keen to use things we did anyway to teach our boys about Jesus. For example, talking about all the things we can see that God has made when walking through the park. One thing we both love doing is baking and we’d already started to involve the boys in this. So we began to think about how we could use baking to teach the boys about God and his love for them. And the ideas began to flow…!

How does it work?

Bake Through the Bible * retells 20 key Bible stories that take us through the Bible’s storyline. The stories are written to engage small children, and are each accompanied by a baking activity to draw out and reinforce the teaching from the story. There are pointers and ‘while you cook’ questions to help you talk to your child about the story and God’s love for us while you’re having fun baking.

What if I’m no good at baking?

The baking activities are simple – they’re not designed for The Great British Bake Off contestants! There are a mix of recipes: savoury, sweet, snacks and meals. They are simple, with minimal ingredients and André from The Good Book Company has illustrated the instructions beautifully to help older children to follow them independently. There are even time saving tips (e.g. buying ready-made hot cross buns and icing pens rather than making hot cross buns from scratch). I really emphasise this, because Bake through the Bible isn’t about baking masterpieces with your children: it’s designed to help you to teach them about Jesus while having fun.

We’ve been really encouraged by the feedback we’ve had from Bake through the Bible. It’s been used by parents, grandparents, godparents, as well as in holiday clubs, Sunday clubs, schools and even Nursing Homes. It’s also been given as a gift to many non-Christian families. So in 2014 we wrote the sequel: Bake through the Bible at Christmas. This is the same idea, and the stories take us through the Christmas Story from Isaiah’s description of Jesus being a light in the darkness to Jesus being the best Christmas present because he is our rescuer (John 3.16).

We have varied success with baking in our house! When baking with Simeon, many of the ingredients are consumed raw…! We’ve had burnt, inedible biscuits, flour everywhere except in the bowl, boys walking off after 30 seconds of baking, but much of the time, baking is a lovely, engaging family activity for us.

What recipes are your family favourites?

We love making an empty bread tomb on Easter weekend with Simeon and Francis. We put a toy figure in the tomb and take him away while the boys are sleeping on Saturday night, and they are genuinely amazed and confused about where he has gone – what a joy to tell them that Jesus is not dead, he is risen!

Simeon loves the happy snowman trifle, which illustrates that Simeon and Anna were very happy because they saw Jesus and knew he was the rescuer of the world. Francis currently loves gingerbread, so I’m thinking we might attempt a gingerbread stable next week…”

Bekah lives in Hartlepool with her husband, Nick, and sons Simeon (5) and Francis (3). They are part of All Saints’ Church Stranton, where Nick is curate. She loves the sea, food, Jesus and her family (not in that order!). Nick and Bekah have a third son, Phoenix, who went to be with Jesus shortly after he was born in February this year.

So how can you win a copy?

If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning this brilliant book, then entering is simple. To enter:

Share this post on facebook, and comment on the post on our facebook page to let us know your favourite family Christmas tradition.

You can have an additional entry into the competition for each of the following activities too:

Like our Facebook Page (if you haven’t already)
Follow us on Twitter (if you don’t already)
Tweet this post (make sure you include our handle, @GCParenting so we know you’ve done it!)
Follow us on Instagram

So that’s up to 5 entries!

The competition will close 48 hours after this post was published, and we’ll announce the winner shortly after that.

If you’re not a parent, then don’t let that put you off – this would make a great gift for another parent, or Sunday School teacher, or it would be great to use when you get to spend some time with children from your church.

Gospel in the Everyday | Go Jetters

Scott and Cathy Gospel In The Everyday December 15, 2016August 16, 2018 0 Comment

“Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s…

That sentence could be finished with any number of superheroes at the moment, as they seem to have taken over the Thomson household. Our 2 ½ year old is obsessed! Somehow, he knows the names of multiple superheroes, without ever having watched any superhero movies or programmes.

Most of us love a good superhero, don’t we? We love the idea of someone superhuman; someone who can come to the rescue when we’re most in need; someone who will battle for justice against the forces of evil.

Sound familiar? We love superheroes because they itch where the world is scratching; they seem to solve the problems that human can’t face on their own. We love superheroes because they tell a story that seems impossible in this world. We love superheroes because superheroes remind us of someone else. They tell a fictional version of the true story of Jesus.

Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk – all of these are regularly on the lips of our little one at the moment. But there’s a certain superhero, or rather a band of superheroes, which has held a special place in his heart for some time now.

The Go Jetters.

You may not be familiar with Go Jetters if you don’t have pre-schoolers, but it’s a CBeebies staple.

The four heroes, Xuli, Kyan, Lars and Foz travel the world with their disco loving teacher and mentor Ubercorn. Each episode they travel to a famous landmark only to find it being “glitched” (changed or damaged in some way) by the evil Grandmaster Glitch. The Go Jetters invariably rescue the landmark and restore it to its former glory (and then take a souvenir selfie to remember the moment!).

It’s superheroes for toddlers, and it very effectively captures the essence of the superhero genre.

We believe that we can use the everyday situations that we face to help us speak to our children about the gospel, and that even applies to a 2 ½ year old watching CBeebies.

You see, much of what is great about Go Jetters is seen even more beautifully in Jesus. Jesus is the true rescuer. He sees the “glorious ruin” – a fallen humanity rather than a glitched landmark. He too is angered and saddened by the brokenness he sees, and he too defeats the enemy – the enemy of sin – to restore us to what we should be: the beautiful image of God.

That’s deep theology – wouldn’t it be wonderful if our children began to grasp these things for themselves? We want to give our children every opportunity to engage with the gospel.

As superhero stories capture our children’s imagination and rouse their yearning for justice, we have the privilege and honour of showing them this doesn’t need to end in fantasy and the imagination. There’s a true story that these other stories point to – one that, when our children see it, is far more exciting. It’s a story that they are caught up in, one where the superhero can be their rescuer too.

Does your child like superheroes? How can you help them to see echoes of the gospel in the story they love?

This post first appeared as a guest post on the Sunshine Lenses blog of our friend Cat Caird. It’s posted here too as part of our “Gospel in the Everyday” series. If you’d like to read the introduction to the series then click through to find out what it’s all about.

Guest Post: Helping your kids engage with stories

Scott and Cathy Guest Posts December 12, 2016August 16, 2018 2 Comments

We’re thrilled to have a guest post written by Cat Caird. Cat is a friend and former colleague (during our time on staff with UCCF:The Christian Unions). She describes herself as “Christian. Wife. Mum. Geek. Gamer. Blogger.” Cat’s blog explores popular culture through the lens of a Christian Worldview. She says that she wants to “explore how as Christians we can enjoy the culture around us, but also engage with it in a deep way that allows us to see and celebrate the good in our culture as well as engage with the things that need redemption.” Her blog is thoughtful and helpful, check out more of her stuff over at Sunshine Lenses.

We are so excited that she’s written for Gospel-Centred Parenting! Today she’s helping us think through how we can help our children engage with stories in a thoughtful and Christ-honouring way.

In 2015, the BBC reported that “Children aged five to 16 spend an average of six and a half hours a day in front of a screen…according to market research firm Childwise.”

Although reading statistics like this can seem rather scary and daunting, the reality is that screen time is a digital technology that is very much part of our everyday lives. As our children grow up, they will encounter even more advanced digital technology, using it at home, school and work, becoming much more proficient at it then we ever will.

I am not sure we can, nor do I think we should, hide away from it. There are of course times where we must switch the screen off or limit screen time. But in general, it’s part of the fabric of our lives, which means it’s something we need to engage with and provide tools for our children to help them engage with the stories they see on screen.

Everything we see on screen is telling us a message, from films to adverts, they are revealing to us stories and ideas that either convey elements of the Gospel or deny the Gospel. As Christians, I don’t think it’s helpful to simply soak up these messages without any thought as to what they are saying and equally we cannot ignore or dismiss those messages either.

Therefore, from an early age we can begin to help our children ask good questions about what they watch, revealing the places where Gospel truth (love, sacrifice, heroes, hope, joy, friendship etc) is celebrated and showing the places that need redemption (sin, fallen heroes, villains, darkness, despair). This will enable them to judge what is good, wholesome and true, while also identifying the places that hold up a distorted mirror of the truth.

So for example, when they encounter stories that tell them the way to have a happy life is by being rich, successful and owning a certain brand of car, they can return back to the Gospel and see how that story has distorted the truth. Or when they encounter stories that show love through sacrifice or the value of friendship, they can again come back to the Gospel and celebrate how that reflects Jesus.

So to help us with that, I have put together 5 questions we could ask while watching a film, advert or tv program with our kids:
Questions:

What did you like and dislike about the story and why?
How did the story make you feel? (happy, sad, frightened, excited?)
Who were the Heroes and Villains? (the good guys and the bad guys)
How was the Hero or villain the same / different to Jesus?
What did you learn from the story?

These questions are designed to start a conversation, to get you and your child thinking about the story and the messages that are being conveyed. To start with you could pick one or two questions at an appropriate time and see where that conversation leads you. I think you may find some interesting ideas will pop up.

As we start to do this more, it will help us to think through what we watch and why we watch it. It will also give us avenues to share the gospel with our children and their friends, using stories that they love and identify with to share Gospel truths.

If you would like to read more about the subject of engaging with stories, here are some links that you may find helpful:

5 Resources for hosting a film discussion

Popologetics book by Ted Turnau *

Damaris Trust Website

We hope you enjoyed this post. Don’t forget to check out Cat’s blog for more great posts.

5 Ideas for Cultivating Generous Kids| #5

Scott and Cathy Cultivating generous kids December 9, 2016December 13, 2017 0 Comment

This is the fifth part in our series “5 Ideas For Cultivating Generous Kids This Christmas”. Click here to read the introduction to this series.

#5 Be a generous global citizen

Love it or hate it, you will hear the Band Aid hit “Do they know it’s Christmas?” a lot over the next few weeks. While it’s true to say that some of the lyrics are unhelpful or even untrue generalisations, nevertheless the song is still powerful. It’s a jarring experience to sing the harrowing words while wearing a Christmas jumper and dancing around a house crowded with wrapping paper, new possessions and a feast of food.

We’re surrounded by plenty and yet we’re singing the words:

“But say a prayer for the other ones
At Christmastime
It’s hard, but when you’re having fun
There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears

And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you
And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime

The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life
Oh, where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?

Here’s to you, raise a glass for ev’ryone
Here’s to them, underneath that burning sun
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?

Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again”

It’s uncomfortable. It’s incongruous. It’s at odds with the festivities of the moment.

That’s the desired effect.

Then there’s a call to donate. A call to turn that guilt into something helpful. To give out of our abundance in the West and to help someone in need in the developing world.

It’s probably been a fairly effective means of getting people to donate at Christmastime over the years.

We’d like to suggest that the Gospel is an even better motivator for giving to the poor at Christmas.

You see the Bible is packed full of commands to care for the needy – not simply because it’s the right thing to do in a broken and unjust world (although it most certainly is!) but because all Christians were lost, were poor, were vulnerable and were oppressed. Yet God who is rich in love rescued us from our poverty and made us abundantly rich in Christ.

There are too many verses to quote and biblical stories to recount which demonstrate God’s unwavering compassion towards the poor and destitute. If you are looking for a book which will help you get your teeth into this topic then try Generous Justice * by Tim Keller.

But suffice to say, Jesus was the most extraordinarily generous and compassionate man. Any glance at any page of any gospel will show you his commitment to the poor and needy. He self-sacrificially poured himself out in his healing and teaching ministry, but ultimately he gave up his very blood to heal the brokenness of the entire world.

So let’s try and encourage our children to think about the needs of the poor, and to think globally about this. Poverty, war, natural disasters, persecution of Christians, human trafficking and disease are horrendous realities of life in our world; the people caught up in these atrocities are very close to God’s heart. There is no easy way to talk to our children about them, and yet it’s essential that we do. In an age-appropriate way, let’s make our children aware that they are in a privileged position and that they can and should bless others who are in desperate situations.

Lots of charities are doing Christmas appeals. Unicef, Tearfund and Christian Aid are all doing Christmas appeals where you can quickly and simply donate money online. There are options for all budgets, from a £3 blanket to keep a Syrian child warm through winter, to £47 to provide shelter and counselling for a child rescued from trafficking, to £100 for food, mattresses and hygiene kits for a displaced family. Lots of these websites have images of what you are purchasing and the pictures of the types of people who will be receiving your help. Perhaps sit with your child and look at the information on the website together. It might help them visualize who they are giving to and what a difference it will make.

Depending on the how sensitive your child is, this may be very hard for them to think about. Encourage them that Jesus cares deeply for these people, that he died to bring all the sadness in the world to an end, and that one day he will be coming back to make everything perfect.

Here’s a beautiful excerpt from the Jesus Storybook Bible * which you can read to your child to comfort them:

I see a sparkling city shimmering in the sky: glittering, glowing – coming down! From heaven. And from the sky. Heaven is coming down to earth! And the King says, “Look! God and his children are together again. No more running away. Or hiding. No more crying or being lonely or afraid. No more being sick or dying. Because all those things are gone. Yes, they’re gone forever. Everything sad has come untrue. And see – I have wiped away every tear from every eye!”And then a deep beautiful voice that sounded like thunder in the sky says, “Look! I am making everything new!”

Sally Lloyd-Jones

That’s it for our Cultivating Generous Kids This Christmas series. We hope you enjoyed it!

5 Ideas for Cultivating Generous Kids| #4

Scott and Cathy Cultivating generous kids December 8, 2016December 13, 2017 0 Comment

This is the fourth part in our series “5 Ideas For Cultivating Generous Kids This Christmas”. Click here to get the introduction to this series.

#4 Be a generous member of the local community

Find out what initiatives there are in your local area, pick one and get stuck in with your child. This could be giving money for a young-carers Christmas party, carol singing in a local care home, having an international student spend Christmas day with you, or donating food for the homeless-shelter’s Christmas dinner. Where we live there is a “Giving Tree” in the town centre. Through this you can buy a gift for a child in the town who is living with domestic abuse. We picked children the same age and gender as our children to buy gifts for.

Work for the well-being of the city where I have sent you to and pray to the Lord for this. For if it is well with the city you live in, it will be well with you.”

Jeremiah 29:7

5 Ideas For Cultivating Generous Kids | #3

Scott and Cathy Cultivating generous kids December 7, 2016December 9, 2016 2 Comments

This is the third part in our series “5 Ideas For Cultivating Generous Kids This Christmas”. Click here to get the introduction to this series.

#3 Be a generous neighbour

It’s not necessarily the done thing anymore to chat to/ befriend/ give gifts to your neighbours. But how wonderful would it be if as Christians we were known to be generous neighbours? God knows exactly the times and places in which we would live so that people could come to faith in him (Acts 17), so are we making the most of this opportunity? Blessing our neighbours can be anything from making a hamper for an elderly neighbour to buying a dog toy for the puppy next door. Have a chat to your children about who your neighbours are and ask them what they think they might value as a gift this Christmas time. Then go and deliver said gift with your child. Never fear if it’s a box of shop-bought mince pies or chocolates hurriedly added on to your Tesco order – we are wanting to model building and growing relationships to our children. The value in this idea is really in the delivering the gift and wishing your neighbours a happy Christmas.

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

Acts 17:26-27

5 Ideas for Cultivating Generous Kids | #2

Scott and Cathy Cultivating generous kids December 6, 2016December 5, 2016 0 Comment

This is the second part in our series “5 Ideas For Cultivating Generous Kids This Christmas”. Click here to get the introduction to this series.

#2 Be a generous family member

Children (and adults!) often can be more excited about receiving presents then giving presents. But what a refreshing thing it would be if we could inspire our children to be excited about giving presents to other family members. Perhaps you can sit down with each child and ask them what they think their mummy/daddy/sibling/grandparents/aunty etc would like for Christmas? Through conversation encourage your children to be thoughtful, to consider the interests and passions of that particular family member. Go through each family member that the child will be giving a gift to and write down a shopping list. Then make the time to go out shopping with them, getting excited about how much the recipient will love their present. Stop for hot chocolate and a chat if your child is old enough (and civilised enough!) to enjoy that sort of thing. Then have a fun evening wrapping up the presents together, incorporating Christmas music, Christmas snacks and Christmas jumpers. We want our kids to love the festivities – including the giving of gifts to others. This may take a few different shopping outings (one special shopping trip and evening of wrapping with each child). If you have a crafty child, let them go to town with ribbons, labels and string (who doesn’t love a beautifully wrapped present?)

On Christmas morning encourage your children to watch each other open their gifts (if this is impossible for the bulk of the gifts, then make it mandatory for family gifts to each other). Part of the joy of giving is seeing people’s reactions as they uncover what you’ve got them. Encourage hugs and expressions of gratitude.

…the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

Acts 20:35

5 Ideas For Cultivating Generous Kids This Christmas

Scott and Cathy Cultivating generous kids December 5, 2016August 17, 2018 4 Comments

Christmas is such a special and exciting time of year. All of the senses are awoken with mulled wine; twinkling lights; carols; turkey; and kissing under the mistletoe. It’s a season of opulence, of feasting, of resting with loved ones, and of joy.

There are so many wonderful things to celebrate.

There are so many things to be thankful for, not least of these is the incarnation of our astonishingly self-giving and generous God!

Christmas is the time of year where we especially remember the coming of Christ. Christ – the most perfectly satisfying and joy-giving gift in the all the world. Christ, who was given from our heavenly father to me, and to you.

And yet, what does my heart so often crave at this time of year?

Stuff.

More gadgets, more money, more jewellery, more DVDs, more spa days, more chocolate…

More. More. More.

What message does social media, the TV, the shops, the world constantly bombard me with?

The message that I am not truly satisfied and what will satisfy me is more stuff.

And what about our children? What’s the world telling them?

That they will not be satisfied until they get more stuff.

More barbies. More Thomas’ trains. More teddy bears. More hi-tech gear. More chocolate.

More. More. More.

We have an insatiable appetite for more stuff. We are greedy for more stuff. We feel entitled to more stuff.

And why?

Not simply because we live in a culture which is consumed with consumerism – but because what we are craving behind that desire is something deeper.

We want happiness. We want satisfaction. We want fulfilment, joy, comfort and security. And they are good things.

But they are not found in stuff.

Stuff is often good and can bring temporary enjoyment. In fact stuff can be a beautiful part of the creation God has made, if it’s enjoyed in the right way. But those deeper longings that we all have can never be met by stuff. These deeper longings can only be met by the God-man who was born in poverty, who became a child refugee, who died the death of a criminal and was buried in a borrowed grave.

Jesus is the only one who can give us our heart’s greatest desires.

And so, this week we want to do a series of posts: 5 ways that you can encourage generosity in the hearts of your children.

Why do this? Not simply because Jesus’ self-sacrifice should inspire generosity, although it should.

We should do this because as we give generously, the cords of greed which grip our hearts are loosened. These cords which whisper “life, joy, freedom” are loosened and we experience true life, true joy and true freedom as we practically choose to trust the words of Jesus rather than our own selfish desires. We actively trust that “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) and in doing so we experientially know and feel it to be true.

Because you know what? In God’s economy when our bank balance goes down, that isn’t loss. It’s gain. We gain treasures in heaven.

It’s hard to believe isn’t it? It goes against everything our culture says.

And yet it’s true.

So over the next 5 days we’re going to suggest 5 ways that you can encourage your kids’ (and you!) to be generous.

But don’t just teach them that Christians should give away at Christmastime. Teach them that our heavenly Father gave his son for us; that Jesus gave his life up for us; that true life, joy and freedom is found in him; and that as we give sacrificially to others, we mirror our extraordinary God who was pleased to give us “every Spiritual blessing in Christ.”

So here’s today’s suggestion:

#1 Be a generous friend

Let’s encourage our children to be generous friends.

Why don’t you encourage your children to make something for their friends/ classmates? Perhaps home-made cards with a bible verse in it, or home-made fudge, or hand-made bracelets. Something that requires a little bit of an investment of time and thoughtfulness.

Get your child to come up with the idea themselves. Maybe choose a craft that you know they will enjoy doing or spend some time scheming together as you browse Pinterest for ideas.

Your child may get discouraged if the process takes a long time – but use this as a gospel opportunity to tell them how much God loves us and sacrificed for us. And remind them of how loved and special their friends will feel when they receive their gift. After your child has given away the gifts, ask them how their friend’s responded and praise your child for their generosity.

Stay tuned for the rest of the posts.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

2 Corinthians 8:9

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