The cross marking part of the potential expansion area.

THIS PAST SUNDAY, after kicking off the Discovery Period of the Stewardship Campaign at the first service with models, virtual fly-through and the campaign goals, Dan and I drove home to pick up our kids for Sunday school and 2^nd service.  On our way back to church, we drove south on Main Street, past the front of the church.  After hearing Mark Gillis talk about the tape that had been placed on the lawn of the church, showing where the building expansion would be, we wanted to take a look.

One nice touch that Mark added was placing a cross on the lawn to mark the spot where the cross would be at the front of the church.  “Oh,” I said, “that’s great that he put the cross in there.”

“Looks like there’s a bird on the cross,” Dan said.

“Yeah, it looks like a dove,” I commented.

“That’s a mourning dove,” Dan said.  I wouldn’t know a mourning dove from a peacock, but Dan is a nature guy who knows his birds.   We continued to watch the dove as we drove past the church and turned in the driveway.  We watched the dove as we drove down the driveway and to the parking lot.  The dove continued to sit, unmoving, on the cross.

“That’s gotta be a fake bird.  Mark Gillis must have put that on there.”  I figured this was another nice touch, since our goal levels for the campaign are all named for various birds, with our highest level being named after the dove.  We parked and started to walk toward the church.

“I’m just going to go look at that bird,” Dan said quickly, and he headed off toward Main Street and the front of the church.  A few minutes later, Dan came into the sanctuary.

“That wasn’t a fake bird.  That was a dove.  It didn’t fly away until I walked over toward it,” Dan reported.

A “God thing?”  Or a completely random coincidence?   Albert Einstein once noted that “There are two ways to live: You can live as if nothing is a miracle, or you can live as if everything is a miracle.”

I choose to believe that we are living in miraculous times at 1^st Covenant.

–Mary & Dan Wilkening, Stewardship Campaign Directors

How have you seen God working through the Stewardship Campaign?

The Outreach Team would like to share this story about how God blessed this event. As we were preparing the budget for 2012, the cost of each outreach event was discussed. After prayer and sharing we decided to use $1000 for each of the four outreach events in the course of the year.

As Easter approached we discussed how many certificates would be needed for the two services. From our experience last year we decided on 125 – ten dollar certificates. Since our budget was $1000, we knew we were short. Some of the team offered to make up the difference, but we put our faith to the test and waited to see how God would provide.

When the time came to purchase the certificates we contacted the manager at Perkins and explained what we were doing and how many certificates we would need. The discussion turned to paying for them and the final price. It was asked if they would offer us a deal and without any input from us, they offered up the 125 certificates for $1000. Just what our budget was for this outreach.  Coincidence, I think not. God is faithful.

But the story does not end there. When the time came to hand out the certificates we were amazed at how many people were at first service and were concerned at our supply of certificates. After handing those out we discovered we only had 55 left. Knowing that usually second service has more people attending, we were feeling in a pinch. There was really nothing we could do, so we left it in God’s hands.

Being the doubtful people we can be (like Abraham and Sara) we thought we would help God out by asking a family that was assisting in passing them out, to not take one. So when it came time to distribute the certificates there were a few anxious moments. But God again proved faithful and after all the baskets were collect it was discovered that there was one certificate still remaining in a basket: just enough for the family we asked to bow out. Why does this surprise us? Coincidence again, I think not. God is faithful.

So we ask you to put your trust in God. If you have used your certificate already, that is awesome. If you still have your certificate, please test how faithful God is and ask Him to provide a person to use the certificate on and see how God then blesses the time. Then let us know how it went so we can share these experiences of God’s faithfulness. We thank you for your participation.

What are some of your stories of God’s faithfulness?

The Outreach Team: Becky Lopez, Brian Hanson, Bob Gilbertson, Brett Dolliver, Julie Karpovich, Keith Hansen, Todd Ertsgaard, Sue and Steve Watters

Hard to believe it has been 10 weeks already and that we are at the end. (And, in manyways, the beginning of some new things for your family!) THANKS for investing in your family’s faith life with this. If this is your first time, glad you are here.

In these weeks, we have explored Faith Begins at Home: The Family Makeover with Home Makeover Christ at the Center and learned about various makeovers:

• Home Makeover
• Parent Makeover
• Child Makeover
• Extended Family Makeover
• And, now, we are in the midst of the Church Makeover

A makeover has been a good illustration because Christ comes into a life to do the ultimate makeover. In fact, it is such a total makeover that it is described as becoming a new creation.[1] But it comes only through a faith in Christ where we enter into a relationship with God Himself that forever changes our hearts, our commitments, even how we live.

As we noted previously, if we reduce faith to basically psychological or sociological processes, we miss that he is doing a transforming work that is internal and spiritual in nature but works very clearly in our external and everyday life. If we seek to do what this book describes to try to make the children around us “church-y” it is a serious misunderstanding. Christ does not come to have us look good on the outside but to transform us inside. The role we have in the family and children’s life is to help them to connect — to know and to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. Like a branch connected to a vine[2], He will provide the transforming power, not us.

One of the ways we do that is in this last theme of the Church Makeover. The church is called the body of Christ. The place where regardless of our race, gender, personality, gifts or anything else[3] people who desire to follow Jesus come together to encourage one another in that pursuit. It is described in many terms or ideas but also includes the idea of being God’s family.[4]

So, if we desire our children to know and follow Christ, if there is a “third place” (last week’s post) for our children, it is in His family, the church. Often we think of “church” as a building, but it is not just a building—it’s people who gather together to express their desire to worship, know, and serve God… together.

Along with the discussion questions, the author provided some great resources on Car Time Notes as well as My Family’s Spiritual Gifts. May you and your family become part of God’s work through His people, the church.

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: (Join the conversation below in the “Comments” link.)

How do you impress upon your children the importance of the church (the people of God)? What ways have you sought to model or teach that has helped them connect to God’s mission through church?

To you and your family (adapted from Romans 15:5-6):

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you, as a family, the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice as a family you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[2] John 15

[3] Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12

[4] 1 Thessalonians 4:10

For families, there is a similar choice to what we add to our main commitments. It is a choice we all make, but may not be conscious of—the “third place”. This week, in our chapter on the family and the church makeover[1], we learned that most have home and work as the first two places in daily family life. But we have freedom when we get to the third one: What do we choose for our “third place”? Modern times allows a family a great deal of options to choose from: hobbies, sports, music, community organizations, and many others. Many of these can be our “third place”. This “third place” choice reveals what our priorities are and tell our children and family what we consider important.

But how can we tell what our “third place” is? You can identify it by asking yourself: What area do I schedule around (or would even cancel for) above everything else? In spiritual language, many would call this part of the schedule a “sacred space”. Everything else is prioritized around this and is “second”.

Perhaps you and your family are Christians/Christ-followers, but you’ve allowed other things to become the “third place”. It’s never too late to change.

The question is whether what we put in that “third space” is worthy of being called sacred.

What would Christ have our “third place” be? The theme of this book has been about having Christ at the center of our family life. In him, we find the answer to what that “third place” is. It is found in what he would put his very life down for: Christ gave himself up for the church.[2] If we desire to have Christ be the center of our families, we have to commit ourselves to that for which he laid down his life. Sadly, no church is perfect. That is why the church reminds itself, in words and actions, that there is need for a Savior and a continuing need for Christ in our daily lives.

Perhaps you are considering Jesus. Despite its imperfections and need for Christ’s ongoing help, the church is a great place to learn about the love of God and redemption that can be found in Jesus. You will find in Jesus Christ one worthy of your trust and a group of imperfect people to follow him with.

As the church becomes your family’s “third place”, your children will see it not as a “drop off” for spiritual things (like they go to band for music or gym for exercise). They will see it as a people that they are a part of and with whom they grow and serve Christ. They will see the wonder of all that Christ hopes for the church…and you, as family, will be a part of it!

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: (Join the conversation below in the “Comments” link.)  How have you made the church a “third place” in your family’s life? What helped make that possible (habits you formed, attitudes you expressed, etc.)?

For Next Week: LAST CHAPTER—Do one of the activities at the end of Chapter 5 on the Church Makeover and join us here next week for our final discussion!

[2] Ephesians 5:25

The dreaded words for any parent at Christmas…Batteries Not Included. The crestfallen face of your child as you tell them they’ll have to wait. These words on the toy’s package tell you that the toy can’t do what it was designed to do without its power source.

Similarly, as Christians, our faith (belief, trust and relationship) in God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) results in an empowering by the Holy Spirit through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to live a life that outwardly shows Whom we trust. We are not bound by our past but are free to express a life of faith in Christ… so, in a way, the Christian’s packaging reads Faithful Action Required.

Some Christians get in arguments about where faithful action comes from. The hinge of the door from which the conversation swings is on free will and God’s sovereignty. Do we act from free will? If so, doesn’t that mean God is not all-powerful or sovereign? In describing the role of will, is God’s power detracted from? When does God’s sovereignty mean one no longer has free will and vice versa? In many ways, both sides argue about where the “battery” is placed and forget the outward response that an inward transformation in Christ brings. This is best shown in the irony that, in the midst of the discussion, both forget what Christian living looks like as they treat one another in less-than-holy ways.

Regardless of where you land on this discussion, when we read the Bible (the authority for Christian living) we see an invitation—a calling—to live faithful lives…Faithful Action Required (not for salvation but the calling to “live it” is clear[1]). If we are a Christ-follower, we should look like the one we follow: Jesus Christ (e.g. 1 Cor. 3:18). We won’t be perfect (not in this life) but it should show up in our habits and practices, how we treat others, the generosity of our giving, how and when we pray, and, most certainly, in how we parent.

To help you with faithful action in your parenting, this week’s activity section in Faith Begins at Home: the Family Makeover with Christ at the Center gave some ideas for connecting Christ-centered adults with children so as to encourage growth. Ideas were developed for: Dedication/Baptism Sponsors, Prayer Partner, and Faith Mentors [with some good resources for equipping someone to be a mentor]. If you don’t have the book, stop by and pick one up to learn some practical steps for getting these started.

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: (Join the conversation below in the “Comments” link.)

How have you seen “faithful action” by adults investing in your children’s growth? What did they do?

OR, when you were young, how have adults been a part of your growth?

For Next Week: ALMOST DONE! Read Chapter 5 on the Church Makeover and join us here next week!

This week chapter 4 explored the theme of how extended family can be involved in encouraging and teaching our children about God and helping them develop a relationship with God. Here are a few fast takeaways to consider:

• Do you value the older generation? (If not, you will likely not invite them into helping your child grow.)
• Extended family is not just grandparents, but also could be an aunt, an uncle, cousin, etc.
• No Christ-followers in your extended family? Invite a more mature/“older” person from your church family.
• Do NOT underestimate the power of having extended family who will commit to PRAY for your child.
• Grandparents, don’t cut yourself out automatically but initiate connection with a grandchild.
• Parents, don’t ignore the grandparents… invite them to invest and pray for your child’s faith.
• Distance is not an excuse. Facebook or Skype can be great ways to give small, regular spiritual teaching & encouragement.
• Pass on multi-generational stories of how other family members followed Jesus.

In faithful families, it is NOT that the Christian faith has been thoroughly integrated into their lives. It is that their lives have been so thoroughly integrated into the Christian faith.[1] When we invite extended family or older Christians to personally invest and connect with our children, the truth of how Jesus is the core of life comes out.[2] A bigger (& life-long) picture of faithful following of Christ becomes clearer with expressions in different personalities, ages, etc. It sounds like a great summary of Deuteronomy 6.

Make some connections…let Jesus work through your extended family (or you) to impact future generations with faith in Christ.

We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.

…so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

–Psalm 78:4-6

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: (Join the conversation below in the “Comments” link.)

How have you encouraged extended family to be part of nurturing your family or children’s faith?

For Next Week: Try one of the activities or the group questions from Chapter 4. If you are not reading the book, come back next week for some ideas.

[2] John 10:10, John 14:6

Much of the theme of the book we have been reading (Faith Begins at Home: The Family Makeover With Christ at the Center) has been about parents engaging their children with the faith each day through everyday ways. In this, we’ve discussed significant passages about this such as Deuteronomy 6.

This week are some concrete ideas to find daily oportunities. A brief summary of some potential activities were:

• Faith-Talk (Can buy cards at http://store.vibrantfaith.org/product_p/ft.htm)
  • Examples such as: What is the one trait of your mother or father you value the most? OR Talk about something that happened to you recently that made you pause and thank God.
• Praying Together
  • Newspaper Prayer—Take turns praying for issues in the world.
  • Sentence Prayer  (Give the beginning of the sentence and let each family member complete it.)
    • “Lord, I thank You for…”
    • “Lord, forgive me for…”
    • “Lord, give me the courage to…”
  • Highs & Lows—Share one of each from the day and then pray together.
  • Prayer Journal—Keep a family list of prayer requests and note the answers that come in (whether yes, no, or not yet.)
  • ACTS Prayer—Pray through: Adoration (adoring God for who He is), Confession (Confess sins and wrongs), Thanksgiving (Give Him specific thanks for things), Supplication (Lift up areas of need.)
• Family Service Projects
  • What could your family do, without being asked, to help a neighbor?
  • What is something your family could do to help at church?

Remember that getting things started is the hardest part, so pray for your family, find a regular time to practice these and keep it up!

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: (Join the conversation below in the “Comments” link.)

• What gets your faith conversations started? What times work best?

For Next Week: Read Chapter 4—The Extended Family Makeover

This is the theme of chapter 3. The initial story about the dad who is not reactive to his teenage son’s music style is important. The dad does not go a route of being judgmental or just try to change his behavior. Instead, he comes alongside his son, even listening to the music…and then seeks to have the son’s life cross path’s with the gospel in a music style his son listens to. (Which resulted in the teen not only listening to Christian music but also in playing it.) This encounter is a reminder to us that parents (uncles/aunts, grandparents, etc.) are missionaries seeking to convey the gospel to their children in a way they can understand.

The adults express to a child who God is by how they live. When the adult just drops them off to a program with little going on in the adult’s faith or expression of faith in the home, why are we surprised that the child’s faith life stops when the program is over? The message is that God is a program, not a Person. As Holmen notes (p. 72) the stats on faith dialogues in the home (with father, with mother, devotions/Bible reading, etc.) are abysmally low.

Holmen’s position that faith is not taught but caught seems a bit too clean. It strikes me that it is both. There are “taught” elements where we provide the content of faith in helping someone understand the characteristics of God (love, grace, omniscient, etc.) or the actions of a life of faith in Christ (worship, biblical teaching, time with other Christ-followers, communion, etc.). The “caught” side is the process of our faith where we discuss or provide example to how the content interacts with how we live, answer how one develops a relationship with God, and how the Holy Spirit is at work in the life of a believer. This goes back to the example of modeling, mentoring, discipleship, etc. that we have discussed in previous posts.

As Holmen describes, the Christian faith is not about having all the answers but it is about having the conversation. Someone does not come to Christ because all the answers are made. They have come to a place where they have begun a relationship with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) that acknowledges a need for Christ and a desire to follow him with their life.

Holmen provides a few lenses (p. 75+) for looking for how we can have “makeover” interactions with the children in our lives (whether grandchildren, nieces/nephews, god-children, etc.) through prayerful T.R.A.I.N.-ing:

• T.-Time=car time, sick time, bed time, meal time, vacation time, memory-making time, one-on-one time
• R.-Repetition=meal prayer times, times for blessing, etc. repeated over the lifetime.
• A.-Acceptance=Work in grace-filled, mercy-full  action to redeem when they make mistakes. (Think of the father in the prodigal son story.)
• I.-Intentionality=Look for opportunities to share your personal faith life or listen to how faith in Christ impacts their life. Keep trying even when it is not coming easy. They may appreciate it in the long run and will see what perseverance can look like.
• N.-Never Ending=Continue the dialogues and pass faith-talk on in examples about previous generations following Christ or others in your family expressing faith.

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: What are other times or situations you have found fruitful for this?

• Join the conversation at the “Comments” link below.

FOR NEXT WEEK: Choose and try an activity (pp. 86-89) or one of the questions (p. 90).

This parent (or any family member) theme brings up a question: Isn’t it prideful to pray, tithe, serve, etc. in front of our children? Aren’t we told to hide what we do for the Lord?

These questions often come about from such passages where Jesus says:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”[1]

OR

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”[2]

We incorrectly interpret Jesus if we understand him to be only laying out behavioral guidelines in this passage. It’s important that we read these verses in the context of where they are and not isolate them in a way that misrepresents the teaching. If we read carefully, we note that Jesus speaks very specifically in qualifying his words in these two sections by referring to the reason we do it: “to be seen by them [others]”. What Jesus is bringing up is having the right motives. Are we doing things to draw attention to our self? To appear religious or holy in front of others?

As Deuteronomy 6 describes, teaching about faith is important but so is living it out, particularly for children. Seeing teaching expressed in life, children will learn from example. To always hide the expression of living our faith in Christ creates a false message. So, with the right motives of living a God-glorifying life, your children see what following Jesus looks like. With the right motives, we can give a tithe to the church, pray, serve the needy, give to a ministry, and so on in front of our children without contradicting Jesus’ teaching or point of the above verses.

Seeing an example in how one engages in a life of following God can also be used by the Holy Spirit to help children toward the goal of being conformed to the image of Christ[3] and to learn about who God is in the midst of life.  In fact, the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christ-follower/Christian is to bring about right actions with right motives.

So don’t be afraid to live a faith-full life in front of your children but take a moment to pray about your motives: Is it for you to look good or is it for God and his kingdom?

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: (Join the conversation below in the “Comments” link.)

• How do you nurture/keep your motives pure/focused on God when living out your faith outwardly?

OR

• What did you observe, experience or learn from your family activity this week?

FOR NEXT WEEK:

Read Chapter 3—The Child Makeover.

[2] Matt. 6:6

[3] Romans 8:29

Holmen describes how it is not a question of are you passing on things to your children, but what are you passing on. The things we pass along are intentional (being generous, spending time in God’s Word, forgiving others), but also the unintentional or what is observed (the anger when dealing with a disagreement, the types of things we watch on TV/movies, the way spouses treat one another, how we spend money).

The study finding that even children/youth report that mother, father, grandparent or another relative rank in the top faith influences reminds us that kids do not look far as they grow in their faith. The family is important.  Christ reminded people that devotion to God was primary, even to family (Matt. 12:46-50), but it was also affirmed that the Christian witness is expressed in serving the family (1 Tim. 5:8).

As Christ-following/Christian households, the parent (or grandparent, aunt/uncle, etc.) role is to have worship be beyond Sunday. Our daily living reflects worshipping God in the home with acts of prayer, teaching, reading, service, giving, disciplining… all in ways that draw the family to God.

Our gathering as the wider church in the world is to be one of equipping, but it is in the home that the faith is daily expressed and passed on. When it moves outside the church building, it reminds children that our God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is not confined to one spot but is with them in daily situations… and that we are join Him in His work in the world.

One warning: Do not psychologize your faith. This would be the idea that if I do the right number of things I can have a  kid that has faith. That is a church-y kid but is not necessarily one who loves Jesus with faith. The Holy Spirit must be involved for authentic faith to develop. So the goal is to express the faith we have in our actions so that the children in our families (children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc.) will come to love God and have their own relationship with Him.

To live your faith, you must consider your relationship with God. Holmen’s questions are good: Where is Christ standing in our life? At the center? To the side? Far away? This defines whether the faith you live is real… or just for the sake of being an example.

So the family makeover really begins with your makeover.

THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION: What ways have you kept your relationship with God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) active in the crazy world of parenting? What would you suggest to for someone who needs to begin their personal spiritual makeover (before starting with their home)?

• Join the conversation at the “Comments” link below.

FOR NEXT WEEK: Choose and try an activity from pages 57-62.