Faith in homes

Ten reasons to buy Christian fiction for children

2013-06-21T00:00:00Z

In the past, Christian fiction has had a bad name for being preachy, boring, badly written and old-fashioned. But there are now some brilliant, engaging, relevant stories that are just waiting to thrill our children. Why should we cough up the cash, though?

1. Stories with Christian characters can encourage children in their own faith

Church kids are often thrilled to find a Christian hero/heroine in a 'real' story. They can also be inspired to follow their example.

2. We remember stories better than straight information

Jesus told stories for a reason. Not only are stories with a message so much more memorable than a list of bullet points, but they are so much more enjoyable. Church and non-church children alike can learn about how valued they are, how the Lord loves them and that prayer changes things, all through the medium of a great book.

3. It's great to encourage children to read books with Christian values

We are all influenced by what we put into our minds, and there is a lot of ungodly stuff out there filling our children's heads and hearts. In a world that is imperfect, stories written from a Christian perspective can encourage our children to find and stay on the right path.

4. A novel is a non-threatening gift

Books make thoughtful gifts and are generally gratefully received. Why not buy books for children who attend Messy Church, kids clubs and camps?

5. Kids see faith being outworked in a way relevant to their own culture

Bible stories can become over-familiar to church kids... but it can be exciting to read about how faith works in everyday situations, to children just like them.

6. Children make sense of their world through stories

Children can reflect on subjects such as faith, prayer, justice and forgiveness in the safe place of a story. If you have read the book, you can talk about these issues with them, too.

7. Children can lend books to their friends (at no extra cost!)

Why not buy a load for your own kids then lend them out to all their school friends and their families? Think of the potential. If you get tongue-tied but would like to pass on the good news to kids going through a rough time, a book can take the message for you.

8. Like to have spiritual input but can't due to distance?

Grandparents/parents/significant others who are separated from their children by distance (or who can't talk about their faith openly), but would still like to have some spiritual input, can do so by sending Christian books, or reading stories over Skype.

9. Like more family time? Reading stories together is great for bonding

Reading an exciting novel aloud is a great way to spend quality time together. Discussing the plot and the characters' reactions to events is a great way to open communication.

10. Words are powerful. A book may sow seeds that will bear fruit in years to come

We have all read books that have affected the way we have thought about things. Never underestimate the power of a story to change lives.

To see some examples of Christian youth fiction, visit Dernier Pubishing.

This material is copyright BRF

Summer activities for families to share

2013-06-12T00:00:00Z

Looking for ideas to have fun and time together as a family over the summer. Then simply download these free summer activity sheets for use in the home, on holiday or when people visit, or for toddler groups, church groups and more. The ideas also offer the opportunity to learn more about each other as well as the Christian faith.

Creation-themed picnics, making conversation cards, putting on the 'armour of God' and other thought-provoking activites are among the quick, easy and economical ideas included.

This material is copyright BRF

Touching Heaven

2013-06-05T00:00:00Z

Anyone who has lost a child or another loved one, or anyone who is currently supporting a dying person along the journey, will find comfort, inspiration and hope of everlasting life in the real-life stories offered in this book.

Children's minister and former children's hospital chaplain, Leanne Hadley, has been ministering to hurting children for years. In Touching Heaven: Real Stories of Children, Life, and Eternity, she recounts the poignant stories and simple faith of the remarkable children she has been privileged to serve. She shares their encounters with God, Jesus and angels. And with humour and tenderness, she offers their inspiring testimonies to the presence of God in our lives - even as earthly life is ending.

Find out more

Who Let The Dads Out? conferences

2013-05-28T00:00:00Z

Mark Chester (Who Let The Dads Out? founder) will be the keynote speaker at both conferences and will speak on 'Who let the dads out and why?'. There will also be opportunities to hear from groups around the country, and times of praise and worship, as well as a chance to celebrate the tenth anniversary year of Who Let The Dads Out?

These conferences serve two main purposes:

- A great opportunity for group leaders to meet, encourage and learn from one another.

- Allow church leaders, church family workers and any others looking at ministries for men in a parenting/family context to hear and learn all about Who Let The Dads Out?

Find out more here.

Everything I Know about God I've Learned from Being a Parent

2013-05-24T00:00:00Z

I would start by recommending this as a book anyone can read - it's not just for parents, but anyone who has parents, knows of people who are parents,or would like to be parents in the future. My first impression is that although the title may reflect the writer's theme and intention, it is not very catchy or memorable.

The book is well written, easy to read and is made more applicable by the many personal, honest and relevant stories of the ups and downs of parenthood, made more poignant by the writer having a child with special needs. Once or twice I wanted to say 'slow down - where is this going?', but this book is a personal account, not a theological treatise on the subject of parenthood, hence it opens up some areas which will make you think and explore further, and there may be some that you may not agree with.

The book takes you through the stages of life from the perspective of a God who is intimately involved with us at each stage: yearning for children, through pregnancy - eagerly awaiting our birth; proud and excited at our first steps, helping us to grow from young children through teenage years into mature adults, loving us with discipline and sharing the pain we feel. It also touches on personal issues such as dealing with special needs, discipline, adoption, the pain felt by parents in letting go. God is always there for us, whatever we do, or whatever mistakes we make - he lets us go to be free to choose to love him in return.

In summary, having a right view of God as a loving parent is so vital to our well-being - it affects how we pass on to the next generation. To quote from page 168:

If we think of God as an infinitely loving parent who wants God's children to be transformed into the very best God has made them to be, then we will encourage our children or our congregation to have a free, trusting relationship with God and to explore the gifts that God wants to give them.

Find out more at www.brfonline.org.uk

National Family Week

2013-05-17T00:00:00Z

National Family Week is from 27 May to 2 June 2013.

It is the largest annual celebration of families nationwide with lots of opportunities for families to spend time together taking part in activities, picnics and other events, and find out about useful resources.

Check out their website for events in your area.

For ideas to get you started, take a look at the Going for Growth website.

National Family Week

2013-05-17T00:00:00Z

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Praying together as a family

2013-05-10T00:00:00Z

Learning to pray as a family is no different to learning how to develop bedtime routines or how to get everyone ready for school at the same time – practise, trial and error, good humour, looking on the Internet or sometimes asking other people how they manage. Just as we start by teaching babies and toddlers to say 'thank you' when they are given a drink or a biscuit, so this is a good way to start to learn to speak to God in prayer.

THANKS

Everyone needs to learn to recognise the blessings God gives us each day, each hour. Grace at meals, saying a simple 'thank you', is a good time to start. Moving on to say 'thank you' for lots of other things comes next. Recognising the blessings that God showers on us is a way we can build resilience against the hard times.

Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him. Colossians 3:17 (CEV)

Thank you tree: Use a bare branch in Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas) or in Lent (the six weeks leading up to Easter) and tie on a leaf shape cut from paper for each thank you offered to God. Before you start, have a big cutting-out session to produce all the leaves you will need and talk about the importance of thanking God for his gifts to us.

Marble jar: Add a marble for each thank you made to God. If you have a marble run, when the jar is full, cascade them all down the run to the noisy glory of God and notice how many thank yous there are.

Octon display: Make a 'thank you' structure by adding an octon for each blessing. You could do something similar with cellulose 'noodles', which can be stuck together with water.

PLEASE

We need to learn that God is not a slot machine, and that we should ask for what we need rather than what we want. Again, learning to ask God is similar to teaching children to say 'please' when they ask for something.

Give us today the food we need. Matthew 6:11

Lucky dip: Have a session as a family to come up with lots of ideas of things to pray for. Put each prayer request on to a slip of paper. Place these slips into a bowl/bag and pull one out daily as a reminder to pray.

Whiteboard: Write or draw prayer requests on the whiteboard and erase them with thanks when God answers them. Otherwise, they stay on the board for everyone to keep remembering the prayer.

This material is copyright BRF

Talking faith and big issues - watching a film

2013-05-03T00:00:00Z

Watching a film together as a family is not only a fun, inexpensive way to spend time and relax but can also be a way of talking and exploring some Christian issues and principles.

Ice Age 2 is a good example. The following material developed by Damaris uses the film to open up aspects such as family, relationships, loneliness, identity, potential, significance, fear, courage, and forgiveness (redemption).

How does it connect with daily life?

It highlights the following:

Families and close friendships are vital, but they require hard work and commitment. Friendships can be key in a child's daily life at any age - seeing this in another situation can offer helpful insight.
Reaching your potential is important, but it might be something completely different to what you’re looking for. Many children and adults struggle with the pressure of expectations, getting good grades, being compared with peers, colleagues and sometimes even other parents. It may be helpful to see that sometimes God has other plans to ours!
Fear can disable even the bravest of us, but when we face it head on we discover new strength and new abilities - something that is not always easy to remember but is valuable to recognise.

The Christian message can go further;

What if you can't discover your potential?
Do you still have any significance?
What if you don't have the inner resources to face your fear?
Are you without hope?

The Christian response is that, whatever our relationships are like, we are loved more than we could ever imagine by God himself, who values the kind of people we are more than what we can do or contribute, and who can give us grace to help us when we need it

So settle down for a family night in, grab some popcorn and let the film begin. When it’s over, use the following material to chat together. The full text including the background and ideas can be found at Damaris.

This material is copyright BRF

Children and commercialisation

2013-04-26T00:00:00Z

Can children be children before they are consumers? A report from Compassion indicates that constant exposure to commercial messages is shaping the way children see themselves and the world - it is impacting on their desires, values and aspirations.

The report states that marketers are inventing ever-more ingenious ways of infiltrating children’s worlds with advertising messages and have laid roots in every aspect of children's lives - from how they learn to what they eat and how they play - exploiting their emotional vulnerabilities in the name of profit. Engulfed with images of how they should look and be, and what they should own, the report argues that children struggle to keep up, resulting in increasing rates of stress, depression and low self-esteem.

Is this something you would agree with?
Do you feel your child feels the pressure of marketing?

If you have a child/ren aged 7 and over and would like to see how they might be affected by these issues, why not spend some time as a family answering the following questions, as well as some of your own, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the least important and 10 is the most:

How important is it to wear the right clothes?
How important is it to have the right phone?
How important is it to have the same belongings as friends?
How important is physical appearance?

If you feel you don't want to raise the profile of this with your children, then why not spend some time looking at the magazines they read and/or TV they watch to see the marketing that is aimed at them.

If this is something you would like to know more about or want to have your say, visit the Compassion website.

Alternatively, you may be interested to read the government report that followed on from some research by Reg Bailey of the Mother's Union about the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. As a result of this research, a number of recommendations were put forward, including the setting up of the Parentport website. This is a website where parents can complain about any programme, advert, product or service, and find out about the standards expected from the media.