Kids

January Family Challenge: Snow Angels

klake — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:21:08 +0000

Hey Parents,

If you are a Mars Hill Kids parent you should have received this month’s Parent Connect email. If you did not receive the email, please email kids@marshill.org to make sure we add you to the list. You can also subscribe to this blog and receive emails about current posts by following the link at the top of the Parent Talk home-page.

If you missed this month’s Family Challenge, follow this link to watch the video: http://vimeo.com/marshillkids/mhk-parent-connect-january

For those of you who have completed this month’s Family Challenge, we’d love to hear how it went!

So what are you waiting for? Start typing!

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

A Call to Irrelevance

klake — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:05:23 +0000

As a parent, you are also a leader. You are called to be your child’s primary Christian leader; you will be the one they watch the most, the one they look up to, and the one they listen to even when you think they are not. That’s a lot of pressure. Pressure to perform, pressure to be “right” before God, pressure to be someone your child wants to look up to.

Or maybe there is no pressure to be any of those things, but rather a call to be irrelevant, completely insignificant, with nothing to offer.

“The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self – the unadorned self in which [you] are completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.” – In the Name of Jesus by, Henri Nouwen

Wasn’t it Jesus who gave up his place in heaven, came to earth, and humbled himself on a cross to the point of death? Jesus is the best example of an irrelevant leader who was open to receive and give love. He did not need to prove himself, he simply shared his life and love with all God’s children.

As a parent you are the most prevalent Christian leader in your child’s life, called to be irrelevant and called to share nothing but your true self, stripped bare, broken, and changed by God’s love. Don’t waste another minute trying to be perfect. Simply be the imperfect, irrelevant leader that your child needs, sharing life, love and grace in every moment and in every way regardless of accomplishments or lack of them.

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

December Family Challenge: Reading the Bible Together

klake — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:35:10 +0000

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” This plea Charlie Brown made over forty-five years ago may still resonate with some of you today. Advent can often be a very busy time for all of us with Christmas parties, holiday recitals, trips to relative’s houses and sporting events. No wonder it is easy to lose sight of the meaning and joy of Christmas amidst the hustle and bustle, glitz and glamour, and tinsel and mistletoe. That’s precisely why this months family challenge may well be, well, a challenge for some families. It could also be exactly what your family needs to slow down and remember, “what Christmas is all about.”

If you missed this month’s Family Challenge, follow this link to watch the video: http://vimeo.com/32871028

For those of you who have completed this month’s Family Challenge, we’d love to hear how it went! Leave a post on this blog by December 31st and you will be entered to win a night out for your family. The winner will be drawn and announced in the January Parent Connect email and on the Parent Talk blog.

So what are you waiting for? Start typing!

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

It’s All About You

klake — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:30:12 +0000

Our friends Reggie Joiner and Carrie Nieuwhouf say, “If you want it to be in them, in needs to be in you.” This means the disciplines, practices, and traits you desire your children to have, need to be things you desire to have – and then do them. One of the first things we see parents give up when they start having kids is their personal spiritual care and development. This may seem like another thing on the list if things to get done during an already over packed day, but it has great implications for the spiritual development of our children. Look at this as a permission slip to invest in yourself, your relationships, and your marriage.

Feel free to comment below on how you have made this work to help give ideas to other parents.

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

November Family Challenge: Thankfulness

klake — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:39:32 +0000

Hey Parents,

If you missed this month’s Family Challenge, follow this link to watch the video: http://vimeo.com/31430471

For those of you who have completed this month’s Family Challenge, we’d love to hear how it went! Leave a post on this blog by November 30th and you will be entered to win a night out for your family. The winner will be drawn and announced in the December Parent Connect email and on the Parent Talk blog.

So what are you waiting for? Start typing!

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

Identity and Blessing

klake — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:09:18 +0000

Everyday, we as parents and pastors are competing with the world to remind our children of their true identity. Our world is quite capable of promoting a false identity in our children. For instance, “if you don’t have this then you don’t have…” go ahead and finish the sentence. One way we can remind our kids of their true identity – their identity in Christ is by blessing them. As parents you have the incredible privilege and opportunity to speak your child’s true identity to them every day. One way you can do this is by blessing you children before they go to school or bed. It can be as simple as, “Today, may you grow more and more into the child God has created you to be”, or it can be specific to what your child need to hear.

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

Tell the Story: Part 1

klake — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:11:33 +0000

You don’t need to be a Bible expert to talk about God with your kids. We encourage you to just tell and retell the Bible story. The following resource will help you do this. On the Elementary take-homes you will find the page numbers for the weeks story. This week we want to look specifically at, The Story for Kids and The Story. These books unfold the narrative of scripture in accessible language and well timed interludes that stay true to the biblical text. Each book is broken down into thirty-one chapters that take the reader from Genesis to Revelation with discussion questions for each chapter at the end of the book. The questions do not simply ask the reader to remember what he has read, but rather to think about how God has shown up in his life and how he is part of God’s big story. While the kids version has a recommended age range of 7-10, your preschoolers and early elementary age kids would still love to hear their parents read the stories out loud to them. We recommend reading one chapter a week. A good time to do this as a family would be after diner or right before bedtime. Try replacing an evening TV program with family story time.

To help you tell God’s big story to your kids, we want to give a copy of, The Story for Kids and The Story, to the first three people who write a comment below about how you would intend to use the resource with your kid(s).

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

October Family Challenge: Start Talking

klake — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:06:16 +0000

Hey Parents,

If you are a Mars Hill Kids parent you should have received this month’s Parent Connect email. If you did not receive the email, please email kids@marshill.org to make sure we add you to the list.

If you missed this month’s Family Challenge, follow this link to watch the video. http://www.vimeo.com/29980666

For those of you who have completed this month’s Family Challenge, we’d love to hear how it went! Leave a post on this blog by October 31st and you will be entered to win a night out for your family. The winner will be drawn and announced in the November Family Challenge video which you’ll find in next month’s Parent Connect email.

So what are you waiting for? Start typing!

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
The MHK Staff

Creating a Rhythm

klake — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:40:54 +0000

When I was younger, my family would rarely pray together nonetheless talk about God together. There were a few times however, when my mother would pray for our meal – this was when the fine china was out on the table. We all know these meals: Thanksgiving; Christmas; and Easter. Reggie Joiner and Carrie Nieuwhof talk about how our conversations about God should have a rhythm daily in the family and not exist like fine china that we only use on special occasions. You can find an excerpt on the Orange Parents blog where some pastors and parents who know a lot about parenting discuss some of the ideas we presented at God Likes Toast For Breakfast.

http://www.orangeparents.org/

This is another blog you should be checking frequently. If you haven’t read Parenting Beyond Your Capacity by Reggie Joyner and Carrie Nieuwhof, we highly recommend you put that at the top of your reading list.

Helping you help your kids to live the way of Jesus,
Kyle and the rest of the MHK Staff

Parent Resources for 2011-2012

klake — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:02:09 +0000

Hey Parents,

We hope this blog will be a resourceful tool where parents can dialogue with other parents about raising spiritual children. We want you to know that you are not alone, we are here to help as well. Listed below are the four books we will be referencing on the Elementary program take-homes this year.

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
The Story for Kids by ZonderKidz
The Story by Zondervan
The Family Reading Bible by Dorris Rikkers and Jeannette Taylor

Grace + Peace,
The MHK Staff