Why Church? (4/6)
Hii!
1. HOOK!
Main point:
It's important to come together for fellowship, to strengthen and encourage each other as you grow in Christ and to worship God together!
So to highlight this we're using the chopsticks analogy!
You can break one easily, but it's really quite impossible to break a whole bunch of them!
So eat noodles this week and collect more of those wooden chopsticks or if you've got satay sticks/ice cream sticks they're also good! Try to bring enough for your own group.
Joanna
Theme verse:
Hebrews 10:24-25
'And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.'
Opening thoughts
We realized that sometimes, we and the kids might take sundays as a routine and just go because we have done it for the last 12-18 years. Then, we get busy [because we always get busier as time passes] and sometimes we don't come or we just let other things take over our lives. We want to ask the kids the "WHY" and the reason they come to church. Why do they come to church, and to be really honest about everything.
Survey (pdf click here to see)
Q1 the five other things they could do other than church
Q2 and Q3
(mostly about the same pt, ie WHY they come)
Q4 we think that
Supporting with scripture:Ecclesiastes 4:12 'Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.'
While going through the other options in this question, bring up these points!
Hebrews 10:24-25
'And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.'
Opening thoughts
We realized that sometimes, we and the kids might take sundays as a routine and just go because we have done it for the last 12-18 years. Then, we get busy [because we always get busier as time passes] and sometimes we don't come or we just let other things take over our lives. We want to ask the kids the "WHY" and the reason they come to church. Why do they come to church, and to be really honest about everything.
Q1 the five other things they could do other than church
it could be anything. but they are putting all of it before GOD. again ask about their priorities and where they lie.
(mostly about the same pt, ie WHY they come)
KEY POINT 1. identify WHY you come.
like Seth said during the retreat, the "why" is the most important, and that will drive the kids for the rest of their church lives. This is the foundation of their faith as well, in our opinion.
* we should set our priorities straight. like written above, as time passes we get busier and we should trust GOD during that time instead of trying to supply ourselves with energy so as to do the "best" we think we can do. [where your heart lies][we worship him because we love him]
Q4 we think that
"you can be a christian without going to church" and
"if church is boring, you should change churches" are sort of important. Ask them what church means to them. if it is a building to them then yes, without going to church, we can be christians. remind them that church is not just the building but the people itself. it is important to have fellowship with each other as written above. so no, being christian you cannot walk alone. you must walk with each other to help each other grow and learn.
While going through the other options in this question, bring up these points!
KEY POINT 2. fellowship
ask your kids what fellowship means to them. fellowship in a christian sense is not only to hang around and get to know each other and have a good time, but also to meet new people to help you in your walk with GOD by strengthening you and encouraging each other and such. [mainly for encouragement]
you can give your kids examples such as when you feel like you are having a real down time and have no one to turn to, you can talk to your christian friends. or when you're overwhelmed with just life in general, knowing that someone is there to talk to you and give you advice not only with things like academics but also spiritually.
KEY POINT 3. worshiping and sermons are equally important
worshiping is important as it opens up your heart to GOD and lets in the spirit, so that one can be ready to accept the sermons and understand the pastor as he/she speaks. worshiping is important as some people can feel impacted by the lyrics. sometimes we just hum the tunes or sing the song without really thinking about what it means. others are impacted by the sermon, where they learn something new. For example, we know all the bible stories or know what they are telling us, but there may be something that a pastor may say that can really touch us.
like pastor lillian [i think] talked about something like the infilling and indwelling of the spirit. We have the dwelling of the spirit, however we need to go to church for the filling of the spirit, because that is as important than just having the spirit but not feeding it and helping yourself grow in GOD.
KEY POINT 4. it's impt to spend personal quite time alone with GOD, but it's also impt to gather and spend time with GOD together.
being recharged, words of encouragements and such. we are stronger together. by being together and praying together we can not only grow with each other but also be stronger with each other in fellowship and in GOD.
you can also say that going to church is like starting a new week with GOD and putting him in control of our lives by starting the new week with him.
Supporting with scripture:
Matt 18:20 'For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.'
Closing thoughts
i think that the kids should memorize this verse or know the main gist of it.
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
and even individually, we should remember and share why we go to church and be honest in our sharing. Let us also know that we need each other to help develop our relationship with GOD and with each other.
(and I guess you can dicuss the other verses in relation to key points 2,3,4, like tie it all together!)
YEAHHHH!)
challenge the kids to tell us why they come to church next week, and to be real honest.
ask them if they trust anyone in church enough. like in terms of fellowship and stuff.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment